Two prominent US senators are raising questions about an American-funded school in Ramallah, which is running an extremist summer camp for Palestinian teens from around the world — many of them Americans.
The controversial summer program, called "Go Palestine," is run by the Ramallah Friends School, a 148-year-old Quaker institution in the Palestinian Authority's de facto capital.
Its stated mission is to provide Palestinian teens from abroad with "introductions to Palestinian culture, cuisine, life and work, and the Arabic language."
But in addition to traditional summer camp fare, Go Palestine participants are immersed in anti-Israel films, and lectures by militants — some with terrorist connections.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) gave the Ramallah Friends School $800,000 in 2016 to make various improvements to its facilities. USAID also sent the school $700,000 in 2015, $900,000 in 2014 and similar amounts in prior years, through USAID's “American Schools and Hospitals Abroad” program.
The school is owned and operated by the Indiana-based Friends United Meeting, one of the major divisions of the Quaker movement.
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that the evidence gathered by JNS.org concerning Go Palestine is "disturbing" and that USAID "must immediately investigate it." Schumer added: "If true, this school should be cut off because entities that receive USAID should be teaching about democracy and coexistence — not intolerance or extremism."
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is a longtime supporter of USAID’s assistance to overseas schools, but "the allegations described are quite concerning" and Cardin "has reached out to USAID for an explanation," a spokesperson for the senator told JNS.org.
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman and CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told JNS.org, "I endorse the calls by Senators Schumer and Cardin for an investigation to make sure that no US government funds are being used, directly or indirectly, to support a camp that promotes BDS or other anti-Israel extremism." READ MORE
