The Rockefeller Brothers Fund touts its commitment to advancing "social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world." It also bankrolls an Israeli-designated Palestinian terror group and has given millions more to groups that fund Hamas or have justified the terrorist group’s attacks against Israel.
Established by the heirs of John D. Rockefeller Jr., the Rockefeller Brothers Fund has since 2018 funneled more than $3.4 million to Hamas-friendly groups including Defense for Children International-Palestine, which serves as a critical cog in the terror group’s propaganda machinery.
In fact, the Israeli government declared Defense for Children International-Palestine a terror organization in October 2021, arguing that it effectively operates as an extension of the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and employs senior PFLP members.
Defense for Children International-Palestine has received $165,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund since 2018 and propagates shoddy research that is weaponized by Israel’s detractors to delegitimize the Jewish state. Since Israel began retaliatory strikes against Hamas, it has amplified the false claim that an Israeli airstrike killed 500 Palestinians at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. Democratic lawmakers have relied on the group’s flawed statistics to push anti-Israel legislation in the House. In May, nearly 30 Democrats led by Rep. Betty McCollum (Minn.) introduced a bill accusing Israel of wrongfully detaining Palestinian children, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Defense for Children International-Palestine’s ties to terror were public knowledge long before Israel designated the group a terrorist organization in 2021. The Jerusalem Post reported in 2018 that many of the group's top officials and board members were linked to the PFLP, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. At the time, Stephen Heintz, the fund’s president, defended the group’s support for Defense of Children International-Palestine, telling the Jerusalem Post in a letter to the editor that he was "convinced" that none of the group’s resources funded terrorist activity.
The fund, which former vice president Nelson Rockefeller and his four brothers launched in 1940, has been responsive to pressure from left-wing groups to amend its portfolio. The group pledged in 2014 to divest from fossil fuels, a move that vice chair Valerie Rockefeller Wayne described as a "moral obligation." Heintz agreed, saying it "felt like we were compromising ourselves" by holding stakes in oil companies.
Heintz has made no such argument when it comes to Palestinian terrorism as his fund pledges to work toward a "peaceful world."
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has also doled out $580,000 to the Education for Just Peace in the Middle East, a group that has been accused of abusing its charity status to bankroll Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups. Other recipients of the fund’s largess include Jewish Voice for Peace, which organized a Wednesday raid on a congressional office building, resulting in the arrests of over 300 pro-Palestinian protesters.
Jewish Voice for Peace, which has received $490,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund since 2019, argued in the hours after Hamas launched its attacks that "Israeli apartheid and occupation" was the sole source of the violence. "Inevitably, oppressed people everywhere will seek—and gain—their freedom. We all deserve liberation, safety, and equality," the group said in a statement.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has given an additional $2.2 million since 2018 to other groups that have issued statements either justifying Hamas or blaming Israel for the terrorist attacks.
Rockefeller Brothers Fund trustee Peter Beinart gave his full-throated endorsement of Jewish Voice for Peace’s move to storm the congressional office building. In a series of tweets, he praised the courage of the demonstrators and claimed they care deeply about the 1,400 Israelis murdered by Hamas.
I know some Jews-perhaps many-will look at these folks + think they don't care about the Israelis who were murdered + captured, that they are indifferent to Jewish safety. It's not true. They care deeply. They just believe that Jewish safety depends on Palestinians being safe too https://t.co/0YoMk4SVoX
— Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart) October 19, 2023
Beinart isn’t the only Rockefeller Brothers Fund Trustee with anti-Israel tendencies. Three other trustees of the fund—David Rockefeller Jr., Miranda Kaiser, and Marnie Pillsbury—are members of the Council on Foreign Relations, an influential Washington D.C., think tank that came under fire in September for hosting a private, invitation-only event with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who has threatened Israel’s destruction and praised the Hamas terrorist attacks as a "glorious operation."
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund did not return a request for comment.