“As a vector for antisemitic conspiracy theories, Holocaust revisionism, incitement to hatred and supporting a cause associated with terrorism, GoFundMe is in violation of its own Terms and Conditions... the company is urged to investigate.”
Paris, 4 June 2018
In a letter to GoFundMe.com CEO, Rob Salomon, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, revealed that “the company has been abused as a vector for antisemitic conspiracy theories, incitement to hatred, Holocaust revisionism and a cause, reportedly, associated with terrorism – all in violation of its Terms and Conditions.”
Samuels explained that, “through GoFundMe, a self-acclaimed American journalist, Cat Watters, successfully appealed for money to participate in the Gaza flotilla.”
The letter continued, “Watters, however, goes beyond political activism in using her GoFundMe campaign page <https://www.gofundme.com/freedom-flotilla-coalition-2018> to post an antisemitic conspiracy theory: ‘When viewed in the current context, the war on Iraq, the 2006 war on Lebanon, the 2011 war on Libya, the ongoing war on Syria, not to mention the process of regime change in Egypt, must be understood in relation to the Zionist plan for the Middle East...’ attributing this defamation to a so-called Yinon Plan, for a ‘Greater Israel from the Nile Valley to the Euphrates’...”
The Centre stressed that:
- “Watters thanks donors on her GoFundMe page who have posted antisemitic messages, e.g. a plot of the two Bush Presidents, described as ‘One used the CIA for IsraHell to murder the Kennedys’... ‘The other helped the Mossad pull off 9/11’...”
- “On her Facebook page, Watters shares such antisemitic canards as ‘Israel did 9/11’ and ‘The Rothschild agent [President Macron] who convinced Trump to stay in Syria... Why would France want to wage war illegally against the government of Syria?... we are really not talking about French national interest at all – but about Zionist international interests, headed by the Rothschilds,’ authored by Christopher Bollyn of Americans Against Genocide in Gaza.”
- “The 2018 Freedom Flotilla, supported by Watters, is the initiative of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), associated with the Turkish IHH – accused of ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and under investigation for links with Al-Qaeda and ISIS.”
<www.dw.com/en/russia-claims-turkish-ngos-are-main-supplier-of-extremists-in-syria/a-19159685>
- “FFC’s objective, this July, is to break open the blockade against the smuggling of advanced weaponry to Hamas, predominantly from Iran – irregardless of potential loss of life.”
- “Watters' latest GoFundMe donor, Medea Benjamin of Code Pink: Women for Peace campaigns for BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions against Israel), admits her cooperation with Hamas, organizes trips to Gaza and glorifies the terrorist Khalida Jarrar of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”
- “On her page, Watters congratulates Shakira for cancelling her show in Israel.”
- “Watters, only last week, in another fundraiser for the Gaza campaign, hosted on her Peoples Interest Radio Show <www.PeoplesInternetRadio.com> Kevin Barrett, who claimed that ‘the Kennedy brothers [were] likely killed by the CIA on behalf of Israel’.” <https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.com>
- “Just returned from a conference in Iran, Barrett is a known Holocaust revisionist, as in:
‘Spielberg: Never forget our holocaust – its what lets us perpetrate another one!’...”
<www.veteranstoday.com/2018/05/06/spielberg-urges-mandatory-holocaust-education-theme-parks>
The letter informed Mr. Salomon that “Watters is leaving the United States on 11 June to join the flotilla in Gijon, Spain, continuing its sail to Cadiz and Lisbon into the Mediterranean – all at the generosity of GoFundMe.”
“Nevertheless, her campaign, despite all the above, is still active, in violation of GoFundMe’s contractual condition that fundraisers not run ‘campaigns deemed by GoFundMe, in its sole discretion, to be in support of, or for the legal defence of alleged crimes associated with hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorism or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex gender or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases.’...”
Samuels argued that “the above definition of abuse must certainly include the funding, directly or indirectly, of the Gaza flotilla, through Cat Watters and her donors.”
The Centre “urged an investigation and a monitoring system requiring the immediate cancellation by GoFundMe of accounts affiliated with any form of incitement to hate or violence.”
“We call on you, as CEO, to publicly condemn the above case as a message to those who would undermine your outstanding charitable mission,” concluded Samuels.