Gaza Extorted
When we think about the left, or war protesters, we usually think about them in terms of what they’re doing or what’s being done to them during and after a protest. We might think about arguments for or against, or their demands, or who they are. What we don’t talk about as much are the pressures they’re under. And here I’m going to skip over ideas about social pressure or the broader types of propaganda messages they’re exposed to. This war is different because they’re being pressured to fundraise. It’s not being talked about by anybody that I see, and once you look into the reasons that money is being raised at all, you see that this is a massive vulnerability that the US is ignoring to everybody’s detriment.
Let’s leave aside for now that donating to Palestine is historically a source of overblown RICO charges. It’s not right, but even through legitimate NGOs it’s one of the most prosecutable things you can do with your cash that isn’t a local crime. It has been for years, and some of the current fundraisers are being prosecuted. That’s been covered pretty well though, and what’s happening now is new. Now, people in and claiming to be in the conflict zone are promoting fundraisers to donate to them directly and texting with individual protesters in the US that they meet online.
And at first, it feels intuitive that they would need money, you fundraise in disasters, it’s what people are in the habit of doing. If you assume that they’re all real for a second, and that these are all genuine fundraisers for refugees in Gaza, a first read over “This boy has to work all day for five sticks for cooking fuel” might make you feel like you should give the boy money for sticks. But then you might wonder, who’s making him work for five sticks of pay?
I asked and didn’t get an answer there. But some of the other Gofundmes, and some of the texts that Americans are getting, describe a situation that news stories are not covering. They’re saying, “Gangs are stealing the aid and jacking up the prices astronomically”. They’re saying, “Border guards are demanding bribes of $5000”.
And the leftists they’re talking to have a primary interest in seeing themselves in opposition to the state and wanting to do everything by hand, so they try to crowdfund for them instead of taking this to congress and asking why they aren’t doing anything about it.
So here, we have a situation where our and Israel’s war position is being undermined by criminal gangs (including but not limited to Hamas) who are stealing the aid and corrupt border guards increasing civilian casualties. This going unaddressed by the American press and state is leading to a situation where random people in Gaza are fundraising from the protesters and giving that money to the criminal gangs.
Not only that, but it produces an illusory personal connection, and these Americans do not have a way to verify any of the claims the people are making. It makes them feel like they’re part of that community and war effort when they literally do not know who is talking to them, it could be the gangs that are stealing the food or it could be some guy in Nebraska. It is a propaganda disaster and a major security risk not to address this at the source, which is the gangs and the border corruption.
Addressing these things would not only improve the situation on the ground for civilians by getting food to them, including any sticks they require, it would shut down a significant source of both funding and propaganda for Hamas and the other criminal gangs that are exploiting the refugees.
