Prince Harry's charity has stopped donating to a Muslim women's group after the leader of the group made anti-Israeli comments, the media reported on Saturday.
The Archewell Foundation, a foundation that was founded by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markel in 2020 and named after their son Archie, have cut ties with the Wisconsin-based group, Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition, after receiving an inquiry from NewsNation.
The founder of the coalition, Palestinian-American Janan Najeeb, described Israel as an "apartheid state" in a blog post, according to NewsNation.
"Israel's 75-year occupation of Palestine and the genocide in Gaza are a grave injustice," Najeeb wrote in 2024. "We demand a permanent ceasefire, an end to arming the apartheid state of Israel and the liberation of Palestine. From the river to the see, Palestine will be free. From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever."
In February 2023, Najeeb wrote in an online post for the Wisconsin Muslim Journal "from the river to the sea" slogan and had called for "an end to arming the apartheid state of Israel."
The Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition was founded in 1994 as a non-profit "to empower Muslim women and girls through education, leadership, outreach, and wellness programs." According to its website, the Archewell Foundation donated to the non-profit in 2024.
According to tax returns from the foundation, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex donated $27,960 to the charity in 2023.
Cutting ties to the foundation
The senior executive of the Archewell Foundation reportedly wrote to Najeeb earlier last week about them no longer donating to her organization.
"Janan, we've recently been notified of a blog post you wrote that goes against the values of the foundation. As a foundation, we celebrate different perspectives and backgrounds but we have zero tolerance for hateful words, actions, or propaganda," the executives, James Holt and Shauna Nep, wrote in the letter, according to NewsNation.
"When we started the welcome project, we did so to support Afghan women in finding community, and we are proud of the work we have done to support women in Milwaukee. We remain committed to fostering partnerships that reflect and reinforce the values our foundation stands for.
"We will be removing Muslim Women's Coalition from our network effective as of today. At this time, the foundation will be making no additional grants to MMWC."
The Duke and Duchess set up the foundation as a way "to unite and uplift communities, both locally and globally." The foundation has raised around £4.3 million in grants in 2023 and have donated more than £1 million to charities.
