Dutch foundation offers to buy weapons for illegal Israeli settlers with Dutch donations
The Dutch foundation Israel Heartland offers to use the money raised from Dutch and other European donors to subsidize weapons for Israeli settlers illegally occupying the West Bank. The foundation also uses these donations to financially support Israeli occupiers who are on the European sanctions list for using extreme and sometimes deadly violence against Palestinian civilians, according to research by Investico, BOOS, the Nederlands Dagblad, and De Groene Amsterdammer.
The Dutch media held undercover interviews with the directors of Israel Heartland and have recordings of the two men admitting to offering to fund weapons for the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and financially supporting sanctioned Israeli settlers
Israel Heartland is based in Reeuwijk and has ANBI status, which marks it as a “public benefit institution.” In practice that means the foundation enjoys certain tax benefits and donations to the foundation are tax-deductible. The Dutch media spoke with Israeli lawyer Nati Rom, who founded Israel Heartland and raises money worldwide for the Israeli settlers on the West Bank, and Arjen Domburg, the Dutch chairman of the foundation.
The Dutch foundation Israel Heartland transfers European donations to an Israeli foundation that Rom also manages. Rom told the undercover journalists that he uses the money he raises to finance, among other things, the construction of houses, legal fees, and to financially assist Israeli settlers on the EU sanctions list for extreme violence against Palestinian civilians. He also said that he uses the donations to help settlers buy weapons.
“One of the things we can do is subsidize pistols,” Rom said in a recorded conversation, according to Investico. “You don’t have to subsidize everything, but half or three-quarters of the purchase price.” That means the foundation avoids making direct weapon purchases itself.
When transferring money to Israel, Dutch chairman Domburg uses descriptions that are as neutral as possible so that they don’t rouse suspicion at the foundation’s bank, Bunq. “I can of course mention cameras and quads. I will never use ‘weapons’ in internet things,” Domburg explained to the journalists.
Domburg also described a cash flow to Israel. He said that, among others, Christenen voor Israël - the largest Christian-Zionist organization in the Netherlands - donated cash collections it raised. Loyal donors who regularly visit Israel then smuggle the cash there, tens of thousands of euros at a time, Domburg said. “One lives in Assen. And I have someone else in Zaltbommel, and in Oudekerk.”
To financially support sanctioned Israeli settlers, Rom uses “food vouchers” that can also be spent in other shops “for tools, for example.” The undercover journalists asked him outright whether he used the vouchers to circumvent European sanctions. Rom answered: “Yes exactly.”
Lawyer Yvo Amar called the use of food vouchers “an absolute violation of European sanctions.” The sanctions stipulate that the person can not get any money or economic resources.
Anne de Jong, senior lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and a specialist in the occupation of the West Bank, agrees. According to her, the foundation is contributing to human rights violations by supporting these colonists. “You are simply participating in the lawless aggression of colonists, with unilateral armed robberies, threats, extortion, and in some cases murder.”
Christenen voor Israël told Investico that it has stopped support for the Israel Heartland foundation pending further investigation. “We made a one-time donation that was earmarked for safety clothing, emergency aid, and fire extinguishers. We do not use violence or weapons,” Sara van Oordt of the foundation organization said.
Nati Rom denied almost everything he told the undercover journalists, Investico said. Arjan Domburg responded: “As a foundation, we have done nothing illegal and certainly do not intend to do so in the future.”
