A prominent Muslim charity is conducting an "internal review" of its relationship with anti-Israel influencer Khaled Beydoun as it faces growing questions over $2 million it paid to Beydoun for "relief" initiatives that were advertised as providing water and other aid to the Gaza Strip.
Human Appeal USA, which bills itself as "America's leading Muslim humanitarian organization," said this month that it "paused our engagement" with Beydoun, a law professor at Arizona State University who has said Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack warranted "considerable celebration."
The group, an American offshoot of the U.K.-based Human Appeal, launched the internal review after a firestorm over the group’s 2024 tax filing, which listed a $2 million payment to Beydoun for "fundraising" services through LaunchGood, a crowdsourcing platform for Muslim fundraisers. Beydoun raised $7 million for the group for initiatives such as "Water for Gaza," which promised to "develop a desalination plant" to provide "safe drinking water to up to 60,000 people for 15 years."
The tax disclosures drew outrage over both the size of the payment to Beydoun and concerns that Human Appeal USA used donations for something other than relief in Gaza. Beydoun claimed he received no "personal payment" from Human Appeal USA and instead "directed funds" to an anti-Islamophobia organization he claims to lead. He also blamed "clerical error[s]" for his name appearing on Human Appeal USA’s tax filings.
The firestorm, which bears similarities to the financial controversies that ripped Black Lives Matter apart at the seams, threatens to embroil the country’s most influential anti-Israel activists and one of the Islamic world’s biggest humanitarian aid charities. Beydoun, a tenured professor at Arizona State’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, has emerged as a prominent speaker on the Muslim speaking circuit in the wake of Oct. 7. He appeared alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) at the annual banquet for the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in November.
Amid the blowback, Human Appeal USA launched a review of its contract with Beydoun on Feb. 6. The nonprofit said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Beydoun, who in turn pledged to give "all" proceeds from Human Appeal USA to fund his purported organization, Islamophobia Research & Advocacy Center.
That review remained "ongoing" as of Thursday, Human Appeal USA told the Washington Free Beacon. "At this point in time, we are not aware of any misuse of funds," the group said.
But Human Appeal’s and Beydoun’s explanations have not satisfied their fellow anti-Israel activists.
Hani Almadhoun, a cofounder of Gaza Soup Kitchen, said Beydoun’s explanation claiming clerical errors was "deeply concerning."
"At that scale, mistakes are not small — they shake trust, not only in one organization, but across the entire humanitarian sector," wrote Almadhoun.
There is no public record of the Islamophobia Research & Advocacy Center that Beydoun claims to oversee. No businesses or charities using that name appear in public records in Arizona, where Beydoun works, or Michigan, where he has lived in the past.
Beydoun, who wrote American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear in 2018, did not respond to multiple emails and phone messages seeking comment.
Wear The Peace, an anti-Israel clothing brand that has donated to Human Appeal USA, said the arrangement with Beydoun is "deeply unethical" regardless of whether he pocketed the money or used it to fund his "Islamophobia" think tank.
"The fundraising was explicitly presented as aid for Gaza, Lebanon, and other humanitarian causes," wrote Wear The Peace, which first reported the Human Appeal USA tax filings on Feb. 5. "Donors gave with the clear understanding that their money would go directly toward relief, not be diverted elsewhere."
According to Wear The Peace, Beydoun lists an organization of that name in the signature line of his emails, but there is no record of such an organization at the Arizona address Beydoun lists for the organization.
Beydoun incorporated a consulting company, Khaled Beydoun & Co., LLC, in January 2024, according to Arizona business records reviewed by the Free Beacon.
Human Appeal USA has flourished in the wake of Oct. 7, amid an outpouring of donations to organizations that oppose Israel and claim to provide relief to Gaza. Human Appeal USA raised $35 million in 2024, according to tax filings, up from $10 million in 2023 and $3 million in 2022.
Human Appeal USA said it is in the process of amending its 2024 tax filing. The group blamed former employees for submitting the inaccurate filing, though it declined to identify the employees and didn't specify what the inaccuracies were.
