New York City mayoral primary winner Zohran Mamdani sponsored a bill that would force any New York synagogue or Jewish corporation that gives money to ZAKA, United Hatzalah, or the One Israel Fund to pay a fine of at least $1 million or risk a lawsuit.
The bill, “Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act,” was introduced in the New York State Assembly by Mamdani in May 2023 with the aim of prohibiting New York not-for-profit corporations from engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity.
Mamdani named the Central Fund of Israel as one of the main targets of the bill, known as the Not on Our Dime Act. However, the original version failed to advance after opposition from legislative leaders.
The group behind the bill then began the process of expanding it in May 2024, before reintroducing it in February 2025, when it was referred to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions.
The bill aims to amend the not-for-profit corporation law by adding a new section 116 that would “prohibit not-for-profit corporations from engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity.
For the purposes of the bill, unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity means “aiding and abetting activity by the Israeli armed forces, the government of Israel, or citizen thereof” relating to “the unlawful transfer of Israeli civilians into occupied territory; acts of violence committed by Israeli citizens against protected persons living in occupied territory... destruction, damage, or vandalism of Palestinian property”; and “the appropriation, expropriation, seizure, destruction, demolition, dismantlement, or confiscation, in whole or in part, of private Palestinian land.”
What is occupied territory?
“Occupied territory” is considered to be any area within the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
If the bill were to pass, nonprofit corporations, such as synagogues, would be prohibited from raising money for any organization or individual within the “Occupied territory.”
Contravention of this would lead to a fine of no less than $1 million or civil action.
The bill adds that funding for any West Bank organizations would be considered a violation of an organization’s nonprofit status and, therefore, could lead to its dissolution.
The Not on Our Dime website cites several examples of NY-based charities raising money for settlers, settlements, or the IDF.
According to the group, “The Long Island-based One Israel Fund raised over $2 million – what they typically raise in a year –in just the last few months of 2023, for thermal drones and surveillance cameras for settlers. One of the individuals, who appears in a video thanking the One Israel Fund for a drone, is named by president Biden’s sanction of violent settlers.”
It also names NY-registered Israel Gives, which it says is conducting tax-deductible crowdfunding for Israeli armed forces, including those currently in Gaza.
Moreover, “JGives, a US- and NY-registered nonprofit, has also run fundraising campaigns for the IDF, including a fundraiser for the Yahalom unit fighting in Gaza.”
Aside from aiming to dissolve nonprofits that fund settler activity, the group said it wishes to “explicitly empower Palestinians who have been harmed by the violence funded by these New York-based charities to file a lawsuit against them.”