Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (File photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
"The State Department has cut ties with Islamic Relief Worldwide, an international charity that the United States accuses of spreading anti-Semitism. The public accusations represent a wholesale shift in how the United States approaches a global charity that was, until recently, an official partner of the American government and raked in hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars.
The State Department is 'conducting a full review of the organization and U.S. government funding" due to the "anti-Semitism exhibited repeatedly by IRW's leadership,' Ellie Cohanim, the deputy special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, told the Washington Free Beacon.
IRW boasts a budget of more than $100 million annually and has a registered nonprofit arm in the United States. The State Department's public reproach of the charity means that it will no longer enjoy the legitimacy that comes with a close relationship with the American government or be able to cash in from this stamp of approval.
Anti-Semitism watchdogs have been sounding the alarm on IRW for years. IRW was an official State Department partner in the Obama administration and, for a time, in the Trump administration, despite evidence the group's senior leadership engaged in persistent anti-Semitism, including social media posts from the organization's senior leaders praising Hamas leaders and calling Jews the 'grandchildren of monkeys and pigs.' Israel has designated IRW as a supporter of terrorism..."