BILL NUMBER: S606
SPONSOR: BRISPORT
 
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
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill adds a new section to the not-for-profit corporation law
prohibiting not-for-profit corporations from aiding or abetting activity
in violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
Section 1 of this bill sets forth the title and section 2 amends the
not-for-profit corporation law by adding a new section 116 regarding
support of illegal settlement activity and war crimes by not-for-profits
in New York State. This section provides restrictions regarding aiding
and abetting activity that is illegal under the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court or any of the international treaties signed
at Geneva on August 12, 1949, or any protocols, and provides specific
examples of such activity to include:
* Unlawful transfer of civilians into occupied territory
* Acts of violence committed by citizens against protected persons
living in occupied territory
*Forced transfer or eviction of protected persons within occupied terri-
tory, or eviction from occupied territory
*Appropriation, expropriation, seizure, destruction, demolition, disman-
tlement, or confiscation, in whole or in part, of private Palestinian
land or residential, business, social, or public structures or infras-
tructure, inhabited or uninhabited
Parts C and D also provide for 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, which may be brought within ten 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," with respect to purposes that would be violations of the new
section of law created by this bill.
Section 4 amends paragraph (a) of section 112 of the not-for-profit
corporation law by adding a new subparagraph 11 to grant the Attorney
General the power to dissolve a non-profit corporation for a violation
of this bill.
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." However, contrary to this well-established
law, the State of Israel has engaged in a pattern of establishing ille-
gal settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, particularly
since its military 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 international law," and "constitutes an obstacle to peace." None-
theless, 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."
Indeed, the international consensus since 1967 has been that these
settlements are unlawful. As early as 1980, UN Security Council Resol-
ution 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 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 dislocations of Palestinian people.
This bill clarifies that New York State charities 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.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: 56992
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.