[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 159 (Wednesday, November 5, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14024-S14025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE FORD FOUNDATION AND THE DURBAN CONFERENCE

  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President. I want to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues troubling reports that indicate one of America's leading 
philanthropic foundations has meddled in world diplomacy in a deeply 
disturbing way.
  Let me say that I think my colleagues know very well that I have 
great respect for the good works done by America's non-profit sector, 
including philanthropic foundations. So much respect, in fact, that, as 
my colleagues know, I am working with some of them to get a conference 
committee to convene with the other body so that we can complete work 
on the CARE Act and provide a range of incentives that would boost 
contributions to charities and foundations at a time of great need.
  And so it pains me that I must come to the floor today to apprise my 
colleagues of allegations that have been reported with regard to some 
of the activities of one of America's leading foundations, the Ford 
Foundation. The reports--published initially by the Jewish Telegraphic 
newswire service and picked up by many newspapers around the country 
and in this week's New Republic magazine--describe how the Ford 
Foundation gave million of dollars to dozen of Palestinian 
organizations that have been in the forefront of the anti--semitic and 
anti-Israel campaign that is ongoing around the world.
  In particular, these reports describe how the Ford Foundation funded 
Palestinian non-governmental organizations, NGOs, that were responsible 
for transforming the 2001 United Nations Conference on Racism held in 
Durban, South Africa into a forum of virulent anti-Semitic and anti-
Israel hate. According to the investigation and reports--which 
interviewed dozens of individuals and reviewed 9,000 pages of 
documents--Ford contributions financed the development of the anti-
Israel strategy and its public relations strategy for dissemination.
  Accroding to the reports, Ford has extended more than $35 million in 
grants to more than 270 Arab and Palestinian NGOs in the 2001-01 period 
alone, and since the 1950s, Ford has distributed nearly $200 million to 
Arab and Islamic NGOs in the Mideast, and many Palestinian operatives 
who were involved in the Durban Conference admit that ``Ford has made 
it possible for us to do much of our work'' and that ``Our biggest 
donations come, of course, from Ford.''
  At least two groups identified in the news reports--the Palestinians 
Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment and 
the Palestinian NGO Network--received more than $2.5 million from Ford 
in the last few years and were key players in hijacking the agenda of 
the Durban conference.
  And let me just remind my colleagues how badly the Durban conference 
was hijacked. It was so bad that Secretary of State Powell declared the 
conference to be ``a transparent attempt to delegitimize the moral 
argument for Israel's existence,'' and Secretary Powell withdrew our 
country's delegation from participation.
  As The New Republic's editor in chief writes--``the Ford Foundation's 
. . . reckless generously is empowering foreign haters and apologists 
for killers.''
  In fairness, the Ford Foundation has denied the charges made in these 
reports. Ford's vice president has said that his institution was 
``shocked by the extremist rhetoric of some participants on Israeli-
Palestinian issues.'' Moreover, Ford has said that it shares our 
government's commitment to ``ensure that grant funds are not diverted 
for terrorist and other purposes.''
  I appreciate these statements by Ford, but I don't believe they have 
put this matter to rest. The news reports are too specific and well 
documented to be dismissed by such generalities.

[[Page S14025]]

  Fellow senators, we are in a war against terrorism and those who hate 
us and those who hate Israel are very often one and the same. We, of 
course, are responsible for ensuring that government funds we 
distribute as foreign aid are serving our national security interests 
and those of our allies. But what I think these reports have brought to 
our attention is that there are other entities out there, foundations, 
and not just of the sort that are part of extremist communities whose 
clear purpose is to channel funds to the terrorists and against whom 
the Treasury Department is moving aggressively and indictments are 
being handed down but well known, respected foundations can undermine 
our policies and activities by making an end run and supporting those 
with whom we deeply disagree,
  As a member of the Finance Committee, I am going to be asking 
Chairman Grassley that the committee look into this more deeply and 
again review the controls we have in place for foundation activities 
and grant overseas.

                          ____________________