EXCLUSIVE — A pro-Israel legal watchdog is demanding the software company Stripe launch an internal investigation after the Washington Examiner revealed it is processing donations for a Palestinian terror-linked group.
The Arizona-based nonprofit group Alliance for Global Justice is currently able to fundraise through Stripe despite its various ties to terrorism, namely the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is responsible for plane hijackings and assassinations. Zachor Legal Institute is now pressing Stripe for answers over its relationship with the charity, which along with entities aiding it, could be "in violation of applicable federal laws prohibiting support of terrorism," the think tank alleged in a Monday letter to Stripe.
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"While we understand that your company is required by various laws to know your customers, the fact that you are doing business with an organization that provides funding for a designated terror group indicates that AFGJ may have slipped through your compliance reviews," Marc Greendorfer, an attorney who heads Zachor, wrote on Monday to Stripe CEO Patrick Collison.
Zachor's letter, which serves as the latest escalation of its efforts taking aim at AFGJ, comes after a handful of members of Congress on Sunday raised concerns over Stripe working with the charity. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said companies in the United States "should not be providing services to any entity that actively fundraises for Palestinian terrorist organizations or promotes antisemitism."
The revelation that Stripe is processing donations for AFGJ also comes after the Arizona group revealed in February that itself and the 140 entities it fiscally sponsors could not accept credit card transactions, which were handled by a contractor called CardConnect through Salsa Labs. That development was after a series of Washington Examiner reports on AFGJ's ties to Palestinian terrorism.
The ties that have primarily alarmed legal experts pertain to how AFGJ has fundraised for Collectif Palestine Vaincra, a member of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, an Israeli-designated terror coalition sponsored by the alliance, records show. Zachor and the conservative watchdog National Legal and Policy Center previously called on the federal government to investigate whether AFGJ has supported organizations terrorizing the Jewish state.
In 2021, Collectif Palestina Vaincra coordinated with the Popular Front to fundraise for a child "indoctrination" in the Gaza Strip, according to NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog group that in 2022 slammed Stripe for letting the French group use its software. Meanwhile, several payment processors, including PayPal and Discover, have blocked AFGJ and Samidoun from using its own services in recent years after outcry over the charity's terror ties, according to multiple reports.
In its letter, Zachor cited how Samidoun was designated in 2021 as a terrorist group by Israel's government. It also listed a purported revolving door of personnel between Samidoun and the Popular Front. Samidoun chief coordinator Khaled Barakat is a senior Popular Front member, according to Zachor, which noted "Samidoun runs campaigns that support and/or glorify convicted terrorists and the PFLP campaign website uses elements identical to those on the Samidoun website," the letter shows.
"In light of the above, it is clear that Samidoun is an alter ego of the designated terror organization PFLP," Zachor wrote in the letter. "Further, based on our research, we believe that donations made to Samidoun by using the AFGJ platform have provided support to, and if allowed to continue to use your services will continue to support, designated terror organizations and specific terrorist activities throughout the world."
Stripe, which did not return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner on Monday morning, processed $817 billion in transactions in 2022, according to its annual letter.
The company doesn't work with any entity that "engages in, encourages, promotes, or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property" or "any group based on race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other immutable characteristic," according to its terms and conditions.
AFGJ, which identifies as a "progressive" and "anti-capitalist" charity, is an offshoot of the Nicaragua Network, an entity that backed the country's socialist Sandinista regime, the Washington Examiner reported. The Arizona nonprofit group hauled in about $10.6 million during its last tax period despite raking in a staggering $56 million the year prior, according to financial disclosure forms.
It's unclear if all of the fiscally sponsored projects under AFGJ are able to fundraise now that the group can receive money through Stripe. AFGJ has appeared to sponsor the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel coalition, which is now taking credit cards through the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, records show.
The BDS coalition was previously unable to fundraise after Salsa Labs stopped working with AFGJ. In announcing the prior fundraising issue, AFGJ had slammed the Washington Examiner in a press release as "a far-right rag" that purportedly succeeded in an "attack on AFGJ."
"AFGJ refuses to exceptionalize the Palestinian human rights movement, as these right-wing publications are desperately seeking to do," the group said in February. "While this is a period of distraction from our pathway to freedom and human rights, it presents an opportunity to strengthen and renew AFGJ’s progressive movement for justice."
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Zachor also sent its Stripe letter to the IRS and Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the think tank said.
The Treasury Department and AFGJ did not reply to a request for comment.