Biden administration gave money to anti-Netanyahu protest groups, US congressional report shows

United States tax dollars may have been used to fund protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition government during the administration of President Joe Biden, an investigation by the House of Representatives Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees found.

The report, which was published last Thursday, showed the results of a request for documents from six U.S. and Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concerning “any grants, cooperative agreements, or other awards received from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) or State Department.” 

On March 26, 2025, Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Brian Mast (R-FL), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, sent letters to the six NGOs asking for any documents related to U.S. government funding.

So far, the organizations targeted in the documents request have handed over around 380 documents to the committees. 

The committee's preliminary findings are that “the Biden-Harris Administration provided grant funds to groups that contributed directly and indirectly to the judicial reform protests that sought to undermine the Israeli government. In addition, documents obtained during this investigation suggest that the Biden-Harris Administration potentially funded groups with ties to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations.” 

The six NGOs targeted in the documents request were Blue White Future, Movement for Quality Government in Israel, PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Jewish Communal Fund, Middle East Peace Dialogue Network, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 

The report contained several charts showing the flow of funds from U.S. government organizations to several NGOs, detailing how U.S. government support allowed for support of anti-coalition protests and political action, even when the funds may not have directly funded such causes. 

While the committees did not prove that all funding received from the U.S. government went to anti-government actions and operations in Israel, it highlighted “the fungibility of money – the ability to easily replace one set of funds with another set of funds of equal value” as a means of enabling such actions. 

“More broadly, when an NGO receives government funding for a project, it can use the money previously earmarked for that project on something else which it would have otherwise not been able to fund,” the report explains. 

The committee’s investigation targets the years of the Biden administration, 2021-2024.

The report’s conclusion states, “Oversight conducted by the Committee reflects the Biden-Harris Administration’s neglect and misuse of taxpayer dollars through USAID, the State Department, and other federal agencies, which were used to directly and indirectly fund the efforts of anti-Netanyahu organizations and terrorist groups.” 

The committee noted that the use of federal funds to support groups actively working against the elected Israeli government “risks harming America’s relationship with one of its closest allies and undermines core civil liberties in both the United States and Israel.” 

It also noted that “the misuse of federal grant funds may, in some cases, amount to a criminal offense under U.S. law.” 

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich shared a Telegram post by conservative news anchor Amit Segal, one of the first Israeli reporters to report on the story, in which Segal commented that almost $1 billion in government funds “were transferred to a thousand anti-Netanyahu organizations in Israel.” 

אתם קולטים את האירוע הזה?
שואלים את עצמכם מול מה הממשלה שלנו נדרשה להתמודד בתקופת המחאה נגד הרפורמה המשפטית?
מיליארד דולר של קמפיין!

כמובן, חוץ מתקשורת שמאל מגויסת על מלא.

נס שעם ישראל הרבה יותר בריא וחכם ממה שחושבים בשמאל. pic.twitter.com/qvJ6ncueGR

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) July 18, 2025

In his post to 𝕏, Smotrich wrote that the coalition government had to contend with a $1 billion campaign against it, while also facing “a fully mobilized left-wing media.” 

Meanwhile, Netanyahu also shared a post by the Likud party about the Congressional report, which accused the Biden administration of “undermining a democratically elected, stable right-wing government.” 

"An official document published by the U.S. Congress reveals astonishing information that confirms what many have long suspected,” Netanyahu wrote in Hebrew to his 𝕏 account.

“The previous U.S. administration transferred nearly a billion dollars to left-wing NGOs in Israel, with the aim of undermining the rule of the government.” 

The Likud statement said that the external pressures led to “deep social division, encouragement of refusal to serve, and a dangerous split within Israeli society.” 

Netanyahu and his coalition partners have argued that anti-government protests contributed to the decision of Hamas to carry out the Oct. 7 massacres.