'Politico' Misses Mark in Story on Who's Funding Pro-Palestine Protests Against Biden

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/politico-israel-palestine-protests-biden-gates-1235015478/

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https://archive.li/OX12J

On Sunday, Politico published a story suggesting that foundations tied to several top Democratic donors have been funding the pro-Palestine protest groups dogging President Joe Biden wherever he goes. “Pro-Palestianian protesters are backed by a surprising source: Biden’s biggest donors,” read the headline.

The story quickly went viral — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), for instance, posted on X that the piece confirmed “anti-Israel astroturfing.” Fox News cited the report to write that “President Biden’s biggest Democratic donors are also funding some anti-Israel protests that have taken over college campuses.”

However, a Rolling Stone review of the numbers and filings cited in the Politico report raises questions about many of its claims.

For one, the story attempts to trace relatively small donations through a massive black box, a group that acts as a pass-through entity, into specific recipients’ coffers — something that dark money reporters generally know to avoid. Making matters worse, the foundations named in the story all disclose online where the donations ultimately ended up. In other words, there’s no reason to guess.

Lastly, the story leaves out a few publicly-available details that would help substantiate its overall premise.

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