Kraft Family Foundation Tax Filings Show Hundreds of Thousands to IDF-Linked Charities as Billionaire Pledges $2 Million to Palestinians

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft posted a statement this month pledging $2 million to "aid in the region," saying that "for decades" he has "supported efforts that create opportunity for Palestinians." He did not name a single recipient organization.

The statement came days after Kraft pressured pop singer Ed Sheeran to drop rapper Macklemore from his tour over Macklemore's "Free Palestine" comments, according to The Intercept's reporting.

Tax filings reviewed by The Intercept tell a different story about where Kraft's money has actually gone.

What the filings show

Since 2006, the Kraft Family Foundation has donated $196,000 to Friends of the IDF, an organization that raises money on behalf of Israeli soldiers. The filings show seven separate donations earmarked, in Kraft's own language, to "promote education for young Jewish soldiers."

The foundation gave an additional $123,000 to Brothers for Life and Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans, two groups that directly benefit Israeli military personnel. Friends of the IDF has put more than $20 million since 2020 into its lone soldier program, which recruits young Jewish Americans and Israelis without family support into the Israeli military's reserve system, a program that has continued through Israel's assault on Gaza.

Kraft also organized a 2017 trip for current and former NFL players to visit an Israeli Air Force base, arranged by Friends of the IDF.

In 2019, Kraft gave $20 million to launch the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, now the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate. At its founding he pledged the group would fight the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

"[The BDS movement] and other efforts to delegitimize and undermine the State of Israel are the most disconcerting times for the country I love so much."

Benjamin Netanyahu, accepting Kraft's donation announcement at an award ceremony, called Kraft the country's most loyal friend.

The advocacy network

The foundation's filings also show $63,500 to CAMERA, a media watchdog that runs pressure campaigns against journalists and scholars it labels anti-Israel and has dismissed genocide findings as what it calls the "Gaza GenoLie." From 2011 to 2012, Kraft gave $50,000 to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a group the Council on American-Islamic Relations lists within what it calls the U.S. Islamophobia Network, which has run campaigns branding Students for Justice in Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine as tied to "a web of Hamas support."

From 2008 to 2018, the foundation gave $150,000 to the Middle East Media Research Institute, another pro-Israel advocacy organization.

The Intercept's review does not identify a single Kraft Family Foundation donation to a Palestinian aid, business, or job-creation initiative matching the description in Kraft's public statement. Kraft has not disclosed which organizations his new $2 million pledge will fund.