Soros a secret J Street donor since ’08

Amid accusations of misleading the public, J-Street website reveals George Soros has donated money to organization.

By GIL STERN STERN SHEFLER
311_George Soros (photo credit: Associated Press)
311_George Soros
(photo credit: Associated Press)
US Jewish billionaire investor George Soros, who is known for his support of leftwing causes and occasional criticism of Israel, is a major J Street donor, it emerged on Friday.
Tax forms obtained by The Washington Times’ Eli Lake revealed that over the past three years, the Budapest-born Holocaust survivor and finance guru has given $750,000 to the organization.
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The revelation was followed by accusations that the advocacy group, which sees itself as a left-wing alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, had mislead the public about its relationship with the philanthropist.
For years J Street had repeatedly denied having any connection with Soros.
Under a section called “Myths and facts” on J Street’s Web site, the organization posted a statement that seemingly implies it never received money from Soros.
“George Soros did not found J Street. In fact, George Soros very publicly stated his decision not to be engaged in J Street when it was launched – precisely out of fear that his involvement would be used against the organization,” the J Street statement read. “J Street’s executive director has stated many times that he would in fact be very pleased to have funding from Mr. Soros and the offer remains open to him to be a funder should he wish to support the effort.”
Earlier this year in an interview with Moment magazine, J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami denied receiving funds from Soros.
“We got tagged as having his support, without the benefit of actually getting funded!” Ben- Ami was quoted as saying.
J Street spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick told the The Jerusalem Post on Saturday that Ben-Ami’s quote in Moment magazine was taken out of context and referred to the initial stages of the creation of J Street.
“We never denied that Soros gave us any money,” she wrote in an e-mail. “c4 donors are supposed to remain private by law (to protect their privacy) and the IRS illegally released the Schedule B part of our 990 that lists them. No c4 discloses its donors.”
Contributions to organizations registered under section 501(c)(4) of the US tax code cannot be deducted from taxable income.
Spitalnick said that donations from Soros made up about 7 percent of J Street’s annual budget.
“The most important thing to do is put this in the context of the $11.2 million the J Street family of organizations has raised from over 10,000 donors in the last 2.5 years,” Spitalnick said.
Soros, 80, has often been criticized by Jewish organizations for his comments on Israel. For instance, in 2003 he gave a speech in which he said Israel and US policies fed anti- Semitism. He recently pledged $100m. to Human Rights Watch, which has been accused by its founder Richard Bernstein as being biased against Israel.
At the same time he gave $1m. to World ORT, a Jewish educational organization.
The Washington Times report also revealed that one of J Street’s major donors was a Hong Kong-based businesswoman named Consolacion Esdicul.
According to the tax returns, Esdicul donated $811,697 over three years.
Asked if J Street had conducted a background check on Esdicul, Spitalnick said she was not at liberty to divulge the process by which it examines whether to accept money from donors.
She added that funds from Esdicul were solicited by Bill Benter, a J Street supporter from Pittsburgh.