Prince Harry visits Ukraine to meet wounded warriors
Prince Harry makes surprise visit to Ukraine, where he met victims of war in Ukraine as a part of his work with wounded veterans.
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s charitable Archewell Foundation has cut off funding to a Milwaukee-based Muslim women’s organization because of its leader’s views on the Israel-Hamas War.
An article published April 11 by the news outlet NewsNation seemingly prompted Archewell to halt its funding of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition. A NewsNation reporter asked the foundation about the coalition’s executive director Janan Najeeb’s opinion piece in the Wisconsin Muslim Journal − an outlet run by Najeeb’s group − which included the contentious phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Representatives for Archewell did not respond to the USA TODAY Network’s requests for comment.
An online fundraiser for the women’s coalition reproduced a letter from the Archewell Foundation, which the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, independently verified.
“We have recently been notified of an online opinion piece you wrote that goes against the values of The Archewell Foundation,” the letter told Najeeb. “We have zero tolerance for hateful words, actions, or propaganda.”
After NewsNation called attention to Najeeb’s views, Archewell Foundation staff told her on April 9 that the Muslim Women’s Coalition was being removed from its funding network, and it would not award the coalition additional grants.
According to tax filings, the Archewell Foundation awarded the Muslim Women’s Coalition a $27,960 grant in 2023 to operate a support group and sewing circle for Afghan evacuee women in Milwaukee. The group planned to meet weekly to complete sewing projects and take part in “restorative” conversations that address the women’s trauma.
The foundation gave the coalition another grant of a similar amount in 2024, Najeeb said.
The funding cuts come as Harry and Meghan face scrutiny as media reports surfaced that Harry recently resigned from the charity he co-founded in honor of his late mother Princess Diana. Earlier this year, the two philanthropists were pictured visiting with victims of the Los Angeles wildfires in Meghan’s hometown.
Palestinian activist speaks out after Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s charity halts funding
For her part, Najeeb views the funding cut as part of a broader trend of organizations distancing themselves from pro-Palestinian views for fear of retribution.
“It’s unfortunate that a funder like the Archewell decided to cave in so quickly,” she told the Journal Sentinel. “This is not unusual. This is in line with what’s happening around the country.” In a letter to foundation executives, Najeeb rejected the characterization of her opinion piece as hateful or antisemitic.
“If your foundation stipulates that grant recipients must sit idly by as a genocide is broadcast live on their television screens, then we too regret to inform you that our values do not align,” Najeeb said in her response. “In choosing PR over principle, you betray the communities you claim to uplift.”
And she posited that the executives’ issues were actually with another opinion piece she wrote for the Journal Sentinel last May, in which she argued that student protesters “know truth about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” That piece does not mention the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a slogan which many Jews consider antisemitic.
Harry and Meghan have fully re-entered public life this year with As Ever, Netflix show
The fundraising debacle coincides with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s return to public life five years after stepping back as British working royals in January 2020.
After she started dating Harry, Meghan shut down her popular lifestyle blog “The Tig” in April 2017, but the duchess hard-launched her new Netflix lifestyle show “With Love” and the brand As Ever this year.
The first As Ever drop sold out in less than an hour and one product (the $28 limited-edition wildflower honey with honeycomb) sold out in less than five minutes. The featured products in the company’s first collection included $12 herbal tea in three flavors: hibiscus, peppermint and lemon ginger.
In a recent profile for The New York Times published April 2 in conjunction with the official launch of As Ever, Meghan defended her decision to start her lifestyle brand and star in a new companion Netflix show.
In the piece, she explained that the brand gives her flexibility as mom to her two children with Harry: Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3.
“I need to work, and I love to work,” Meghan told NYT, adding that the brand “is a way I can connect my home life and my work.”
Harry is set to take the reins of a second program that will bring viewers behind-the-scenes of the world of professional polo, a sport played by Harry for years, at the U.S. Open Polo Championship in Wellington, Florida.
Leave a Reply