After nearly another year of investigations, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released an updated report into the Biden administration’s alleged support for Israeli nonprofits that participated in protests against the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul plans in 2023, finding no evidence of wrongdoing.

With no concrete proof of connections between federal grants and the demonstrations in Israel, the report instead makes theoretical claims that protest groups “may have” received U.S. grants, or refers to grants that were made years before the current Israeli government was elected. 

In Israel, many outlets — particularly those supportive of the government — seized upon the document and reported its allegations as fact and without the caveats that appear in the report. “Congressional report determines: Biden administration funds were transferred to Kaplan protests,” read the chyron on Israel’s Channel 14 last night, referring to the demonstrations that were often held on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.

The probe comes both as Israeli nonprofits are facing a bill that would effectively prevent them from receiving donations from foreign governments and as American nonprofits, particularly left-wing ones, are facing increased scrutiny from Republican lawmakers and the Justice Department, which recently filed fraud charges against the progressive Southern Poverty Law Center. 

The investigation — led by committee Chair Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Brian Mast (R-FL), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — was launched in response to a February 2023 opinion piece alleging Biden administration meddling in Israeli domestic affairs by then-commentator Caroline Glick, who now serves as an international affairs advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is reportedly his preferred choice for the next Israeli consul general of New York. 

The document, which was published on Friday, primarily relies on implications and unsubstantiated allegations — including unverified claims against two grantmakers, the Jewish Communal Fund and PEF Israel Endowments Inc., as well as Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors — and misrepresents the nature of philanthropic vehicles like donor-advised funds, describing them as coherent, unified organizations instead of a clearinghouse through which a wide array of donors sends funds to an equally diverse group of institutions. 

In doing so, the report implies a connection between specific grants issued by the U.S. government to these organizations and allocations that were subsequently made to various groups, when there is no evidence that those specific funds went to those nonprofits. 

The allegations against PEF, which serves as a key go-between through which American dollars can easily be transferred to Israeli nonprofits, are particularly curious as the organization is apolitical by design and provides hundreds of millions of dollars annually to a hundreds of Israeli charities of all purposes and affiliations, right-wing and left, religious and secular, and everything in between. The allegations against PEF come as Israeli civil society faces growing challenges, with shrinking state support, growing needs and a strengthening shekel that make funds raised in dollars less valuable. 

In a statement, PEF denied wrongdoing and stressed its apolitical nature, adding that it would comply with “all applicable legal and regulatory requirements.” 

“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. Our processes are designed to ensure that funds are distributed in accordance with applicable U.S. and Israeli legal standards,” the organization said. 

While the bulk of the 14-page report deals with alleged Biden administration support for Israel’s protest movement, a smaller section examines whether the Biden White House provided funding to organizations with alleged ties to Palestinian terrorist organizations. The results are similarly qualified, referring to federal grants issued to RPA for specific programs that the report notes have no connection to Palestinians or Israel. The report connects the Biden administration to potentially terrorist-affiliated groups through RBF and RPA, which have funded other organizations — namely the Tides Network — that have, in turn, funded other organizations that have had alleged connections to terror groups. The report does not demonstrate that federal funds went to these groups or even to the groups funding those groups, instead relying on the concept of “fungibility,” which may not apply in cases where funds are specifically allocated. 

The report, which follows a similar one from last summer, retains a number of factual errors, including, for example, a claim that the Biden administration provided a grant in 2020 to an Israeli nonprofit that protested the judicial overhaul, the Movement for Quality Government, which is described as a “radical leftist protest group” — despite the fact that it was the first Trump administration that issued the initial grant, which was for a civics education program, not demonstrations or general-purpose funding.

One organization named in the report as a potential recipient of Biden administration grants, Blue and White Future, has firmly denied receiving any state funding whatsoever. “All donations to the organization originate from private donors who care deeply about Israel’s security and its future,” a spokesperson for BWF told Jewish Insider last year when the allegations first arose. “Every donation received and every activity undertaken by the organization is fully documented, reported, and independently audited in strict compliance with applicable law.”

Jordan and Mast also allege that JCF and PEF “may have violated their tax-exempt status by funding groups engaged in radical anti-government campaigns in Israel.” This is based on an IRS rule that “an organization that attempts to influence and advocates changes in the laws of a foreign country does not qualify for exemption from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Code.” However, for this to apply, such advocacy would have to amount to a “substantial part” of PEF and JCF’s activities, which it does not, with the overwhelming majority of the organizations’ grants going to other causes. 

In its statement, PEF said that it would continue with its work. “For decades, PEF has supported thousands of charitable initiatives that serve diverse communities throughout Israel. We remain committed to that mission and will continue helping American donors support the organizations that strengthen Israel’s social ecosystem, expand opportunity, deliver essential services and improve the lives of Israelis from all backgrounds,” PEF said. “PEF’s focus remains where it has always been: advancing charitable giving, supporting civil society, and helping philanthropic resources reach organizations that provide meaningful public benefit throughout Israel.”

Correction: A previous version of this report incorrectly stated that Rockefeller Brothers Foundation had received federal grants; the grants in question were provided to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.