Senate panel reportedly probing anti-Netanyahu funding
A bipartisan group of lawmakers have launched a probe into the funding of an American organization linked to an effort to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a Fox News report.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has reportedly launched an inquiry into funding of the Victory 15 (V15), a campaign linked to Washington-based nonprofit OneVoice Movement, according to Fox.
{mosads}“It’s confirmed that there is a bipartisan Permanent Subcommittee inquiry into OneVoice’s funding of V15,” an unnamed source told Fox.
V15 is viewed as part of a broader effort to oust Netanyahu.
“The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations does not comment on ongoing investigations,” Caitlin Conant, spokeswoman for the subcommittee’s chairman, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), told Fox.
OneVoice reportedly received $350,000 in State Department grants, though funding stopped in November, officials said earlier this year, before the Israeli elections were announced and V15 started.
OneVoice’s Payton Knopf said the group “will not be set back by baseless distractions.”
“OneVoice is eager to cooperate with any inquiry, and after a fair examination, we are confident no wrong doing will be found,” Knopf said in a statement shared with The Hill.
In January, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) asked Secretary of State John Kerry about its funding of the group. Last week, they inquired about the group’s nonprofit status.
“While we still don’t have complete answers from Sec. Kerry, OneVoice’s actions raise significant questions about whether it has violated its tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) organization,” Cruz said in a statement.
Several polls put out Friday showed Netanyahu’s Likud party falling behind the Zionist Union ahead of Tuesday’s election.
–This post was updated at 4:52 p.m. to add context and fix a spelling error.
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