The State Department has granted tens of thousands of dollars to a left-wing group behind protests in Israel against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, records show.
The Movement for Quality Government, a nonprofit organization, has been organizing protests against Netanyahu, chairman of the right-wing Likud party, according to multiple reports. That same entity has received over $38,000 from the State Department since 2020, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Monday.
MAJOR LEFT-WING CHARITY UNABLE TO PROCESS CREDIT CARD DONATIONS FOLLOWING WASHINGTON EXAMINER REPORT
"The State Department has provided small grants to the Movement for Quality Government, including a grant signed in 2020 during the previous administration and continued under the Biden administration that focused on teaching civic education and supporting good governance," an agency spokesperson told the outlet. "The last tranche of funding was awarded in September 2022. The money was meant to be used for democracy training programs in the Israeli school system."
Netanyahu, 73, was elected to a sixth term in December 2022. He held office between 1996 and 1999, and also from 2009 to 2022, making him the longest-tenured prime minister in Israel's history.
MQG, which claims to be "nonpartisan," has operated since 1990. The entity has stoked anti-Netanyahu protests that have been slammed in Israel and the United States, including a March gathering outside of a Tel Aviv, Israel, hair salon where Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister's 64-year-old wife, was getting her hair done, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
During the years 2020, 2021, and 2022, MQG pocketed roughly $10,000 to $15,000 each from the State Department, according to grant records. The department was listed in records as the organization's only foreign donor.
"Although relatively small (52,000 shekels — about $15,000 at the time) ostensibly for teaching Israeli high school students about democracy, the MQG is a very visible political NGO," Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog group, told the Washington Examiner. "They frequently use the Israeli High Court's open-door policy to gain publicity for their partisan political campaigns, including seeking to undermine the legitimacy of Netanyahu as prime minister."
The grant revelation comes amid the Biden administration coming under fire for having alleged anti-Israel bias. Members of Congress, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), have raised concerns over the Justice Department investigating Israel's accidental shooting of a Palestinian American journalist for Al Jazeera named Shireen Abu Akleh — who was hit by a stray bullet amid Israeli forces and Palestinian terrorists clashing in May 2022.
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Steinberg, a politics professor for Israel's Bar-Ilan University, added, "Clearly, if a foreign government had funded a similar NGO operating in the U.S., the Biden administration would have taken immediate action. This case, which is not unique, highlights the lack of due diligence in government support for NGOs and the ease with which this funding can be used for political manipulation."
The Movement for Quality Government did not return a request for comment.