Hebron Fund

The fund has received extensive criticism over the years for its financial support of Israeli settlers in Hebron, some of whom have committed acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. ²

Background

The Hebron Fund was founded as a charitable organization in 1979. That year marked fifty years since the Hebron massacre, a 1929 Arab attack on Jews living in Hebron that killed 67. ^{3  4} The Hebron Fund claims that Hebron has belonged to the Jewish people since ancient times. Since the 13th century, the city has been occupied by Arabs and made difficult to visit for Jews. After the Six-Day War of 1967, Hebron and its famous holy site, the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, once again opened to Israelis. American Jews founded the Hebron Fund to support and maintain this Jewish community and Jewish access to the holy sites in Hebron. ^{1  5}

Activities

The Hebron Fund provides financial support to several key projects in the city of Hebron. For example, the fund provides funding to Jewish families in Hebron to support their continued presence in the city. This includes sending care packages and additional gear to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers whose task it is to secure the Jewish presence in Hebron. ^{1  6}

The Hebron Fund also provides funding for parks, playgrounds, recreation centers, after-school programs, libraries, and youth activities for Jewish residents. It sponsors cultural and educational events in Hebron for the public. The fund also pays for the preservation and protection of the entrance to the Tomb of Machpela, a Jewish holy site in Hebron. ¹

The Hebron Fund organizes tours of Hebron for those who wish to see the city, whether Israeli citizens or American tourists. It also opposes boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) efforts and supports what it calls “Israel and Judea-Sumaria.” ^{7  1}

Criticism

Several left-of-center media outlets and anti-Israel organizations have criticized the Hebron Fund for its support of Israeli settlers disturbing Palestinians in the disputed West Bank. In 2007, the Hebron Fund hosted a fundraising event on a Hudson River cruise ship to raise support for an Israeli who took land and property from a Palestinian family. In 2008, the Israeli government cleared out this Israeli settlement which had become a center of conflict in the disputed occupied territories. In response to their eviction, the group of Israeli settlers set fire to several Palestinian homes and olive trees, injuring 25 people and leaving one in critical condition after shooting him at close range. A 2011 Salon opinion editorial criticized the Hebron Fund’s fundraising activities in support of Israeli settlers. ²

In 2009, the New York Mets held a fundraiser for the Hebron Fund at Citi Field, an event that was criticized by prominent anti-Israel activist groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). In a joint statement against the event, the two groups argued the Hebron Fund existed to “raise funds in the United States and send them overseas to expand and develop the settlements in order to make a Palestinian state impossible.” The groups also claimed the event at Citi Field was intended to honor “Noam Arnon, an outspoken supporter of settler terrorism” whom they claimed “praised the Jewish terrorists who killed three Palestinians, and planted bombs that maimed the mayors of two Palestinian cities” in 1990. A 2015 Mondoweiss op-ed criticized the Hebron Fund for the event at Citi Field. ⁸

A 2011 Mother Jones article reported that anti-Israel activist group Avaaz petitioned the IRS to revoke the Hebron Fund’s nonprofit status, citing its support for violent Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Avaaz’s attempts were unsuccessful. ^{9  10} In 2015, a Haaretz opinion piece criticized the Hebron Fund’s support for what it considered violent Jewish settlers. ¹¹

A 2025 Jacobin opinion editorial denounces the Hebron Fund’s funding of Israeli settlers and suggests the administration of Hebron is proof of the “apartheid system in the occupied Palestinian territory.” ¹²

Leadership

As of 2025, Daniel Rosenstein was the executive director of the Hebron Fund. He is a rabbi and has held several positions in executive leadership at other Jewish nonprofit organizations. Rosenstein holds a master’s in social work in community organization and a certificate in Jewish communal service from Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work. ^{13  1}

Teddy Pollak was serving as the president of the Hebron Fund as of 2025. ¹

Financials

In 2023, the Hebron Fund reported $4,172,722 in total revenue, $4,005,441 in total expenses, and $1,189,171 in total assets. ¹⁰

In 2018, Haaretz reported that Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund had donated $18,000 to the Hebron Fund on behalf of an anonymous benefactor, noting a trend of large financial services and banking corporations donating to pro-Israel or anti-Israel groups. ¹⁴