Fact check: Netanyahu, Smotrich's claim of $1b. Biden aid to judicial reform foes debunked
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and other members of the government and coalition falsely claimed on Saturday and Sunday that the former US administration led by President Joe Biden provided nearly 1 billion dollars in aid to Israeli groups who protested the government's controversial 2023 judicial reforms.
Netanyahu's endorsement of the false claim came in the form of the sharing of a post by the Likud party from Friday afternoon. The Likud's post citeda report by the US Committee on the Judiciary published a day earlier. According to the Likud and Netanyahu, "An official document published by the US Congress reveals astonishing information confirming what many have long suspected: the previous US administration transferred close to a billion dollars to left-wing organizations in Israel."
The data provided by the report, however, show that the maximum government funds that reached the protest groups in question were less than $600,000.
The Likud and Netanyahu called the efforts an attempt to "undermine the rule of a democratically elected, stable right-wing government,' adding that "as part of the attempt to overthrow the government, external pressures were applied, leading to a deep social rift, encouragement of disobedience, and dangerous divisions within Israeli society."
In a conference on Sunday morning, Smotrich repeated the false claim.
'Over the weekend, a report was released by the US Congress Judiciary Committee revealing that nearly one billion dollars were transferred to approximately 1,000 NGOs with the aim of dismantling the right-wing government and the broader national camp. This is reportedly being supported not only through funding but also by the mobilization of media and academia in service of this campaign.'
'If anyone is wondering what the government has had to face from the moment it was formed, and what challenges it continues to contend with, this event must be understood first, before delving into discussions about its achievements, successes, and failures,' Smotrich concluded.
The report listed a large number of anti-judicial reform organizations and cited various funding sources. However, a large majority of the funds listed in the report either did not originate from the US government or did not reach the organizations in question.
The report noted that Congress's Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 26 sent letters to six US and Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to request 'documents related to any grants, cooperative agreements, or other awards received from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) or State Department.'
The NGOs in question
The six NGOs were Blue and White Future, Movement for Quality Government in Israel, PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Jewish Communal Fund, Middle East Peace Dialogue Network, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA). According to the report, the organizations produced 380 total documents.
According to the report, between 2021-2024 PEF Israel Endowment Funds, which provided some 18 million USD to the protest group Blue and White Future (BWF), received some $187,000 from the RPA, which itself received approximately 50 million USD in grants from the Biden administration during the same period. The report does not specify whether the $187,000 of aid were part of the funds transferred to the protest groups, nor how much of it was received after the protests began in early 2023.
The report mentions a second grant as originating in the RPA that reached anti-judicial reform groups. According to the report, between 2021-2024 RPA donated $557,000 to its 'affiliate and partner' Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), which in 2023 donated $370,000 to three groups affiliated with the protests – Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), New Israel Fund (NIF), and 'Brothers and Sisters in Arms.' Following the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, the latter organization ceased protests and launched a logistics center based on philanthropy and volunteers to assist IDF reservists and civilian evacuees. The report did not specify whether or not the RBF funds were given before or after October 7.
The report also mentions $42,000 in direct aid from the US government to the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG). MQG was a central organization in the protests, but the funds in question were earmarked for educational activities for students in the 11th and 12th grades.
A series of other contributions listed in the report to a number of organizations either did not originate in US federal funding, or did not reach protest organizations.
The Likud claim about nearly 1 billion USD in aid may have originated in a stat in the report, noting that PEF Israel Endowment Funds, according to which 'between 2021 and 2024, PEF, a US-based tax-exempt entity, provided more than $884 million to over 1,000 Israeli organizations, including groups involved in the judicial reform.'
However, the report does not provide proof of any state funding that may have reached PEF other than the aforementioned $187,000, and the sum of grants that the report lists as originating from the US government is below $600,000. The actual number is likely far less, since the grants in question were provided between 2021-2024 and therefore likely came in part before the announcement of the judicial reforms in January 2023. The report also assumes that the grants provided by RPA came specifically from its income from federal funds, even though the organization receives private funding as well.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Columbia University janitors settle case after being held hostage by anti-Israel rioters on campus
Two Columbia University maintenance staff workers who alleged they were held hostage by anti-Israel protesters during a riot last year and were forced to scrub swastikas have settled a complaint with the Ivy League school. Lester Wilson and Mario Torres settled with the university for an undisclosed sum, days after Columbia announced a $220 million settlement with the Trump administration for civil rights violations and racially discriminatory practices in an effort to restore federal funding, the New York Post reported. The settlement included $200 million over discrimination claims and another $20 million to employees who alleged they were victims of civil rights violations. Wilson and Torres filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which sparked a civil rights probe into the school. The two men are still moving ahead with a lawsuit against 40 protesters they allege held them hostage inside the school's Hamilton Hall building. The pair, who have reportedly worked at the university for five years, claim they were assaulted as protesters stormed the campus building April 29, 2024. The protesters allegedly "terrorized the two men into the early morning of April 30th, assaulted and battered them, held them against their will," the lawsuit states. When the janitors attempted to "defend" Hamilton Hall from the individuals, they were called "Jew-lovers," "Jew-worker" and "Zionist." At the time, the protesters renamed the building "Hinds Hall." Prior to taking over Hamilton Hall, the protesters allegedly agreed they would "intimidate, harass, bribe, threaten, and/or assault and batter such employees" who posed a threat to their plan, the lawsuit said. At one point, Torres reportedly used a fire extinguisher to defend himself and was hit on the back by protesters while Wilson was shoved and had furniture pushed into him. "'I'm going to get twenty guys up here to f--- you up'," one masked rioter who shoved Torres threatened, according to the complaint. Both custodians claimed they had sustained physical injuries and PTSD as a result of the Hamilton Hall takeover. They have returned to work since, a source told the Post. Officers with the New York Police Department eventually cleared the building and made more than 100 arrests. Before the riot at Hamilton Hall, Torres was required to scrub swastikas and became upset over the feeling that Columbia failed to take aggressive action against the vandals. "They were so offensive, and Columbia's inaction was so frustrating, that he eventually began throwing away chalk that had been left in the classrooms so vandals would not have anything to write with," Torres' complaint alleged. Fox News Digital has reached out to Columbia and Torridon Law, the firm founded by former Attorney General William Barr, which represented the two men in their complaint against the school.


USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
The details of Columbia's extraordinary $220 million deal with Trump
From academics to admissions, here's what the Ivy League school agreed to. WASHINGTON – Columbia University just inked a deal with President Donald Trump that's unlike any other in the history of American higher education. The 22-page agreement, meant to address accusations by Trump that Columbia has violated federal laws, is sweeping. Changes to admissions, academic departments, campus security and hiring are all hammered out in it. In return, the deal eases the extraordinary pressure the school has faced since March. Hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding will begin flowing again. Other federal probes, including ones that jeopardized the school's access to financial aid, will cease. For the first time, the accord sets a definitive price tag for a U.S. college to assuage the Trump administration, which has made no secret of its disdain for many universities, especially the richest and most selective ones. For Columbia, the cost of mollifying Trump was steep. Claire Shipman, the university's president, agreed the school would pay a $200 million fine to resolve funding disputes, plus an additional $21 million designated for university employees who said they'd faced discrimination or harm amid campus protests related to the Israel-Hamas war. Read more: How Columbia University became the epicenter of disagreement over the Israel-Hamas war Here are some of the details of the deal: "This was a really, really complex problem," Shipman told CNN the morning after she made the announcement. "I will argue over and over again that choosing to listen, choosing to try to solve the problem with everything that we had at stake is not capitulation." President Trump and Linda McMahon, his education secretary, have touted the agreement, saying it addresses years of conservative grievances with higher education – and offers a blueprint for future deals with campuses facing similar scrutiny. Read more: After $220 million Columbia deal, Trump promises more to come "Columbia's reforms are a roadmap for elite universities that wish to regain the confidence of the American public by renewing their commitment to truth-seeking, merit, and civil debate," McMahon said in a statement following the resolution. "I believe they will ripple across the higher education sector and change the course of campus culture for years to come." Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@ Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @ Veronica Bravo is USA TODAY's graphics art director


CBS News
4 hours ago
- CBS News
Concerns raised over Columbia University's $200 million settlement with Trump administration over antisemitism on campus
There are concerns about how the recent settlement between Columbia University and the Trump administration could impact dozens of other schools under investigation for antisemitism on campus. Columbia will pay more than $200 million to resolve the allegations, but the school continues to deny any wrongdoing. The school's president addressed the issue on Thursday. This fall, the policy changes Columbia promised the Trump administration it would make are going to be monitored by Bart Schwartz, who was most recently the watchdog for the New York City Housing Authority. David Bloomfield, an education law professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, said he's concerned. "It's extraordinary to have a federal monitor looking over the shoulder of a private university the way Rikers was under a federal monitor," Bloomfield said. The New York Civil Liberties Union has called the agreement a form of capitulation, which the university's interim president, Claire Shipman, pushed back on Thursday on CNN. "Courage versus capitulation is just wrong. It's too simplistic," Shipman said. "Yes, we had many other legal options, that's true, but we did look carefully at that, and we saw we could have some short-term victories. But we worried we would have long-term damage." Shipman cited the potential loss of important research, but Bloomfield said what's also troubling is the university agreeing to "maintain merit-based admissions policies" and provide "all-female sports, locker rooms and showering facilities." The NYCLU said it worries the school is losing academic freedom, with a senior vice provost conducting a "thorough review" of the Middle Eastern Studies Department. "They will not allow criticism of Israel. That's not academic," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. "How on earth can students learn if they don't have the freedom to engage in discourse, in discourse dialogue, free from threat they will be expelled or suspended?" In addition to Columbia, New York University had also been under scrutiny by the Trump administration for potential civil rights violations. Gerard Filitti, senior counsel for the group EndJewHatred, said the agreement fails to address the root cause of antisemitism. "For example, Columbia saying masks are not allowed at unauthorized protests, but it's not saying they can't be worn at all. It's saying taking over academic buildings may be bad, but it doesn't completely ban protest from them," Filitti said. Filitti said the school also falls short of acknowledging that antizionism is antisemitism, saying that clarity is needed to protect pro-Israel and Jewish students. The University of Pennsylvania also previously settled with the Trump administration, while Harvard University remains in litigation.