American Friends of Ateret Cohanim

The American Friends of Ateret Cohanim is a US non-profit whose official object is "Providing funding for Yeshiva Ateret Cohanim, a higher educational institution in Israel."

However, Haaretz reported in August 2009 that money the group donated to Ateret Cohanim was being used primarily for political purposes such as purchasing Arab land in East Jerusalem.

Daniel Luria, chief fund-raiser for Ateret Cohanim in Israel, told Haaretz Sunday that the American organization's registration as an educational entity stemmed from tax considerations.

"We are an umbrella organization that engages in redeeming land," he said. "Our [fund-raising] activity in New York goes solely toward land redemption."

Although Ateret Cohanim also operates a yeshiva, Ateret Yerushalayim, in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, fund-raising for the yeshiva is handled by a different organization: American Friends of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim."