Some of its employees and shareholders have accused the American technology company Apple of sending its workers’ donations to the Israeli army and Israelis who are usurping Palestinian land.
According to the US news website The Intercept, 133 people, describing themselves as “a group of shareholders, current and former employees,” wrote an open letter to the technology company about the organizations to which workers’ donations are sent.
In the letter, Apple was accused of sending workers’ donations to organizations linked to the Israeli military and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The letter demanded an immediate investigation into this allegation and asked Apple to stop “donating” to all non-governmental organizations.
Like many large corporations, Apple employees can donate to non-profit organizations through a platform called “Benevity” and receive “contributions” from their employers in return.
Among the organizations on the donation list are Friends of the IDF (FIDF), which raises money for Israeli army soldiers, HaYovel, One Israel Fund, the Jewish National Fund, and IsraelGives, which contributes to Israelis seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank.
Apple management did not respond to inquiries.
In April, Apple employees organized under the name “Apples4Ceasefire” objected to the disciplining and firing of Apple Store employees who “expressed their support for the Palestinian people with keffiyehs, pins, bracelets or clothing.”
“Apple must ensure it does not send funds to organizations that support war crimes”
In New York, the group “Not with our money” is working to ensure that nonprofits in the state lose their nonprofit status and the ability to fundraise for Palestinian land grabbed by Israelis in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Diala Shamas, senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, described the organizations named on the donor list as “the worst actors” and said, “Unfortunately, there has been little scrutiny of organizations that openly support illegal activities in the West Bank and Gaza.”
Shamas said laws against financing activities that violate international human rights law are not adequately enforced by the US Internal Revenue Service, so companies and individuals need to make sure their contributions are not going to organizations that potentially engage in illegal activities.
“But aiding and abetting war crimes is illegal regardless of whether an organization has non-profit status,” Shamas said, adding that companies often rely on the fact that an organization has “501(c)(3)” status, which means it is exempt from federal income tax and non-profit.
Shamas said Apple should make sure it does not send funds to any of these organizations.
The organization on Apple’s donation list claims to have sent $34.5 million to the Israeli army
The conduct and discipline of the Israeli army has come under particular scrutiny as Israeli soldiers have been accused of torture, extrajudicial killings and other abuses against Palestinians, and many soldiers have posted on social media footage of looting and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.
In Apple’s list of donations, “Friends of the IDF” is registered as a non-profit organization to raise funds for the Israeli army and claims to have transferred $34.5 million (approximately 1 billion 114 million 249 thousand pounds) to the Israeli army in the first weeks after the start of the war.
According to a report by The Guardian newspaper in December 2023, the crowdfunding platform “IsraelGives” received over $5.3 million (approximately 171 million 180 thousand pounds) in the two months after the war to support “military, paramilitary and settlement” activities in the West Bank. This money came disproportionately from American donors.
Like many other technology companies, Apple states on its website its corporate commitment to “respect for internationally recognized human rights”, including the United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
However, since the Israeli offensive on Gaza began, the UN Human Rights Office has repeatedly condemned the Israeli military’s attacks.
