washington | Reversing policy, the Ford Foundation has admitted it erred in funding anti-Israeli Palestinian groups and has vowed to establish tough new guidelines to stop its funds from being used for anti-Semitic action anywhere in the world.
The group said it was “disgusted” by anti-Israel and anti-Semitic agitation action taken at the 2001 U.N. Conference Against Racism at Durban, South Africa, which the foundation helped finance.
“We now recognize that we did not have a clear picture of the activities, organizations and people involved,” conceded Ford President Susan Berresford in a Nov. 17 letter to U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
In addition to establishing new funding guidelines, the foundation’s letter said the group promises to cease financing of pivotal anti-Israel groups and even recover funds where the grant’s intent was violated.
The Ford Foundation’s wide-ranging announcement was detailed in a five-page, single-spaced letter to Nadler. Nadler had circulated a petition signed by 20 members of Congress demanding that Ford halt its funding of anti-Israel hate groups.
Nadler’s petition and Ford’s letter came in the wake of a four-part JTA investigative series, “Funding Hate,” which documented how Ford grantees were using the foundation’s money to foment anti-Israel activity in the Middle East and worldwide.
The series prompted immediate congressional calls for an investigation from Nadler, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
There were also indications from the IRS, State Department and Justice Department that officials would review Ford’s funding.
In her letter to Nadler, Berresford wrote: “Recent media stories have raised questions about the conduct of certain Palestinian grantees who participated in the 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism in Durban, and the adequacy of the foundation’s oversight of grantees. In response, Foundation officers and trustees have discussed these stories with concerned individuals, making clear the numerous steps that the Foundation takes to ensure the proper use of its funds.”
“Having reassessed our own information on the Durban Conference,” the letter said, “and in continuing talks with others, we now recognize that we did not have a complete picture of the activities, organizations and people involved. Although some Ford-supported grantee organizations repudiated the bigotry they witnessed in Durban, questions remain about others. More troubling still is the fact that many organizations among the large number at the conference did not respond at all.”
Discussing the Durban conference, the letter concluded, “We deeply regret that Foundation grantees may have taken part in unacceptable behavior in Durban.”
Promising action, Berresford’s letter also said, “If the Foundation finds allegations of bigotry and incitement of hatred by particular grantees to be true, in conformance with normal Foundation policy, we will cease funding.”
In that vein, Berresford’s letter announced that the Foundation “has decided to cease funding LAW, a grantee that has been the subject of criticism.”
LAW, whose full name is the Palestinian Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, was a special focus of the JTA series. The group was a principal player in the anti-Israel agitation in Durban. An audit concluded it misappropriated millions in philanthropic funds.
“LAW had over 30 donors in all, including European and Scandinavian governments, and an audit commissioned by Ford and other donors revealed that it had misused funds,” Berresford said.