In 2023, the New York State Assembly passed a controversial bill aimed at stopping tax-exempt donations from state-registered charities that funded Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – activities widely regarded as violations of international law.
The legislation, titled “Not on Our Dime!: Ending New York Funding of Israeli Settler Violence Act,” was introduced by the then-Assembly member Zohran Mamdani in May 2023. It sought to prohibit not-for-profit corporations registered in New York from using charitable funds to support organisations linked to Israeli settlement expansion or violence against Palestinians in the occupied territories.
This was just a few months before the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel. In a now-viral video, he is seen campaigning vociferously for it. He is seen saying, “So who is ready to end the exception? I want to hear you say ‘Not On Our Dime Not On Our Dime’.”
In essence, he was already globalising the Intifada.
SMILE GONE:
On 7/20/23, Mamdani was yelling atop of his lungs that US-based charities that help people in Israel should be stripped of their tax exempt status.
“NOT ON OUR DIME!” pic.twitter.com/W1WxErdnkd
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) October 30, 2025
Mamdani argued that several New York-based charities had collectively sent at least $60 million a year to Israeli settler groups, money that he said contributed to “the history of expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians” in contravention of the Geneva Conventions. “New York can no longer subsidise war crimes and the flouting of international law,” he said at the time.
The law amended the state’s not-for-profit corporation statute by adding a new Section 116, which explicitly defined “unauthorised support of Israeli settlement activity.” The definition covered aiding or abetting the Israeli government, armed forces, or citizens in acts such as the transfer of settlers into occupied territory, violence against Palestinians, or the destruction and seizure of Palestinian property.
The legislation empowered the New York attorney general to take legal action against non-profit organisations found to be funding settlement activities. It also allowed Palestinians harmed by such groups to seek damages in U.S. courts.
During the debate, Mamdani named several U.S.-based organisations as principal targets, including the Central Fund of Israel (CFI) and Friends of Ir David, both of which had long been accused of financing settler organisations operating in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
CFI, which described itself as “promoting charitable causes in Israel,” had been linked to groups such as the Israel Land Fund, accused of facilitating the forced eviction of Palestinian families to make way for Jewish settlers. Friends of Ir David was associated with Elad, a settler organisation responsible for evictions in occupied East Jerusalem under its campaign to “Judaise” the city.
“These organisations masqueraded as charities while funding illegal activities,” Mamdani said while presenting the bill.
The legislation drew sharp opposition from several Assembly members, who denounced it as an attempt to “demonise Jewish charities connected to Israel.” They claimed the measure was designed “to antagonise pro-Israel New Yorkers and sow divisions within the Democratic Party.”
Despite criticism, the bill won backing from major human rights groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and Jewish Voice for Peace. CCR’s executive director Vince Warren had argued at the time: “Aiding and abetting war crimes is not charitable, period. This bill ensures New York is not inadvertently subsidising violations of international law.”
After encountering initial resistance, his coalition expanded the bill in May 2024 before reintroducing it in February 2025. The final version passed after extensive committee deliberations and public hearings.
The move followed longstanding revelations that U.S.-based charities had funded Israeli settlements for years.
Mamdani acknowledged at the time that the bill’s passage would be politically contentious, given strong bipartisan support for Israel in the United States. “There’s a phrase I grew up hearing — ‘PEP: progressive except Palestine,’” he said. “Politicians who preach universal rights always seem to find an exception when it comes to Israel and Palestine.”
(Source: The Guardian)
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