Establishes the "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act" to prohibit not-for-profit corporations from engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity; allows for recovery of a civil penalty by the state attorney general; creates a private right of action for violations.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6943A
SPONSOR: Mamdani TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the not-for-profit corporation law, in relation to
establishing the "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli
settler violence act" to prohibit not-for-profit corporations from
engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity
PURPOSE:
This bill adds a new section to the not-for-profit corporation law
prohibiting not-for-profit corporations from aiding or abetting activity
in support of illegal Israeli settlements in violation of the Geneva
Conventions of 1949 or illegal pursuant to the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal. Court.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 2 of this bill amends the not-for-profit corporation law by
adding a new section 116 to make illegal support of Israeli settlement
activity and Israeli war crimes by not-for-profits in New York State.
This section elucidates the meaning of settlement activity as aiding and
abetting activity by Israeli armed forces or the government of Israel
that is illegal pursuant to the Rome Statute of the International Crimi-
nal Court or under any of the international treaties signed at Geneva on
August 12, 1949, or any protocols, and provides specific examples of
such activity:
* Unlawful transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied territory
* Acts of violence committed by Israeli citizens against protected
persons living in occupied territory
* Forced transfer or eviction of protected persons within occupied
territory, or eviction from occupied territory
* Appropriation, expropriation, seizure, destruction, demolition,
dismantlement, or confiscation, in whole or in part, of private Palesti-
nian land or residential, business, social, or public structures or
infrastructure, inhabited or uninhabited Parts C and D also assert civil
recovery rights by the Attorney General or private individuals against
not-for-profit corporations or their agents, officers or directors for
knowingly engaging in violations of this bill, which may be brought
within 10 years.
Section 3 amends subparagraph 3-b of paragraph (a) of section 102 of the
not-for-profit corporation law to update the definition of "charitable
purposes."
Section 4 amends paragraph (a) of section 112 of the not-for-profit
corporation by adding a new subparagraph 11 to grant the Attorney Gener-
al the power to dissolve a non-profit corporation for violation of this
bill, section 116.
Section 5 sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that an "Occupying
Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population
into the territory it occupies." It also prohibits the "individual or
mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons
from occupied territory." Article 53 and 147 of the Convention penalize
and prohibit the appropriation or destruction of property in the absence
of military necessity. However, contrary to this well-established law,
the State of Israel has engaged in a pattern of establishing illegal
settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since its mili-
tary occupation of the region in 1967. The European Union (EU) has
explicitly recognized that "settlement building anywhere in the occupied
Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under inter-
national law," and "constitutes an obstacle to peace." Nonetheless, in
the words of Amnesty International, "Israel's policy of settling its
civilians in occupied Palestinian territory and displacing the local
population contravenes fundamental rules of international humanitarian
law." (1)
Indeed, the international consensus, since 1967, has been that these
Israeli settlements are unlawful. As early as 1980, UN Security Council
Resolution 465 called on the State of Israel "to dismantle the existing
settlements and, in particular, to cease, on an urgent basis, the estab-
lishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territo-
ries occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem." The International
Committee of the Red Cross and the Conference of High Contracting
Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention have reaffirmed that settlements
violate international humanitarian law. The illegality of the settle-
ments was similarly reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 2334,
passed in December 2016, which condemns the "flagrant violation" of
international law, and reiterates the Security Council's call on the
State of Israel to cease all settlement activities in the occupied
territories.
Despite the clear illegality of this pattern of conduct, which has led
to the expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians from their land
(often in a violent manner), this practice has continued. Moreover,
these illegal settlement activities have been funded by organizations
here in New York State. In fact, between 2017 and 2019 alone, organiza-
tions that are known to primarily fund illegal settler activities
fundraised over $144 million in New York State. This funding stream is
known to sustain illegal settler activity, and has enabled settlements
to significantly expand in recent years. Although they are in direct
violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, these
organizations masquerade as charities, and funnel hundreds of millions
of dollars to illegal settlement activities, while enjoying tax-exempt
status in New York.
In short, New York State is effectively subsidizing illegal activity
abroad, including war crimes, and has been complicit in violent dislo-
cations of Palestinian people. This bill clarifies that New York State
not-for-profit corporations cannot subsidize such illegal activity, and
prevents non-profit corporations from abusing their tax-exempt status to
reinforce and further the State of Israel's illegal settlement expansion
and state violence against Palestinians.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
No prior legislative history.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
(1) https://www.amnesty.ora/enilatest/campaigns/2019/01/ chapter-3-is-
raeli-settlements-and-international-law/
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6943--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 9, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MAMDANI, SHRESTHA, FORREST, MITAYNES, GALLAGHER
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Corporations, Authori-
ties and Commissions -- recommitted to the Committee on Corporations,
Authorities and Commissions in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2
-- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the not-for-profit corporation law, in relation to
establishing the "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli
settler violence act" to prohibit not-for-profit corporations from
engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler
3 violence act".
4 § 2. The not-for-profit corporation law is amended by adding a new
5 section 116 to read as follows:
6 § 116. Unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity.
7 (a) Definitions. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
8 contrary, for the purposes of this section, the following terms shall
9 have the following meanings:
10 (1) "Unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity" means aiding
11 and abetting activity by the Israeli armed forces, the government of
12 Israel, or citizen thereof, that is illegal pursuant to the Rome Statute
13 of the International Criminal Court or under any of the international
14 treaties signed at Geneva on the twelfth day of August, nineteen forty-
15 nine, as amended, or any protocol to such convention to which the United
16 States is a party, including:
17 (i) the unlawful transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied territo-
18 ry;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10667-06-4
A. 6943--A 2
1 (ii) acts of violence committed by Israeli citizens against protected
2 persons living in occupied territory, including but not limited to homi-
3 cide, assault, and other acts of physical violence; use of firearms,
4 explosives, or other deadly force; the killing or harming of animals,
5 livestock, trees, or crops; the destruction, damage, or vandalism of
6 Palestinian property; or blocking access to Palestinian lands by fencing
7 off land, erecting structures, or other means;
8 (iii) the forced transfer or eviction of protected persons within
9 occupied territory, or the deportation of protected persons from occu-
10 pied territory;
11 (iv) the unilateral acquisition and annexation of land in occupied
12 territory; and/or
13 (v) the appropriation, expropriation, seizure, destruction, demoli-
14 tion, dismantlement, or confiscation, in whole or in part, of private
15 Palestinian land or residential, business, social, or public structures
16 or infrastructure, inhabited or uninhabited, including but not limited
17 to homes, apartment buildings, retail shops, food markets, animal shel-
18 ters, walls, warehouses, water pipes, water storage facilities, sewage
19 systems, electrical lines, roads, medical facilities, and network facil-
20 ities.
21 (2) "Occupied territory" means the Israeli-occupied West Bank, includ-
22 ing East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
23 (3) "Protected persons" includes civilians in occupied territory in
24 accordance with international humanitarian law.
25 (b) Unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity prohibited.
26 Unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity by a not-for-profit
27 corporation shall be prohibited as against public policy and inconsist-
28 ent with any charitable purpose.
29 (c) Recovery of civil penalty by attorney general. The attorney gener-
30 al may bring an action in the name and on behalf of the state against
31 any trustee, director, manager, or other officer or agent of a not-for-
32 profit corporation, or against a not-for-profit corporation, foreign or
33 domestic, to recover a sum of not less than one million dollars for
34 knowingly engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activ-
35 ities in violation of paragraph (b) of this section. Such action shall
36 be brought no later than ten years after the commission of the act upon
37 which such action is based.
38 (d) Private right of action. An individual damaged by a violation of
39 this section may bring a civil action against any trustee, director,
40 manager, or other officer or agent of a not-for-profit corporation, or
41 against a not-for-profit corporation, foreign or domestic, to enjoin
42 unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activities by a not-for-pro-
43 fit corporation in violation of paragraph (b) of this section and
44 recover actual damages for knowingly engaging in such violations. Such
45 action shall be brought no later than ten years after the commission of
46 the act upon which such action is based. A court may also award attor-
47 neys' fees to a prevailing plaintiff.
48 § 3. Subparagraph 3-b of paragraph (a) of section 102 of the not-for-
49 profit corporation law, as amended by chapter 23 of the laws of 2014, is
50 amended to read as follows:
51 (3-b) "Charitable purposes" of a corporation means one or more of the
52 following purposes: charitable, educational, religious, scientific,
53 literary, cultural or for the prevention of cruelty to children or
54 animals. The term "charitable purposes" shall not include any acts
55 committed in violation of section one hundred sixteen of this article.
A. 6943--A 3
1 § 4. Paragraph (a) of section 112 of the not-for-profit corporation
2 law is amended by adding a new subparagraph 11 to read as follows:
3 (11) To dissolve a charitable corporation for violations of section
4 one hundred sixteen of this article.
5 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
