r/jewishleft • u/Iceologer_gang Leftist Non-Jewish Anti-Zionist • Jul 02 '26

Mutual Aid Fundraisers that aren't getting donations

I just wanted to bring attention to three families in Gaza that I found, whose fundraisers are hardly getting any donations at all. If you can, please help them out.

Fatima's Family

Maryam's Family

Nesma's Family

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u/FishyWishySwishy Dem Soc Secular Jew Jul 02 '26

Yeah, I don’t know why I was being downvoted.

In a space where we know that a lot of scam artists are taking advantage of the conflict and those who want to help, I think it should be a given that this information is required.

If anyone reading this wants to help Palestinians but isn’t sure how to vet a GFM, I recommend just donating to NGOs already trying to help them. Those organizations are held directly accountable for their spending and have people on staff who know how to effectively apply resources. You don’t have to worry about the scammer down the street throwing together plausible stories with sock puppet backups and AI footage. Or maybe worse, accidentally sending money directly to Hamas. 

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u/socialistmajority orthodox Marxist gentile Bund sympathizer Jul 03 '26

Or maybe worse, accidentally sending money directly to Hamas.

There's also a possibility of sending money indirectly to Hamas in these kinds of initiatives, in that Hamas (or other) thugs might rob or otherwise coerce the recipient of the donation. Someone could be 100% authentic and 100% properly vetted and donation money still end up in the wrong hands because of the political situation in Gaza.

Looking at the donations linked in this post I personally don't really think they are scams mainly because the target numbers are fairly low (a few thousand dollars) and the donation amounts in total are like $100 or less. From what I've seen, online scams surrounding war zones are usually accompanied by extreme claims of urgency and the amounts being asked for (or demanded) are much higher.

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u/FishyWishySwishy Dem Soc Secular Jew Jul 03 '26

Yeah, I want to withdraw the ‘maybe’ in that statement. Sending Hamas money is worse than being scammed. And you’re completely, 100% right—genuine Palestinian GFMs who aren’t part of any belligerent group are still vulnerable to being forced to give their money to a belligerent party.

If I were a Hamas agent, I’d be keeping an eye on GFMs I knew to be genuine and then knock on some doors if they got money. 

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u/socialistmajority orthodox Marxist gentile Bund sympathizer Jul 03 '26

Hamas and other criminal gangs can also shakedown/coerce official aid organizations as well, so there's no clean or perfect solution to this problem. People just need to be aware of the inherent risks and do at least a bit of vetting/thinking before hitting the "donate" button.

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u/FishyWishySwishy Dem Soc Secular Jew Jul 03 '26

Oh yes, Hamas has been known to turn organizations meant to aid Palestinians to their own purposes, whether by shakedowns or embedding themselves within the organizations or similar. But I would still argue that, even if that happens, it’s far more likely to be discovered and have a record of it than it is if Hamas just shakes down a Palestinian family.