The anti-Israel protests at Columbia University have raised several eyebrows as these protests are not only pro-Hamas but also well-funded by billionaires like George Soros. Anti-Israel protesters have been criticising President Joe Biden for months over the American government’s support to Israel.
Biden has been repeatedly called “Genocide Joe” by the protesters. However, a report by Politico suggests that these protesting groups are being funded by organisations that are pushing for Biden’s re-election as the President of the United States. The list of donors includes Rockefeller and Pritzker along with Soros.
Rockefellers backing anti-Israel protests
Two of the organisations that have heavily funded the protests at Columbia University and other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Tides Foundation has backed these two organisations which are also funded by George Soros. Earlier, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was among the top donors of this organisation but they no longer provide any grants to it. Furthermore, Politico found no funding for Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow by the Gates Foundation.
Reportedly, David Rockefeller Jr, one of the top donors pushing Biden’s re-election, is on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Tides Foundation received a USD 300,000 grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In the past five years, the Tides Foundation has given around USD 500,000 to Jewish Voice for Peace. Notably, the organisation describes itself as anti-Zionist.
Tides Foundation also provide financial support to Adalah Justice Project which was involved in the protests at Columbia University. It also supports Palestine Legal which is a legal defence fund to provide legal assistance to “student protesters” who mobilise “against genocide”. Tides has been funding Palestine Legal since 2013 and Adalah Justice Project since 2016.
In a reply to the query by Politico, Sarah Edkins, communications director of Rockefeller Brothers Fund said, “Others Fund noted it cannot support political activity or campaigns and is not involved in the personal political giving of trustees.”
Pritzker links to anti-Israel protests
Biden is also backed by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire. A few months ago, they donated USD 6,600 to the Biden Victory Fund and USD 300,000 during the 2020 campaign. They have also funded the anti-Israel protests at the campuses.
Some groups are funded by pro-Biden organisations that are questioning Biden’s decisions regarding Israel but not looking for an alternative to the Biden administration. One such organisation is Solitaire Action which is funded by Pritzkers. A spokesperson of the organisation barn Qaasim said, “A lot of our members are supporting actions that are trying to hold Biden accountable, which is not the same thing as opposing Biden. It’s saying we desperately don’t want the alternative.”
Another group funded by Pritzker is the Libra Foundation which actively funds small groups in the name of “criminal justice, environment and gender justice”. Climate Justice Alliance, Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity, Immigrant Defence Project and others have promoted anti-Israel protests. All of these were funded by the Libra Foundation.
Intensified protests by groups backed by pro-Biden organisations
Such donations raise the question if there is any line between liberal causes and Democratic politics. Interestingly, the protests funded by these organisations have become intense. The protesters do not hesitate to take over university buildings and raise slogans that are anti-Semitic.
In short, these organisations fund anything and everything without going into the day-to-day businesses of the groups that receive the grants or subgrants. These funds, in a way, admit to giving money to disruptive organisations that may lead to law and order problems in the country.
Criticism by Democrats
Violent acts of the protesters have attracted a lot of criticism. Politico quoted Elisha Wiesel of the Elie Wiesel Foundation questioning Rockefeller Fund backing Jewish Voice for Peace. Elisha said, “Why [is the Rockefeller Fund] giving significant grants to Jewish Voice for Peace, [which] blamed the horrific Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the United States rather than Hamas?” Notably, Elisha is one of the Democratic donors and chair Elie Wiesel Foundation. The organisation support anti-genocide work.
Some organisations prefer not to fund groups that are pro-Hamas. Daniel Goldwin, who is public affairs executive director of the Jewish United Fund in Chicago said, “We’re hearing from folks who want to make sure that their dollars aren’t supporting people who are supporting Hamas and shouting antisemitic things. If it’s an organization they’ve been giving to for a long time, we encourage them to call and communicate their concerns.”
Jewish Voice for Peace blame Israel for the October terror attack
Interestingly, the Jewish Voice for Peace blamed Israel for the 7th October terrorist attack. Immediately after the Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed over 1,300 people, Jewish Voice for Peace issued a statement blaming Israel and the US for the attack. The statement read, “The Israeli government may have just declared war, but its war on Palestinians started over 75 years ago. Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States complicity in that oppression — are the source of all this violence. Reality is shaped by when you start the clock.”
The organisation claimed that Hamas initiated the terror attack killing hundreds of Israelis as the result of “16 years of Israeli military blockade”. The statement did not mention Hamas, the terrorist organisation, but called them “Palestinian fighters”.
Democrats believe protests won’t affect Biden’s election campaign
While the Biden administration is facing criticism for supporting Israel, there are some Democrats who believe these protests would not affect Biden’s election campaign. Jill Zipin, co-founder and chair of Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania, one of the Democrats’ backers, claimed foreign policy does not determine the elections. He said, “The protest movement and the encampments probably won’t be an issue in November, but it’s really hard to say because things can change quickly.”
Omar Wasow, a scholar who studies protest movements and their political effects chose the sentiment and said, “If it [the protests] somehow winds down, you see Americans don’t care a lot about foreign policy, and it’s likely to not to play out in the election.”
George Soros funding anti-Israel protests
In a commentary published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), journalist Ira Stoll emphasised, “Two of America’s largest philanthropic foundations are behind a group that has paid some of the anti-Israel activists for the kind of antics disrupting campuses across the country.”
He pointed out that two of the student activists, namely Malak Afaneh and Craig Birckhead-Morton, who were involved in anti-Semitic protests and subsequently arrested by the police, were ‘youth fellows‘ of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
According to Ira Stoll, the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights pays $2880-$3360 to ‘campus-based fellows’ for 8 hours of work/ week for 3 months. The said work includes campaigning for cutting military, financial, and diplomatic ties of the United States with Israel.
He added that the fellowships were sponsored by ‘Education for Just Peace in the Middle East’, receiving $7,00,000 from Open Society Foundations (OSF) run by George and Alex Soros since 2018. The corporate entity was also given $5,15,000 by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund between 2019 and 2023. “Do the Rockefeller and Soros families want their money to be used to advocate for Hamas’s war aims?” asked Ira Stoll.
OpIndia had earlier reported how ‘The People’s Forum’, which has been at the helm of anti-Israeli protests in the United States, came under the scanner over its financing by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) supporter Neville Roy Singham.
George Soros’s attack on India
Notably, George Soros has been actively propagating to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power. He has been funding multiple organisations in the country to create political instability. Interestingly, in a recent report by the US Sate Department on Human Rights in India, accusations against George Soros were whitewashed as ‘antisemitism’. The Human Rights Practices report read, “Government officials made public statements and released social media posts alleging certain opposition political party figures and diaspora leaders were connected to George Soros, playing on an antisemitic conspiracy theory of an “all-controlling Jewish individual” who was influencing events in the country. On October 6, the BJP’s official X account posted an edited image depicting Rahul Gandhi being controlled by Soros.” While US State Department claim any accusation against Soros is anti-Semitism, the billionaire himself is funding organisations that prominently call themselves anti-Zionists.
