If Americans Knew is a left-of-center organization that is critical of American foreign policy and specifically the U.S. alliance with Israel. It holds that the American public is deeply uninformed about the actions of Israel and that if they were to be given accurate information about the situation, they would demand that the U.S. government withdraw its support for Israel’s government.

Background

If Americans Knew claims that Americans are uninformed about what their country is doing on an international scale, and that they are kept in the dark by lack of access to information that is “undistorted by conscious or unconscious bias.” Such distortions of the truth are caused by “lies of either commission or omission, or by pressures exerted by powerful special interest groups.” ¹

Israel

If Americans Knew has one singular issue area, namely criticizing American funding of the state of Israel. It claims this information and the strong American connection to Israel are withheld from American newspapers and media. It calls this “a cover-up of appalling proportions” and alleges that the “American public is being manipulated.” ²

The group claims that Israel is breaking international law and international conventions, and carrying out policies of brutality condemned by numerous nongovernmental organizations through the funding given to it by the United States. It claims that Israel, with American money and weapons, is “imposing an ethnically discriminatory nation on land that was previously multicultural” and it is supremacist state with “ethnic and religion discrimination inherent in its national identity.” ³

Funding

In 2019, If Americans Knew had a revenue of $329,736, expenses of $364,563, and net assets of $145,030. ⁴

If Americans Knew has received funding from Caw Foundation, Do Right Foundation, the Judes Foundation, Hope and Justice Educational Foundation, Kanaan Family Foundation, Tarbell Family Foundation, Parsekian Foundation, and the Nakadar Foundation. ⁵

In 2019 If Americans Knew gave a $7,200 grant to International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) News, a news outlet that is incorporated as an entity in the United States. ⁶

Leadership

If Americans Knew was founded by journalist Alison Weir, who came to her political views after traveling through the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2001. ⁷

Two founding board members of If Americans Knew were Rep. Paul Findley (D-IL), a staunch critic of Israel, and career foreign service officer and former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Andrew I. Killgore. ⁸

1. “Mission Statement.” If Americans Knew. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/.
2. “Mission Statement.” If Americans Knew. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/.
3. “Mission Statement.” If Americans Knew. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/.
4. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). If Americans Knew. 2019. Part I, lines 12, 18, 22.
5. “Full-Text Search – If Americans Knew.” ProPublica. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=if+americans+knew.
6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). If Americans Knew. 2019. Schedule I, Part II – Grants and Other Assistance to Domestic Organizations and Domestic Governments.
7. “Who We Are.” If Americans Knew. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/whoweare.html.
8. “Who We Are.” If Americans Knew. Accessed May 7, 2023. https://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/whoweare.html.