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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harris who wrote (230612)	4/27/2005 9:03:28 AM
From: Emile Vidrine	Respond to of 1572972

Newsweek: US Jewish Lobbyist Funded Settler Gangs with Swindled Indian Tribe Money GAZA, April 26, 2005 (IPC + Newsweek) - - A US magazine revealed today that a pro-Israeli lobbyist in close contacts with US Congressman Tom DeLay defrauded his Indian tribe clients and funneled large amounts of money in the form of paramilitary gear to Israeli settler gangs in the West Bank. The US-based magazine Newsweek reported that super lobbyist Jack Abramoff has used the name of a charity foundation he had established with his wife to fund sports and youth leadership programs in impoverished inner city neighborhoods in the United States to send money and military gear to a friend in the illegal Israeli settlement 'Beitar Illit' as well as to another Jewish religious school in the West Bank that has no listing whatsoever. Abramoff was hired by a group of Indian tribes who, having established lucrative gaming casinos, were interested protecting their interests in Washington. The Indian tribes were also interested in a pitched project by Abramoff; a charity foundation he had started up. The charity, called the Capital Athletic Foundation, was supposed to provide sports programs and teach "leadership skills" to city youth. Donating to it also had a side benefit, Abramoff told his clients: it was a favored cause of Republican Congressman Tom DeLay. However, Newsweek reported, investigators probing Abramoff's charity tax records found that a large sums of money were funneled to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, in the form of paramilitary gear, including camouflage suits, sniper scopes, night-vision binoculars, a thermal imager and other material described in foundation records as "security" equipment. FBI sources confirmed to the US magazine that these purchases are part of a larger investigation to decide whether Abramoff had defrauded his Indian tribe clients. Henry Buffalo, a lawyer for the Saginaw Chippewa Indians, who contributed $25,000 to the Capital Athletic Foundation at Abramoff's urging, said that the donors were outraged to learn of the destination of their money. "This is almost like outer-limits bizarre. The tribe would never have given money for this," said Buffalo. "Super-Zionist," as described by one of his associates, Abramoff is a strong proponent of Israel, which might explain the money and paramilitary gear sent to Beitar Illit, which Newsweek described as "a sprawling ultra-Orthodox outpost whose residents have occasionally tangled with their Palestinian neighbors." Abramoff's contact person in the illegal settlement was identified as Schmuel Ben-Zvi, an American émigré who was a close friend of Abramoff from Los Angeles. Abramoff shipped the gear and funneled funds allocated for poor neighborhoods in the United States through one of his aides working in a law firm he once used to work with. Abramoff's foundation's tax records also mention payments to "Kollel Ohel Tiferet" in Israel, a group for which there is no public listing and which the Beitar Illit's mayor, Yitzhak Pindrus, said he never heard of. Further probing of the Capital Athletic Foundation money showed also that a large portion of it, almost $4 million, was used for a now-defunct Orthodox Jewish school in suburban Maryland that two of Abramoff's sons attended. Buffalo said neither he nor his clients were aware of how their donations were used by Abramoff. Ben-Zvi, who received the money and gear from Abramoff, was an outspoken proponent of beefing up security at the illegal settlement, and even began organizing his own freelance patrols. "He used to bring in this equipment-night-vision goggles, telescopes," said Pindrus. Ben-Zvi angrily denied any connection with Abramoff when Newsweek tried to reach him in the West Bank for a comment. In light of the scrutiny of Abramoff's shady actions, several of his friends began abandoning him, including his old friend Tom DeLay, whose spokesman vigorously disputed that DeLay had anything to do with Abramoff's charity. Newsweek further added that in 2002 alone, three Indian tribes donated $1.1 million to Abramoff's charity, of which $140,000 have actually found their way to the illegal West Bank settlements.