The House Judiciary Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee are jointly investigating six organizations that received federal funding during the Biden administration to determine if those grants were intended to target Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political standing during the 2023 judicial reform protests. 

The letters announcing the probes, obtained by Jewish Insider, were sent by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Brian Mast (R-FL), who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, to the Jewish Communal Fund, Middle East Dialogue Network, Movement for Quality Government in Israel, PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Blue and White Future on Wednesday evening. 

Each of the groups allegedly received federal funding and was reportedly directly or indirectly involved in supporting the judicial reform protests.

In the letters, Jordan and Mast accuse the Biden administration of sending funds to the groups for the purpose of “attempting to undermine Israel’s democratically elected government,” which the lawmakers describe as an attack on civil liberties and potentially criminal.

Libi Zipser, a spokesperson for Blue and White Future, categorically denied the notion that the organization received any federal funding.

“No state entity or U.S. (or other) government body has donated to the organization, directly or indirectly. All donations to the organization—as well as all of its activities—are supervised, reported, and audited in accordance with the law. The letter on the matter from members of the U.S. Congress relies on false assumptions that have no basis in reality, and the organization will clarify this to those who inquired,” Zipser said in a statement to JI. “Any other statements or insinuations are nothing more than the spread of lies by the toxic propaganda machine and will be addressed accordingly.”

The inquiries request documentation and communications from the organizations about the funding applications, any communications between the NGOs in question and details about how the funds were spent, with an April 9 deadline.

They also instruct the NGOs to preserve all records and data related to the grants.

The letters argue that the grants “reflect the poor track record of USAID and the State Department in funding entities in the region,” highlighting allegations that USAID sent millions in funding to groups aligned with terrorist organizations and that have espoused antisemitism.