Israel's illegal settlement activity is subsidised by American taxpayers through tax-exempt charities

"As it turned out, the [Human Rights Watch] report on Israel didn't get a lot of media coverage, probably because it only confirmed what most people know already. The US state department, for example, noted: "Many of the issues covered in the HRW report are also covered in great detail in the state department's annual Human Rights Report."

But one important point from HRW's report has been largely ignored. This concerns the way illegal settlement activity is subsidised by American taxpayers through tax-exempt charities. The report urges Congress to investigate and "ensure that tax-exempt status is not granted to organisations that facilitate human rights violations or violations of international humanitarian law"."

This week in the Middle East

Charities that fund the settlers; Egypt's vanishing migrants; Christmas extravagance in the Gulf, and an unhappy New Year by Brian Whitaker

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/23/african-migrants-held-hostage-egypt-traffickers