My latest: follow the Hamas money

The anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protestors are getting paid to protest.

Not all of them. But enough of them – enough to raise concerns about the “reality” of what we are seeing on our TV and computer screens, says the evidence and experts.

This newspaper first revealed in January that Israel-hating protesters were getting paid to show up. We detailed how a group called the Plenty Collective in Victoria, B.C. was paying out $20,000 a month to people to attend carefully stage-managed anti-Israel protests in and around that city. The “protesters” were actors, in effect, and were being given food, drink and professionally-produced signs and banners.

We also reported that it was happening in bigger cities like Montreal, as well. There, the city has been divided up into precincts by paid organizers, each acting as a “captain” responsible for quickly putting together protests in select neighborhoods. Sources there told us protestors were getting $150 per event.

Then, in the past week, other media published similar reports. The New York Post revealed that anti-Israel “fellows” at three U.S. colleges were getting paid via the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights – in some cases getting as much as $5,000 (Can.) a week in exchange for just eight hours of agitating.

That revelation was followed by the Daily Mail detailing a report authored by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). That report showed that the main group behind the occupation of Columbia University and other campuses had received more than $3 million (U.S.) a year from charities linked to Hamas.

In the 73-page report, ISGAP revealed that Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) – with chapters in Canada and the United States – had been funnelled millions via myriad non-profits like the Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC), Tides, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), its parent organization Americans for Justice in Palestine (AJP), and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

In their report, ISGAP said: “It is clear that individuals who previously worked for Hamas-linked charities are now a driving force behind [campus protests]. The Department of Education (DoE) should carry out an immediate investigation into which universities are funding and/or supporting SJP activities and instruct those universities to cease such funding and/or support…ISGAP calls for SJP (and its affiliated organizations) to be banned and for Jewish students to be protected.”

As this newspaper reported in January, groups like B.C.’s Plenty Collective were using their non-profit status to financially assist other anti-Israel “partners” in that province. After this newspaper published our report, the Plenty Collective hurriedly returned thousands to one of its largest donors.

And, now, an expert who runs a Beverly Hills firm that openly acknowledges it pays for protests, called Crowds on Demand, says he has no doubt that the practice of paying people to show up at protests is much more widespread than anyone knows.

Adam Swart, who operates his firm in Canada as well as the U.S., has been providing paid-for crowds for everything from red carpet events to audiences at speeches since 2012. And, in an interview with the Toronto Sun, Swart said “extremely lucrative offers” have been made to Crowds on Demand to provide bodies. So far, he’s declined, he says, but he generally defends the practice.

Swart says there is no doubt the anti-Israel side has lots of money, too. Says he: “There’s obviously money in these protests. In my business, I know that some of the professional banners that these people have – those are $200 and $300, and the signs can be up to 100 bucks. Someone’s paying for that, here in the United States. So, you have essentially an unlimited amount of money coming in to potentially violent organizations that are tax exempt nonprofits here, and are social advocacy groups in Canada.”

The Canada Revenue Agency, which oversees such groups, was asked by the Toronto Sun whether they have any active investigations into funded protests in Canada.

At press time, they had not replied.