The Archewell Foundation, which is run by Harry and Meghan’s charity Archewell, has halted its funding of a Milwaukee-based Muslim women’s organization over its leader’s views on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Archewell halted its funding of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition following an article published by NewsNation on April 11. We were asked by a member of the media about the foundation’s executive director Janan Najeeb’s opinion piece in the Wisconsin Muslim Journal, which included the controversial phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
In an online fundraiser for the women’s coalition, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, reproduced a letter from the Archewell Foundation that was independently verified.
According to the letter that Najeeb received from the foundation, “The Archewell Foundation has recently been informed of an online opinion piece that you wrote that goes against the foundation’s values. There is no tolerance for hateful words, actions, and propaganda in our organization.”
In response to NewsNation’s attention to Najeeb’s views, Archewell Foundation staff notified her on April 9 that the Muslim Women’s Coalition was being removed from its funding network and would not be offering new grants to the coalition in the future.
An Archewell Foundation grant of $27,960 was awarded to the Muslim Women’s Coalition by the Milwaukee Community Foundation in 2023 to support the operation of a support group as well as a sewing circle for Afghan evacuee women in Milwaukee. In addition to sewing projects, the group planned to have “restorative” conversations that addressed the women’s traumas.
According to Najeeb, the foundation will provide the coalition with another grant of a similar amount in 2024.
It is reported that Harry and Meghan are facing scrutiny following a story in the media that Harry recently resigned from the charity he co-founded in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana. The two philanthropists visited Meghan’s hometown earlier this year to help victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
A Palestinian activist speaks out after Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s charity ceased funding.
Najeeb believes that the funding cut is part of a broader trend of organizations distancing themselves from pro-Palestinian views out of fear of retaliation for their involvement.
Unfortunately, a funder like the Archewell decided to cave in so quickly,” she told the Journal Sentinel in her interview. She added, “This is not unusual. This is in line with what is happening all over the country.” In a letter to foundation executives, Najeeb rejected the characterization of her opinion piece as hateful or antisemitic.
I regret to inform you that our values do not align with yours. If your foundation stipulates that grant recipients must sit idly by while genocide is broadcast live on their television screens, then unfortunately, we too regret to inform you that our values do not align,” Najeeb replied in her response. I believe that by choosing PR over principle, you are betraying the communities that you claim to serve.
It was said that her issue with the executives was related to another opinion piece she wrote last May for the Journal Sentinel, in which she argued that student protesters “understand the truth about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” The article does not mention the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a slogan that is considered antisemitic by many Jews.