18 Jun 2024 Mastercard Charged With Maintaining Alliances With Hamas-Supporting Organizations in Violation of Human Rights Policy

Washington, D.C. – Today, on behalf of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP), investigative journalist Jordan Schachtel will present a proposal at Mastercard’s annual shareholder meeting to bring attention to the company’s partnerships with and contributions to ostensible human rights organizations that propagandize for and collaborate with Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza.

Jordan Schachtel

“Shareholders deserve to verify if and to what extent Mastercard is using shareholder assets to fund and promote terrorist-allied organizations,” FEP writes in its supporting statement for Proposal 7, which requests that Mastercard “conduct an evaluation and prepare a report analyzing the congruency of the Company’s charitable contributions and voluntary partnerships with its Human Rights Statement.”

Notably, after FEP submitted this proposal in December 2023, it came to light that employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – one of the organizations named in this proposal – directly participated in the October 7 terror attacks. This and other similar developments were shared with Mastercard, but the company has simply doubled down on its position to host donations for UNRWA.

In its supporting statement for Proposal 7, FEP questions how such partnerships align with Mastercard’s own Human Rights Statement:

Following the barbaric terrorist attack on innocent Israeli civilians and tourists by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other ‘lone wolf’ terrorists on October 7 – the most lethal day for Jews since the Holocaust – a number of NGOs, some of which are human rights organizations that exist for the sole purpose of responding to such tragedies, failed to condemn Hamas and failed to help Israeli victims and their families. Then those same organizations rushed to vilify Israel when it defensively responded, and some also directly assisted terrorists in Gaza.

Such organizations include UNRWA, UNICEF, Red Cross, Islamic Relief, Amnesty International, Save the Children, WHO, WFP, Care, Elevate, International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps.

Mastercard contributes to, has a partnership with or provides a donation platform for every single one of those organizations.

Mastercard’s Human Rights Statement reads: “[I]n recognition of how interconnected the world is and how we contribute to that interconnectivity, we expect our employees and partners of all kinds – from suppliers and customers to peer organizations – to share our commitment to respect and promote human rights.”

Since Mastercard requires its “partners” and “peers” to “respect and promote human rights,” why hasn’t Mastercard ended its partnerships with Hamas-sympathizing organizations? Has Mastercard at least contacted them for not abiding by its Human Rights Statement? The Company has a fiduciary duty to vet how the money it gives away is spent.

Some of these organizations not only propagandize for Jew-hating terrorists, but also directly aid them. UNWRA, for example, provided Hamas with supplies meant for civilians, and the Red Cross failed to properly cooperate with the Israeli government and hostage families in caring for hostages.

Why is Mastercard contributing to or hosting donation platforms for organizations that assist terrorists who slaughter, rape and kidnap innocent Jews?

Mastercard’s Human Rights Statement also claims: “We partner with others to create innovative approaches to prevent our products, services and technologies from being used in activities that may contribute to human rights abuses, including money laundering, terrorist financing and evasion of sanctions.”

To that end, what has Mastercard done to ensure that Hamas, PIJ and ‘lone wolf’ terrorists haven’t used Mastercard services in preparation for the attack? And to ensure that its NGO partners don’t assist terrorists in Gaza, as UNRWA and others have?

Jordan Schachtel will present the proposal at today’s meeting, which will be held virtually at 8:30 am ET. Schachtel, an investigative journalist, foreign policy analyst and publisher of The Dossier, speaks out regularly about the Israel-Gaza conflict.

More information about FEP’s proposals, as well as other key votes, can be found in FEP’s mobile and web app, ProxyNavigator.

About

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 60,000 active recent contributors. Contributions are tax-deductible and may be earmarked for the Free Enterprise Project. Sign up for email updates at https://nationalcenter.org/subscribe/.

Follow us on Twitter at @FreeEntProject and @NationalCenter for general announcements. To be alerted to upcoming media appearances by National Center staff, follow our media appearances Twitter account at @NCPPRMedia.