SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
nonprofits
Now 'Things Get Much Worse': Palestinian Rights Movement Under Threat as Trump Returns
"This administration will likely be coming very quickly to try to take down the Palestinian rights movement," said a Jewish Voice for Peace Action leader.
Jan 02, 2025
Victims of violence by U.S.-armed Israeli forces and advocates for Palestinian rights across the United States are sounding the alarm over Republican President-elect Donald Trump's looming return to the White House and GOP control of Congress.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the divided 118th Congress have faced intense criticism for giving Israel diplomatic and weapons support to kill at least 45,581 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the past 15 months and attack Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. The outgoing Democratic administration and lawmakers have also faced backlash for their response to anti-war protests, particularly on U.S. university campuses, some of which were met with police brutality.
However, recent reporting in the United States and Israel has highlighted fear about promises from Trump and his Republican Party that, as the Israeli newspaper Haaretzput it last week, a "quick and complete" crackdown "on pro-Palestinian sentiment in America will be a defining factor of his administration's early days."
"The Palestinian rights movement is very clear-eyed in understanding that it is very likely that this Trump administration will mean that things get much worse for Palestinians."
Beth Miller, political director of the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace Action, toldPolitico on Wednesday that "the Palestinian rights movement is very clear-eyed in understanding that it is very likely that this Trump administration will mean that things get much worse for Palestinians."
"This administration will likely be coming very quickly to try to take down the Palestinian rights movement," Miller added.
Leaders with the Adalah Justice Project and Arab American Institute also noted concerns about efforts to silence advocates and even dismantle organizations—some of which are already underway. In November, 15 House Democrats joined all but one Republican in voting for the so-called Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act (H.R. 9495).
The legislation would enable the U.S. Treasury Department to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit it deems a "terrorist-supporting organization" without due process. Advocates for various causes have condemned what they call the "nonprofit killer bill."
Although H.R. 9495 never made it through the Democrat-held Senate, Republicans are set to take over the chamber on Friday. The GOP will also retain control of the House, which during this session has repeatedly voted to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, or discrimination against Jews.
In addition to likely facing a new wave of legislative attacks—potentially spearheaded by GOP leaders like incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.), a U.S. military veteran who has volunteered with the Israel Defense Forces and denied the existence of "innocent Palestinian civilians"—rights advocates in the United States could be targeted by key officials in the next Trump administration.
As Haaretz recently detailed, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump's second choice to lead the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ); Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), his nominee for secretary of state; and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), his candidate for ambassador to the United Nations, have expressed support for deporting pro-Palestinian protesters who have student visas.
Although former federal prosecutor Kash Patel, Trump's pick to direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation, "doesn't have much of a record on campus protests, he is most notorious for his desire to remove any of Trump's critics and doubters from the national security apparatus," the newspaper noted. "Further, Patel's experience as the National Security Council's senior director of counterterrorism during Trump's first term positions him to crack down on pro-Palestinian sympathizers."
Aggressively anti-Palestinian appointees, who tend to describe all campus protesters as Hamas supporters, will soon steer both foreign and domestic policy, creating a Trump administration united in seeking a crackdown on the pro-Palestinian movement. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
[image or embed]
— John Sloboda ( @johnsloboda.bsky.social) December 26, 2024 at 6:07 PM
Haaretz also highlighted comments from Harmeet Dhillon, Trump's pick to lead the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, and Linda McMahon, his nominee for education secretary, as well as Project Esther: A National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism—an October proposal from the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank that is also behind the sweeping Project 2025 policy agenda.
"The virulently anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and anti-American groups comprising the so-called pro-Palestinian movement inside the United States are exclusively pro-Palestine and—more so—pro-Hamas," states the Project Esther report. "They are part of a highly organized, global Hamas Support Network (HSN) and therefore effectively a terrorist support network."
Two co-chairs of the Heritage-backed National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, James Carafano and Ellie Cohanim, wrote earlier this week at the Washington Examiner that "Project Esther is a blueprint to save the U.S. from those utilizing antisemitism to destroy it."
"The objective is to dismantle the infrastructure by denying it the resources required for its antisemitic activity," they argued. "Targeting the groups and organizations that receive the funding and deploy it to their grassroots followers who engage in antisemitic activity, the useful idiots we see on college campuses, for example, will divorce the means from the opportunity, thereby rendering these activists incapable of threatening U.S. citizens."
Posting the piece on X—the social media platform owned by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk—Carafano
declared that "when Donald Trump starts to take on the global intifada he will need partners. We will need to be there."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Why Would He Stop Now?' Trump Border Czar's Firm Peddles Federal Contracts
"When not presumably working on President-elect Trump's kids-in-cages policy 2.0, does Mr. Homan intend to exploit his new title to steer more lucrative federal contracts to his homeland security clients for his own personal gain?"
Dec 30, 2024
A watchdog group that has sounded the alarm about various picks for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's next administration released a Monday report focused on the consulting and nonprofit work of incoming immigration official Tom Homan.
Homan, who was acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump's first term, is set to serve as "border czar," a post that does not require Senate confirmation.
The new analysis by Accountable.US details how Homan's role as border czar could present serious conflicts of interest with his private consulting firm.
"Homan founded Homeland Strategic Consulting LLC," the report explains, "a private consulting firm which touts Trump's endorsement, claims to have secured 'tens of millions of dollars of federal contracts' for clients, and has taken over $83,000 from Jim Lamon, a failed U.S. Senate candidate who was indicted alongside Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman in Arizona's fake electors case."
"Homan will soon join a growing club of top Trump administration aides with glaring conflicts of interest that create perfect conditions for corruption and insider special treatment at the expense of everyone else."
The watchdog found that the firm's website said last month: "Homeland Strategic Consulting has been extremely successful in assisting small and large companies in business development with both federal and state governments. We provide around-the-clock guidance and subject-matter expertise to help your company discover opportunities, pursue acquisitions, win those opportunities, and assist in the execution of those contracts."
When Commons Dreams tried to access the firm's website on Monday afternoon, it featured a gray page with a message that it "is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance to bring you a faster, more secure, and improved browsing experience."
The report notes that "Homan is also a strategic adviser for the Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC), a homeland security industry group of 'midsized company CEOs,'" and on the editorial board of its publication, Homeland Security Today.
Accountable.US further highlighted that "Homan is president and CEO of Border911, a far-right 501(c)(3) nonprofit that claims to fight a 'historic illegal alien crisis' and that the U.S. is under 'attack from the inside.'"
"In possible violation of its tax-exempt status, Border911 was promoting Homan's appearances at Republican political events as of December 2024," the document details. "This includes a state party convention that sold tickets to a VIP reception featuring Homan and a Women's International Republican Club gala in New York City."
"Additionally, Border911 held a sold-out fundraiser in April 2024 at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, with Trump confirmed to appear at the event and a $100,000 'presidential' sponsorship tier," the report adds.
The watchdog also pointed out Homan's contributions to Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-led initiative that includes a sweeping right-wing policy playbook for the next Republican president. Although Trump tried to distance himself from the project during the campaign, he is now expected to pursue many of its proposals.
Donald Trump’s “border czar” Thomas Homan helped rip 5,500+ kids from their parents. Now he’s set to rake in cash for his firm off federal contracts—no Senate confirmation needed. Corruption and cruelty are back in style with Trump 2.0. accountable.us/more-conflic...
[image or embed]
— Accountable.US (@accountable-us.bsky.social) December 30, 2024 at 1:09 PM
Homan has long faced intense criticism for his role in the "zero tolerance" policy of the first Trump administration, which forcibly separated thousands of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Human rights groups revealed earlier this month that an estimated 1,360 children have yet to be reunited with their families.
This cycle, Trump campaigned on promises of mass deportations and ending birthright citizenship, despite the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Announcing the border czar role last month, the president-elect said that "there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders" and "Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin."
Last week, Homan previewed plans to detain migrant families with children in tents and suggested that Trump should revive mass worksite immigration raids and the "Remain in Mexico" policy that stopped asylum-seekers from entering the United States.
"When not presumably working on President-elect Trump's kids-in-cages policy 2.0, does Mr. Homan intend to exploit his new title to steer more lucrative federal contracts to his homeland security clients for his own personal gain?" Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk asked in a Monday statement.
"Both Homan's business and nonprofit group have thoroughly milked his connections to the Trump brand before, why would he stop now?" Carrk continued. "Homan will soon join a growing club of top Trump administration aides with glaring conflicts of interest that create perfect conditions for corruption and insider special treatment at the expense of everyone else."
Rolling Stone first reported on the watchdog's Monday publication. Homan told the magazine that "as the incoming border czar I have recused myself from any involvement, discussion, input, or decision of any future government contracts that may be awarded by the government. Therefore, there is no conflict of interest."
Although Homan did not respond to Rolling Stone's question about whether he would name his clients, he said, "I will be filing all appropriate documents as required by ethics rules including financial disclosures."
Homan isn't the only immigration hard-liner planning to join the next Trump administration. The others include family separation architect Stephen Miller, the incoming homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff for policy; dog-killing Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, the nominee for homeland security secretary; and Caleb Vitello, the next acting ICE director.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Silencing Nonprofit Speech Would Be Another Giveaway to Corporate Power
For-profit industries have enjoyed continuous and ever-growing impunity to advocate for whatever they want, no matter how destructive.
Dec 19, 2024
This fall, shortly after the election, the U.S. House passed a dangerous piece of legislation that many are calling the “nonprofit killer” bill.
The bill has an incongruous title: the “Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.”
Among other things, it would give the Treasury Department the authority to unilaterally accuse nonprofit organizations of supporting “terrorism”—and revoke their nonprofit status. Critics like the ACLU say it’s a blank check for presidents to shut down organizations that criticize them.
Today, not only do corporations have greater means to speak more freely than the rest of us do, they are increasingly grabbing political power to cement their stranglehold.
When the bill was introduced in the spring, it was largely viewed as an effort to silence pro-Palestinian activism. At the time, dozens of House Democrats supported it alongside most Republicans. But after Donald Trump’s White House win, amid fears that the incoming president would use it as a tool to bludgeon his perceived enemies, it passed with significantly less Democratic support.
But really, it should never have been introduced or passed to begin with, no matter the political winds. The bill is considered unlikely to pass the Senate this year, but could be reintroduced next year and signed by President Trump.
This would have a dangerous chilling effect on speech.
Consider the Florida woman Briana Boston, who recently said “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next,” during a phone call with a health insurance representative after her coverage was denied. It was a reference to what the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson wrote on bullet casings in a now-infamous targeted assassination.
Boston has no history of violence, nor does she own firearms. But she wasn’t only arrested—she was charged with threatening to commit an act of terrorism.
What she was really guilty of was expressing vitriol against corporate CEOs for an inhumane business model. It’s not hard to imagine such a scenario applied to nonprofits in the coming years either.
Nonprofits are effectively the voice of civil society in the United States. And even without HR 9495, they already have severe limits on their speech. In order to keep their nonprofit status, groups have to follow strict guidelines published by the Internal Revenue Service when speaking about elections.
As a journalist who works in the nonprofit world, I’ve seen the resulting self-censorship first hand. Many journalists and nonprofit leaders feared compromising their institutions if they warned about Donald Trump’s fascism, or even criticized Joe Biden over Gaza, ahead of the 2024 election.
Meanwhile, for-profit industries have enjoyed continuous and ever-growing impunity to advocate for whatever they want, no matter how destructive.
For example, the health insurance and fossil fuel industries play with people’s lives by denying coverage and spewing carbon, respectively, but have been given the right to spend enormous amounts of their ill-gotten gains in campaign contributions, putting an outsize thumb on the democratic scale.
Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, they have greater means to make anonymous donations to Political Action Committees to lobby government and help elect politicians.
The Supreme Court has long considered corporations to be, in a legal sense, people. In contrast to such abstract entities, we humans can be jailed, silenced, or even killed by corporate-controlled systems—and the nonprofits representing our interests can be officially sanctioned for “political speech.”
Today, not only do corporations have greater means to speak more freely than the rest of us do, they are increasingly grabbing political power to cement their stranglehold.
Trump’s incoming cabinet will likely be filled with billionaires. And his proposed Treasury Secretary pick—who would ostensibly oversee the department making determinations under HR 9495—is a longtime hedge fund investment manager named Scott Bessent. Trump has also openly promised to bend regulations for billionaire investors.
Seen within this context, HR 9495 is not only a danger to civil society’s right to speech—it is a serious escalation in favor of corporations.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular