ACLJ Sues the State Department for Wrongfully Withholding Records That Expose Its Funding of Efforts To Delegitimize Israel
The Biden Administration is once again exposing its anti-Israel agenda.
The Washington Free Beacon published an exclusive report last year revealing the Biden Administration’s offer of nearly $1 million for groups to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip – an effort that will delegitimize Israel. The report further revealed that under Biden’s Department of State (DOS), the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) was offering an official grant of up to $987,654 to “strengthen accountability and human rights in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.”
The ACLJ immediately took action, filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the State Department demanding records regarding this disastrous anti-Israel program. For over a year, the Biden State Department has refused to comply with the law, so we have now filed a lawsuit.
As we warned at the time, the Administration’s efforts to appease Israel’s enemies would lead to disastrous results. The report stated the following:
Groups applying for the grant money will investigate alleged crimes inside Israel and these territories and “collect, archive, and maintain human rights documentation to support justice and accountability and civil society-led advocacy efforts, which may include documentation of legal or security sector violations and housing, land, and property rights,” according to the State Department.
Israel’s defenders on Capitol Hill expressed outrage over the program and said the Biden administration is helping fund international efforts to delegitimize Israel and boost the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. The grant is also fueling concerns about the Biden administration’s relationship with Israel and its hiring of officials who have been critical of the Jewish state.
“This is disgraceful,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) told the Free Beacon. “The Biden administration wants to use American taxpayer money to subsidize the international NGO campaign to demonize and isolate Israel, which then serves as a basis for anti-Semitic efforts to boycott and wage economic warfare against Israeli Jews. Congress did not appropriate funds for this purpose and has repeatedly condemned such campaigns.”
The State Department, Cruz said, “should immediately cancel this program and investigate how it was approved.”
On March 24, 2022, the ACLJ issued a FOIA request to the Department of State pertaining to its knowledge and efforts surrounding the story that current Biden Administration government officials are funding international efforts to delegitimize Israel. It requested records, communications, and briefings within the DRL involving the grant, including:
4. All records, communications or briefings created, generated, forwarded, transmitted, sent, shared, saved, received, or reviewed by any DOS official within the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), involving or regarding analyzing or approving the grant notice described above.
5. All records, communications or briefings created, generated, forwarded, transmitted, sent, shared, saved, received, or reviewed by any DOS official within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), involving or regarding who first proposed the grant notice described above to the State Department and/or where the content of the grant notice was first obtained by or developed within the State Department.
6. All communications or records transmitted between any DOS official or employee within the Secretary’s Office (S0, the Deputy Secretary’s Office (D), the Chief of Staff’s Office (COS), and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), regarding the grant notice described above and/or the content, substance, or goals outlined in the grant notice described above.
The State Department was expected to comply with our request within 20 business days of receiving our request. On March 31, 2022, the State Department responded with an acknowledgment that it received our FOIA Request. In its acknowledgment, the State Department cursorily asserted that it would not be able to respond within the 20 days provided by federal statute due to “unusual circumstances” and failed to identify a date on which we could expect a determination (a “determination” is a FOIA term of art meaning an answer to the questions of whether any records exist, and if so, when those records are expected to be dispatched). The duty to disclose a determination date is required by 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B)(i), and the same statute stipulates that a determination date shall not result in an extension for more than 10 working days. The State Department clearly violated federal law by failing to comply with this requirement.
For well over a year, we have waited, and we have received nothing. The State Department has refused to produce any records in response to our request and has yet to indicate when (or even whether) any responsive records will be produced. In addition, it has failed to demonstrate that any responsive records are exempt from production.
So, on November 3, 2023, the ACLJ filed a lawsuit to obtain the records the State Department deliberately chose not to disclose.
To this day, we have yet to receive anything from the State Department. This means the Department has ignored our lawful production requests for over a year and a half. These records would uncover not only the State Department’s knowledge but also its affirmation of the Biden Administration’s funding international efforts to delegitimize Israel, which is information that is particularly relevant given the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. It is now more critical than ever for the Biden State Department to come clean about its true aims and alliances. The ACLJ will not stop until the State Department complies and those records are properly unveiled.