JERUSALEM — Nonprofit organizations rejected claims by the U.S. Congress Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration directly and indirectly funded the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests.

A May 29 memo detailed findings on whether U.S. government grants were used to fund the protests, based on 1,256 documents from nine organizations and 876 additional documents. The memo indicated funding provided to the organizations had no connection to the reform demonstrations.

The Committee argued that Blue and White Future (BWF), supporting protest headquarters Hofshi B'Artzenu, may have been a downstream recipient of U.S. grants. It argued that government funding for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) allowed these organizations to divert funds to other causes, including the judicial reform protests. The Committee stated, "When an NGO receives government funding for a project, the new funding stream allows the entity to use the money previously earmarked for that project on something else that it would have otherwise not been able to fund."

RPA gave $187,000 to PEF Israel Endowment Funds. PEF gave $18 million to Blue and White Future.

The Committee also scrutinized the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG), which received $42,000 in federal grants between 2020 and 2022. The Committee argued that the grant was used for a civic activism training program at three Jerusalem schools that encouraged students to protest the Israeli government. "The entire claim that they were used for protest activities is false and fundamentally unfounded, and does not stand the test of reality," an MQG spokesperson said. MQG stated that the federal grants were approved during Donald Trump's first term and were used for activities during the governments of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.

The Committee charged that PEF, JCF, and RPA could be violating tax-exempt status by funding organizations seeking to change laws in a foreign country. PEF provided $93,000 to the Jewish Communal Fund (JCF), which included $3,000 earmarked for MQG. "Our work is, and has always been, charitable - not political," a PEF spokesperson said. The spokesperson also stated, "PEF provides charitable support only to organizations that are duly established and recognized under Israeli law and that satisfy the applicable legal and compliance requirements governing our grantmaking."

The Committee reviewed the Abraham Initiatives, which received over $2 million for two projects during the period of the judicial reform protests. The memo stated these grants were for education and policing reform programs.