Contents

1. Introduction
2. Statement of Demands
3. What is Alan Meltzer involved with at American University
4. Alan Meltzer’s involvement with the Federation of Greater Washington
5. Breakdown of Tax Records
6. Closing
7. Key Terms
8. Tax Statements

I. Introduction

Alan Meltzer funds genocide: he poured over $2 million into settlements, Zionist political societies, and the Israeli military  in the last four years.^[1] At American University, on our Board of Trustees, Meltzer’s financial influence advances the Zionist political agenda, with $2 million donated to the Meltzer-Schwartzberg Center for Israel Studies (CIS) in 2019^[2] and over $137,000 to AU Hillel since 2019, ballooning Zionist programming on campus.^[3]

Meltzer’s close connection with AU administrators and millions of dollars invested into Zionist organizations on and off our campus exert undue influence over our education by manufacturing support for Zionist genocide in our curriculum, policies, investments, and suppression of student speech. Student tuition funds 92% of American University’s “operating revenue,” so why should the Board of Trustees have the final say in policies that directly affect us?^[4]

Jewish Voice for Peace at American University followed the money trail.

II.  Student Demands

Student tuition funds 92% of American University.^[5] This is our campus. Our school is run by our collective dollars, not Meltzer's or any other individual.

We the students, REJECT Meltzer and other board members’ weaponization of donations to push Zionist projects and support for Zionist genocide in our curriculum and policies.

• 80% of AU Students voted NO to arming AUPD
• 64% of AU Students voted to DIVEST from genocide^[6]
• AUSG Passed A Resolution to Boycott, Divest, & Sanction Ties to the Occupation of Palestine on April 19, 2024^[7]

Ahead of the Board of Trustees’ meeting, we are sharing a dossier on Alan Meltzer for our community to reflect on the kind of influence we want to exert on our campus.

III. Statement of Involvement with AU

Alan Meltzer has served on AU’s Board of Trustees since 2007, and has been central in the development of AU’s policies. As the chair of AU’s Inclusive Excellence committee, AU allowed for Meltzer to act as an authority in “supporting and monitoring”^[8] Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. Recently, Meltzer, who also serves as the Vice Chair of AU Athletics, donated $15 million to AU to fund the Alan and Amy Meltzer Center for Athletic Performance.^[9] In 2019, Meltzer donated $2 million to establish the Alan L. Meltzer and Amy Meltzer Fellowship for the Center for Israel Studies. Meltzer has also financially supported AU Hillel, donating $137,000 over the last five years alone. On October 7th of this year, AU Admin in collaboration with various AU groups, including AU Hillel and AU Athletics held an event called “Breaking Bread, Building Bridges” to discuss the events of October 7, 2023.^[10] This event explicitly excluded Palestinian voices and occurred right after AU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP AU) was silenced and threatened with arrest and Student Code of Conduct charges for hosting a peaceful vigil on the quad. Meltzer has been a constant facilitator in upholding AU’s Zionist partnerships, institutions, and investments, and his influence can no longer be a secret.         

IV. Statement of Involvement with the Jewish Federation

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington (The Federation) is the foremost Zionist Jewish organization dedicated to funding Jewish life and civil society in the DMV. It is dedicated to upholding Zionism in Jewish communities through childrens’ education, workplace training, service opportunities, community events, and lobbies to maintain US support for Israel. The Jewish Federation offers grants for Birthright trips even during the ongoing genocide. Alan Meltzer has been on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington since 2008.

In 2017, The Pulitzer Center and Haaretz reported that the Jewish Federations of North America (including the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington) have donated $6 million between 2012-2015 to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.^[11] 

Since the escalation of the genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023, The Federation has doubled down in its dedication to the expansion of the Zionist project, donating over $11.5 million to Israel in the past year:^[12] 

• Direct Support for Kibbutz Bordering Gaza | $250,000
• Humanitarian Support for Soldiers | $186,000
• Trauma Care and Prevention for IDF Soldiers | $300,000
• An additional $2 million in February 2024 to support economic development and direct community support to Israelis
• Soldiers and Their Families | $1.1M        

As students resisting Zionism on our campus, we are aware of the ways in which Trustees like Alan Meltzer utilize their power over our campus to bolster particular political views. And as Jews we know that Alan Meltzer’s intimate involvement with the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington over the past seventeen years proves his unconditional commitment to the Zionist project, Zionist violence, and genocide.

V. Tax Records

In our research on AU Board of Trustee member Alan Meltzer, Jewish Voice for Peace at American University parsed through the Alan and Amy Meltzer Family Foundation’s public tax records. We found that the foundation had donated over $2 million towards corporations, companies, organizations, think-tanks, and foundations that are financially, materially, or discursively invested in the continuation and expansion of Zionist genocide in Palestine. Many of these foundations are particularly invested in fostering and upholding Jewish American support for Zionist genocide. This includes over $450,000 donated to schools, institutes of higher education, and education foundations which teach Jewish American youth that Judaism and Jewish survival necessitates Zionism by any means necessary. The Meltzer Family Foundation also donated over $200,000 to corporations, companies, and civil society organizations that are directly invested in expanding the Zionist occupation and genocide in Palestine.

Many of the powerful Zionist political think tanks and civil society institutions to which The Meltzer Family Foundation donates present themselves as reflective of American Jewish society at large. While JVP AU acknowledges the widespread dominance Zionist politics hold over the American Jewish community, we reject the conflation of Zionism with Judaism that Jewish Zionist organizations represent and uphold.

We understand Meltzer’s investments in Jewish schools, camps, and civil society institutions as primarily motivated by investing Jewish communities, minds, and actions into Zionism and imperialism across the variety and diversity of American Jewish life and society.

To better understand how the Meltzer Family Foundation wields its financial power to promote Zionist interests within the Jewish community in Greater Washington, elected officials, universities, and civil society institutions around the country, we put one (or more) of the following labels to each highlighted recipient: donations to the IOF, settlements, American policy (including Zionist lobbying, think tanks, and media), education (schools, institutes, or foundations), Israeli society, and American Jewish society. We also give a brief description of each institution and encourage expanded investigation of Meltzer’s tax records.

The Alan and Amy Meltzer Family Foundation Investments Broken Down by Type:

1. The IOF                                                Total since 2020:        $33,500

Friends of the IDF 

Collects donations in the US for the IDF. They have donated “tens of millions of dollars” to the IDF since October 7, 2023.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$23,500 since 2020

The 613 Foundation

Collects donations and funnels millions of dollars a year towards the Friends of the IDF and the One Israel fund which is openly “committed to the wellbeing and safety and wellbeing of the over 500,000 [Jewish] Residents of Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank] - Our Biblical Heartland.”^[13]

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

        $10,000 since 2021

2. Settlements                                                Total since 2019:        $60,000

American Friends of Kidum (Society for Advancement of Education, Jerusalem) 

The Society for Advancement of Education (SAE) is a nonprofit that operates within multiple schools in Jerusalem. The Na’ale Elite Academy program was initiated by the Israeli government “based on a Zionist vision.” They operate in at least one occupied territory, Kefar Adumim.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$11,250 since 2019

American Friends of the Hebrew University 

The Hebrew University is in occupied East Jerusalem. A Palestinian professor at the university, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, was first suspended by the university and then detained by Israeli police after she signed a letter calling for a ceasefire, called for an end to Zionism, and accused Israel of using rape for political means.^[14]

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$5,000 since 2020

Ohr Hazafun Productions

Ohr Hazafun is a Yeshiva in Giv’at Hamivtar, an illegal settlement in East Jerusalem.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$43,750 since 2019

3. American Policy                                        Total since 2019:        $324,750

American Israel Education Fund 

Makes yearly grants to AIPAC “to support select educational programs.”^[15] They fund and organize trips to Israel for members of Congress and other politicians in order to maintain and strengthen the connection between the US and Israel.

• “AIEF's application states its fundamental purpose is to maintain and further the friendship between the U.S. and Israel and to strengthen and promote the mutual ideals and interests of both nations”^[16]

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$204,750 since 2019

Endowment for Middle East Truth 

The Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) is a DC-based think tank and policy center that claims to be ‘pro-America’ and ‘pro-Israel.’ They seek to discredit media representations that are critical of Israel and Zionism and support Israel's illegal annexation of the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. EMET also works with the Palestinian Media Watch (founded by Itamar Marcus of the Central Fund of Israel), which spreads misinformation mostly demonizing the Palestinian Authority along with all Palestinian politics, life, and people.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$2,500 since 2019

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies 

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies was founded after 9/11 and conducts national security and foreign policy research. Their Israel Program describes Israel as America’s “most vulnerable ally.” The FDD’s research is used to develop policies that support Israel. They also target the BDS movement by “identifying illicit networks” behind it.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$67,500 since 2021

Jewish Community Relations Council

The Jewish Community Relation Council’s Israeli Action Center fosters pro-Israel activism,^[17] and encourages donations for the Friends of the IDF.^[18] The JCRC branch of Greater Washington provides a “fact sheet” that obscures the current slaughter of Palestinians, saying that “mosques, schools, and hospitals” are targeted not because the Zionist state targets civilians, but because these civilian institutions contain “terrorists.”^[19] This organization directly states that “this war and previous conflicts are not genocide or ethnic cleansing”.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$23,100 since 2019

The Israel Project

The Israel Project was an organization that focused on pro-Israel media advocacy. In 2013, Time called it “Israel’s most effective media advocacy organization.”^[20] In 2009, The Israel Project commissioned a confidential study to determine what language is most effective for justifying Israel’s actions, including illegal settlements, to the American mainstream.^[21] They produced a 116 page guide^[22] based on this study which urges pro-Israel advocates to paint Palestinians as “jihadist,” “terrorists,” and violent, and includes tips on how to best manipulate American audiences, such as using phrases like “militant Islam.” In 2009, almost 10,000 J Street members emailed The Israel Project demanding that it stop “equating stopping settlements” with “a kind of ethnic cleansing.”^[23]

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$1,900 since 2019

US-Israel Education Association

The US-Israel Education Association’s stated goal is to advance “cooperation between the United States and Israel” including on “bilateral U.S.-Israel defense collaboration,”^[24] [25] and one of its main ways of working towards this is by giving Congress members privately funded tours of the West Bank border,^[26] including a tour this year during the ongoing genocide.^[27] USIEA boasts having inspired Congress members to “[triple] the U.S. budget to fund Iron Dome” in 2011.^[28] Between 2011 and 2021 the U.S. government sent Israel $1.6 billion for Iron Dome funding.^[29] In the US, USIEA briefs Congress members on Israel and gives them “essential research in preparation for legislative proposals and hearings.”^[30] The founder and CEO of USIEA, Heather Johnson, also established the National Leadership Center located in Ariel, an illegal settlement in the West Bank.^[31]

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$5,000 since 2020

Washington Institute for Near East Policy

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is the largest think tank devoted to the Middle East in the US. Its stated goal is “advancing U.S. interests in the Middle East,”^[32] and it was established with “AIPAC’s blessing and with funding from many AIPAC donors.”^[33] Dr. Rashid Khalidi describes WINEP as “one of the most important tools of Zionist propaganda in the United States” and says it “describes the Palestinians as terrorists.”^[34] Henry Kissinger and Joe Lieberman served on the board of advisors for WINEP until their deaths in 2023 and 2024.^[35]

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$20,000 since 2020

4. Education                                                Total since 2019:        $177,636

America Israel Friendship League 

The goal of the American Israel Friendship League is to promote Israel beyond the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. They organize exchange programs for American students and youth, and delegations of politicians and businesses to go to Israel. In 2013, AIFL countered a divestment campaign in a Presbyterian Church in the US.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$7,500 since 2021

American University Hillel 

AU’s branch of Hillel. Operates a Birthright trip to Israel every year for AU students.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$137,046 since 2019

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School 

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD is self proclaimed as pro-Israel and Zionist, and partners with several Zionist organizations. These include the Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI), where high school seniors spend their last semester, BBYO, and the Jewish National Fund of Greater Washington.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$23,000 since 2019

Endowment Fund of Maccabi USA 

Maccabi USA is a part of the Maccabi World Union which is a “Jewish, Zionist, non-political organization,” and aims to promote these through sports for people of all ages. Hosts a six day trip to Israel.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$10,090 since 2019

5. Israeli Society                                                Total since 2020:        $18,000

Central Fund of Israel 

The Central Fund of Israel sends donations directly to Israeli charities, including many who support the IOF (La’Ofek, Yashar LaChayal, and Yedidya). They donate to the Temple Mount Heritage Fund, which aims to remove the Haram al-Sharif mosque and replace it with a Jewish temple. The founders of CFI, Jay and Itamar Marcus both live in Efrat, an Israeli settlement^[36].

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$2,500 since 2021

Shivat Zion

Shivat Zion is an organization that helps Jews from Europe and Latin America make Aliyah and integrate into Israel.^[37] It urges individuals and families to become Israeli citizens and settle in Israel.^[38] This organization also provides information and resources on joining the IOF,^[39] as is mandatory for all Jewish Israeli citizens of age (excluding ultra Orthodox Jews).

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$3,000 since 2020

Youth Renewal Fund

The Youth Renewal Fund funds Darca Schools Network in Israel. They focus on “affinity with the State of Israel… and enhancement of Jewish-Israeli identity.” Set up an Israel Emergency Fund for students and schools directly impacted by the “War in Israel.”

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$12,500 since 2021

6. American Jewish Society                                Total since 2019:        $1,351,255

JCC Association and affiliated JCCs (Jewish Community Centers)

 JCC association is a Zionist organization which holds as one of their primary principles that “Israel is an eternal birthright of the Jewish people,”^[40] and encourages and provides for local chapters to “infuse Israel in everything you do.”^[41] The association explicitly endorses both the Zionist project and Israel’s current genocide in Palestine in official statements and blog posts.^[42] The JCC Association lists the Meltzer Group as one of its official partners.^[43]

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

$142,258 since 2019

The Jewish Federations of North America and Affiliated Chapters:

Alan Meltzer sits on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. More details on the Federation are provided above in part IV.

Meltzer Family Foundation donated:

1,208,997 since 2019

VI. Closing Statements

On November 21st and 22nd the Board of Trustees is meeting. Trustee member Alan Meltzer will be present. Alan Meltzer exploits his influence over our University as a member of the Board of Trustees and as the Chair of the Inclusive Excellence Committee to directly invest University funds in Zionist genocide, promote Israeli propaganda programming on our campus, and tighten repression of dissenting student, faculty, and staff voices.

Alan Meltzer is a threat to knowledge production, teaching, academic freedom, and student safety at American University – and a threat to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian lives.

Per the Board of Trustees’ Statement of Commitment and Responsibilities, the Trustees at American University are supposed to be trusted community members who “sustain and advance the University's mission, integrity, traditions, values, reputation as an institution… [and] Avoid bringing even the appearance of a conflict of interest [into]... trusteeship activity.”^[44] Alan Meltzer is not in compliance with these rules, as he uses his power as a trustee to suppress anti-Zionist organizing on campus and promote Zionist propaganda.

As anti-Zionist Jews, we understand disrupting the conflation of Zionism with Judaism, and the Zionist lie that anti-Zionism is antisemitism as our primary place within the movement for Palestinian liberation. We understand that a vast majority of Jewish American civil society institutions uphold a Zionist understanding of Judaism which promotes Jewish supremacy and a colonial attachment to the state of Israel.^[45] 

We draw our political motivation from the long lineages of Jewish resistance to Zionism on ethical, political, and/or religious grounds. We draw upon our ancestors who recognized Zionism and imperialism as existential threats to human life for guidance and energy in the movement. We understand antisemitism as imperial violence has been inflicted on and enacted by and through Jewish bodies and Zionism as a powerful and embedded form of this violence.

Alan Meltzer uses his personal financial power over the Jewish community on our campus and across the DMV to restrict all anti-Zionist organizing and ensure compliance in Zionist occupation and genocide.

We cannot let people like Alan Meltzer dictate the terms on which we fight for Palestinian liberation. We call upon American University students, faculty, and community members to resist corrupt trustees like Alan Meltzer who demand continued investment in Zionist genocide and silence any dissenting voices on campus.

We call upon anti-Zionist Jews from across the nation and around the world to join in the global struggle against Zionism. Mobilize against local, national, and international Zionist-Jewish  institutions, funds, and political think tanks that continue to use Jewish bodies, fears, and religious expression to ensure financial and ideological support for occupation and genocide in Palestine, Lebanon, and across the Arab world.

VII. Key Terms

ADL: The Anti-Defamation League was founded in the 1910s to combat antisemitism in the media,^[46] but it quickly grew to include combating anti-Zionism, centering Israel in its work. The ADL claims that “delegitimiz[ing] Israel” and “negat[ing] Zionism” is antisemitic.^[47] Its definition of antisemitism, which conflates criticizing Israel with antisemitism, is central to the position of many American institutions and conversations.

AIPAC: The American Israel Public Affairs Commission is one of the largest pro-Israel lobbies in U.S. politics. It wields massive political power to elect officials sympathetic to the continuation of the Zionist project.

Aliyah (עלייה): Literally translating to “ascent” in Hebrew, Aliyah refers to Jewish immigration to the Zionist State. Aliyah is foundational to the Zionist project as it aims to turn all Jews into Israelis, providing an ever-expanding population of settlers in Palestine.

Birthright: “Birthright Israel is the largest educational tourism organization in the world,” which has taken 850,000 Jewish youth (aged 18-26) on a ten day prepaid tour of Palestine. It works in direct coordination with the Israeli government to foster a personal connection and love for the Zionist state in every Jewish person.^[48]

Eretz Yisrael (ארץ ישראל): A Hebrew phrase literally translating to ‘the land of Israel’. Eretz Yisrael is commonly used in Zionist discourse to signify the ‘Jewish’ nature of Palestinian land.

Hasbara (הסברה): Hasbara refers to the Zionist State’s official public diplomacy and propaganda, including American think-tanks and civil society organizations such as AIPAC and the ADL.

IOF: IOF is an alternative term for the IDF. IDF stands for Israel Defense Force, and IOF takes issue with “defense”, rebranding it Israel Offense or Occupation Force. The term IOF is frequently used by the Palestinian national liberation movement and its allies.

JNF: Founded in 1909, the Jewish National Fund is one of the oldest and most powerful Zionist institutions in the world. Since its establishment the JNF has advocated and funded the displacement and genocide of Palestinians alongside Jewish Immigration to Palestine. In 2005 the New York Jewish Week reported that the JNF owned 13% of Israeli land and 70% of Israelis live on land owned by the JNF.^[49]

Law of Return (חוק השבות): Israeli legislation from 1950 which states that, “Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh (someone who has taken aliyah)”. And grants Jewish immigrants Israeli citizenship.

Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT): This is the internationally recognized term used since 2004 to refer to the Palestinian land occupied by the Zionist state since 1967; The West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

Right to Return: Outlined in Article 13 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights the Internationally recognized right of return states, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”^[50] This right was emphasized in reference to Palestinian refugees specifically in a 1978 United Nations study entitled, The Right of Return of The Palestinian People.^[51]

Settlements: The entire state of Israel is a settler colony infringing on Palestinian land and sovereignty. That being said, when we use the word ‘settlement’ we are referring to colonial Israeli outposts -- within the Occupied West Bank -- that are internationally recognized as illegal colonies. Settlements violate the outcome of the 1967 war, and have been the subject of Palestinian boycotts and Israeli state-subsidized housing.^[52] Settlements in the West Bank are a clear example of Israel’s settler colonial intent in Palestine.

Kibbutz (קיבוץ): Kibbutzim (plural of Kibbutz) are exclusively Jewish communal agricultural Israeli settlements which are largely funded by the JNF and used to displace Palestinians both before and after the Nakba^[53].

The Nakba (النكبة): An Arabic word that means ‘the catastrophe’, The Nakba refers to the forced displacement and mass murder campaigns carried out by Zionist militias between 1947 and 1949. The term also refers to the ongoing Zionist invasion of Palestine, forced displacement, and mass murder of Palestinians.

Yeshiva (ישיבה): Jewish Religious school where students study religious texts such as the Torah, Tanach, and Talmud.

Judea and Samaria Region: Is the Israeli government and military’s ‘official’ term for the West Bank as stated in a December 17, 1967 order stating “the term 'Judea and Samaria region' shall be identical in meaning for all purposes . .to the term 'the West Bank Region”^[54]

VIII. Tax Statements

Amy and Alan Meltzer Family Foundation Tax Records: