The watchdog Stop Antisemitism shared a dossier with JNS of people using GoFundMe pages to raise money “after facing consequences for their antisemitic actions.”
Liora Rez, president and CEO of the nonprofit, told JNS that it is “highlighting these specific individuals, because their GoFundMe campaigns remain active, meaning they continue to have the ability to solicit and receive financial support.” (JNS sought comment from GoFundMe.)
One of the people identified in the dossier is a female minor, which violates the website’s terms of service, according to Rez.
StopAntisemitism posted a video in August that it said shows the minor, then a Burger King staffer, asking a Jewish customer, with a Star of David around his neck, about “his origin” and saying, “free Palestine.”
According to the dossier, Burger King fired the employee, who then launched a GoFundMe campaign stating that she was “simply exercising my freedom of speech.” She has raised more than $255,000 to date.
“StopAntisemitism filed a complaint regarding this issue, yet her campaign is one of many that remains active,” Rez told JNS.
Another person in the dossier is Fatana Karimi, owner of Karimi Brows, a beauty business in Alexandria, Va. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a complaint to the Virginia attorney general’s office in September alleging that Karimi denied an American-Israeli Jewish woman service due to her Jewish and Israeli identities, wouldn’t provide her with a refund and then filmed the encounter and posted it to social media.
The dossier noted that Karimi has an active GoFundMe page, which states that the goal is “to not only raise money for Palestinians but also allow me to have some support to financially continue my business.” It has raised more than $3,800 so far.
“Allowing these campaigns to remain active only rewards hateful behavior and creates a dangerous incentive for others to follow the same path,” Rez told JNS.
“GoFundMe and other platforms must act immediately to shut down campaigns that monetize antisemitism,” she said. “Hatred cannot be allowed to become a source of profit.”
