Harry and Meghan’s foundation cuts funding to women’s charity over Gaza ceasefire posts

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archwell foundation, which partners with organisations to drive change, halted donations to a Muslim women’s group in the US after their founder called for a Gaza ceasefire and denounced Israel’s war.

The foundation, established in 2020, cut ties with the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition (MMWC) earlier this week after they were made aware of a previous blog post from the group’s founder.

In February 2024, Janan Najeeb, the founder of MMWC, penned an online post in the Wisconsin Muslim Journal, where she called for a ceasefire in Gaza, and "an end to arming the apartheid state of Israel".

Najeeb, who is behind many large projects including building a library, cultural centre and a domestic abuse organisation named Peaceful Home, has long been recognised for her contributions.

In the Wisconsin Muslim Journal, one of the projects started under MMWC, there are many articles covering the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the plight of women in the enclave and the “cultural genocide destroying Gaza’s very memory”.

One of the posts on the website titled ‘In the Ashes of my Gaza Home’ published in February last year details a personal account of a Palestinian woman fleeing her home amid Israeli bombings.

The first-hand account further describes the harsh realities of life under daily airstrikes, limited aid being allowed in and disruption to communication services.

Tax returns reveal that the Archewell Foundation donated $27,960 (£21,373) to Najeeb’s charity in 2023, and the website also states that they received a donation from the Archewell Foundation in 2024.

The senior executives at the Archewell Foundation reportedly wrote to Najeeb earlier this week, informing her that they would stop donating to her charity, including all its wellness, education, outreach and leadership projects under it.

"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 letter reportedly states.

According to some accounts, Najeeb’s article called for a free Palestine, "from the river to the see," a phrase used globally since the 1960s, calling for an end to the occupation and justice for all Palestinians within the borders of historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

The letter from the Archwell Foundation’s senior executives further reads: "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 will be removing MWC [Muslim Women’s Coalition] from our network effective as of today. At this time, the foundation will be making no additional grants to MMWC [Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition]," it adds.

The foundation was named after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son, Archie, with the aim of it being to uplift communities, "do good" and engage in more philanthropic projects.

The foundation has issued over £1 million to charitable causes, recent tax filings state.

The Archewell Foundation halted the donations despite leading international rights groups, including Amnesty International, concluding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The New Arab reached out to the Archwell Foundation for further comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Prince Harry has been embroiled in another row with a charity he was part of, Sentebale, following tensions with the leadership.

The chair of the charities board, Sophie Chandauka, accused Prince Harry of "harassment and bullying at scale", adding that he was trying to use the charity as “an extension of the Sussex PR machine".

The halt to the MMWC comes as Israel’s war on Gaza rages on, with over 1,000 Palestinians killed since 18 March, when Israel violated the ceasefire agreement and resumed its assault.

The war has levelled entire neighbourhoods, destroyed schools and hospitals, and plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis.

Gaza’s government media office says at least 61,700 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, with the actual toll expected to be higher as Israel continues the war and people are trapped under the rubble.