US fundraising giant GoFundMe banned former Wallaby Israel Folau from its site but had no problems facilitating donations to finance the legal fight of an anti-Semitic activist.
UK activist Pete Gregson was able to raise $1372 to pay for his legal bills after he was sacked from his job as a trade unionist for arguing the Jewish state of Israel “tends to exaggerate the importance of the Holocaust for its own political ends”.
Mr Gregson launched the GoFundMe fundraiser in October and his page is still active despite claiming the funds will go towards a campaign to pressure the British government into sanctioning Israel.
“If other countries then follow suit in sanctioning Israel, we might yet see it forced to abandon its 60-plus race laws to give Palestinians, including those in Gaza and West Bank, the right to vote in Knesset elections in a single-state solution,” Mr Gregson posted.
A GoFundMe spokeswoman defended the decision to remove Folau’s page this week saying the footballer raising funds for his legal fight with Rugby Australia contravened terms and conditions which prohibited the promotion of discrimination.
“While we welcome GoFundMe engaging in diverse civil debate, we do not tolerate the promotion of discrimination or exclusion,” she said.
GoFundMe was also happy to take a small cut from the $18,280 raised for the legal battle of former British Labour candidate Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt. She was also axed for making anti-Semitic comments, including stating that “anti-Semitism has been weaponised by those who seek to silence anti-Zionist voices”.
Read the article by Jack Houghton in The Daily Telegraph.