The Maccabee Task Force (MTF) is a fundraising group oriented against

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations u ...

(BDS), funded largely by Sheldon Adelson as of 2017.

History

MTF was founded in 2015.

Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Gary Adelson (; August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, political donor and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns th ...

expressed interest in formation of three components in MTF: a donor group for funding, an on-campus activist group to propagate MTF efforts on the ground, and a researcher group to investigate anti-Israel groups and opportunities for legal challenges to them. Adelson aimed to opposed the

and the groups

Students for Justice in Palestine Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a pro-Palestinian college student activism organization in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. It has campaigned for boycott and divestment against corporations that deal with Israel and organize ...

and

Muslim Student Association The Muslim Students Association, or Muslim Student Union, of the U.S. and Canada, also known as MSA National, is a religious organization dedicated to establishing and maintaining Islamic societies on college campuses in Canada and the United S ...

in particular. Leaving his position as executive of

Christians United for Israel Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is an American Christian organization that supports Israel. Its statement of purpose is; "to provide a national association through which every pro-Israel church, parachurch organization, ministry or individua ...

(often shortened to CUFI), David Brog joined as MTF executive in 2015. Initial fundraising for MTF raised over $50 million. As of 2018, Brog was still executive director. MTF's Brog says the organization concentrated its efforts on six California campuses through 2016, expanding to twenty in 2017. Brog announced at the end of the 2018–2019 school year that MTF would expand to over 100 schools. In 2019, MTF announced that it would expand internationally in 2020, though it did not specify to which countries.

Relationship to other groups

MTF is a major funder of Act.IL, a volunteer group that highlights and propagates pro-Israel information online. MTF is one of the largest donors to

PragerU PragerU is an American advocacy group that creates videos promoting a conservative viewpoint on various political, economic, and sociological topics. It was co-founded by Allen Estrin and talk show host and writer Dennis Prager in 2009. Despite ...

, a conservative visual media site. PragerU promoted five videos on its front featuring MTF.

References

External links

* {{Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 2015 establishments Opposition to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Zionist organizations Sheldon Adelson