PayPal becomes third payment processor to stop working with Palestinian terror-tied group

EXCLUSIVE — PayPal has become the third major payment processor to cut ties with an anti-Israel group as a direct result of a Washington Examiner series on its Palestinian terror connections.

Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), earlier this month called on PayPal to stop handling donations for the Arizona-based Alliance for Global Justice, a charity that has come under legal pressure for its ties to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terror group. Now, PayPal has jumped ship from boosting the nonprofit organization, following the companies Stripe and Salsa Labs doing the same earlier this year, the Washington Examiner has learned.

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“My team recently had an in-depth discussion with PayPal, during which we expressed our serious concern about its partnership with Alliance for Global Justice,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner.

“I’m pleased to announce that today PayPal committed to me that it no longer services this entity,” he said. “For American companies, national security should be more important than the bottom line. Doing business with fiscal sponsors of Palestinian terrorists is not acceptable.”

The revelation is the latest blow to Alliance for Global Justice’s ability to rake in cash for itself and the 140 organizations it fiscally sponsors, including Samidoun, which has shared staffers with the Popular Front, according to Zachor Legal Institute, a think tank that contacted the Treasury Department and IRS about companies working with the Arizona group. Alliance for Global Justice also sponsors the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a coalition accused of having terror ties that the Democratic fundraising giant ActBlue recently booted off its platform.

AFGJ had to move its fundraising operation to PayPal after Stripe, the Irish-American payment processor that handled $817 billion transactions in 2022, parted ways with it in early September. Salsa Labs stopped working with AFGJ in February, prompting the Arizona charity to put out a 1,000-word statement urging donors to send paper checks. Watchdogs, including Israel’s NGO Monitor, have also zoned in on how AFGJ has sponsored Collectif Palestine Vaincra, which it says has coordinated with the Popular Front for a child “indoctrination” camp in the Gaza Strip.

AFGJ’s online fundraising portal now produces an error that reads, “Your payment has been declined,” when the donation button is pressed. The organization, which did not return a Washington Examiner request for comment, published a press release on its website noting that its projects have “found themselves to be targets of right-wing media attacks.

“The accusations caused financial institutions to cancel AFGJ’s contracts for accepting credit card donations for itself and its projects, distributing funds to projects, and carrying on other vital forms of business, without any investigation or due process by the banks,” Alliance for Global Justice said this week. “AFGJ and its 140 fiscally-sponsored projects were suddenly de-platformed, blocked, from using these services. Projects that depend upon these tools have seen their payrolls, rent payments, and other critical financial transactions blocked.”

Prior to PayPal cutting ties with Alliance for Global Justice, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee had a call with leadership from the company. In that call, PayPal appeared caught off guard by national security concerns from the panel over the company boosting AFGJ, and indicated it was opening a review, according to a source on the call who is not authorized to speak publicly. On the Senate side, Rubio contacted the Treasury Department for answers.

A second source familiar with the House call told the Washington Examiner that PayPal emphasized that, in situations like this, it typically looks at its terms and conditions to understand if entities remain in compliance. The committee asked if PayPal determined any policies were broken, but PayPal was vague and didn’t cite any rules, said the source, who also requested anonymity.

“For privacy reasons, we cannot comment on specific accounts,” Paypal spokeswoman Caitlin Girouard told the Washington Examiner.

PayPal’s move comes years after it joined other companies in severing ties with Samidoun, which in 2021 was designated by Israel’s government as a terror group and a PFLP “subsidiary,” documents show. PayPal also in 2020 reportedly closed Collectif Palestine Vaincra’s account and Discover stopped processing donations for the Alliance for Global Justice in 2021, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

“Despite these attacks, AFGJ remains committed to growing and supporting movements for liberation and justice worldwide, including advocacy for and centering the rights of the Palestinian people,” Alliance for Global Justice said in its recent press release.

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Meanwhile, Congress is beginning to scrutinize revelations, first reported by the Washington Examiner Wednesday, that the State Department is bankrolling the Phoenix Center for Research and Field Studies in Gaza, which NGO Monitor says is “cooperating with” and “supporting” Palestinian terrorists. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) said in a Foreign Affairs panel hearing that the agency acted like “thugs” for supporting the center.

“Let me submit to you, we give y’all over $60 billion a year, the State Department and I’m sure everybody up here will write a strong letter to these terrorists,” Burchett said. “But they’re dirtbags, they’re killing innocent people. That’s why we’re here today talking about this. I submit to you that’s not acceptable, and I think we as a Congress ought to start acting like a Congress, like we’re supposed to do, and have control over this country’s checkbook.”