Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace Member Gives $1.5M to AIPAC-Linked Super PAC:Report

Billionaire Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management, donated $1 million in March and $500,000 in July to United Democracy Project; questions raised over dual role as Gaza board member and major AIPAC donor Billionaire financier Marc Rowan, a member of President Donald Trump’s Gaza “Board of Peace,” has donated $1.5 million this year to a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), raising questions over his political interests as he helps shape plans for Gaza’s future. Federal Election Commission filings show Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management, gave $1 million to the United Democracy Project (UDP) in March and another $500,000 on July 23, according to reporting by The Intercept. The United Democracy Project is closely linked to AIPAC and has spent heavily in U.S. elections against candidates critical of Israel. Rowan, whose net worth exceeds $8 billion, sits on Trump’s “Board of Peace,” which is tasked with advancing the administration’s Gaza plan. The board is described as a United Nations-approved body intended to carry out Trump’s stalled plan for Gaza. The Intercept reported that the donation is a small fraction of Rowan’s wealth and supports a foreign policy defined by backing Israel and the continuous flow of U.S. weapons to Israel during its war on Gaza. In February, speaking at a meeting of Trump’s so-called Board of Peace, Rowan described areas devastated by Israeli bombing in terms of their development potential. “This capacity here is tremendous. This is not a money or collateral issue. This is a peace issue,” Rowan said. Federal Election Commission filings show Rowan made his first donation to UDP of the year in early March, giving $1 million, just as the group began spending aggressively against pro-Palestine candidates. A second donation for $500,000 arrived on July 23. On the same day as Rowan’s second contribution, the AIPAC-linked super PAC spent nearly $50,000 on campaign mailers targeting Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive pro-Palestine U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan. In Missouri, UDP also spent $100,000 on phone banking against former Democratic Rep. Cori Bush in her race against pro-Israel incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell. It is not clear which specific UDP efforts have been backed by Rowan’s largesse, and neither Rowan nor UDP responded to requests for comment. Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now, told The Intercept that transparency is needed on Rowan’s dual role as a major donor to AIPAC’s super PAC and a member of Trump’s Gaza board. “Now he sits on a board that will decide Gaza’s future. Palestinians did not elect him, nor did American voters. Both Americans and Palestinians have the right to know whose interests are actually being served,” Jarrar said. Rowan has been an outspoken critic of pro-Palestine student protesters, calling their demands “antisemitic,” while AIPAC has strongly supported Trump’s Gaza plan and Israel’s position in negotiations with Hamas. In February, at a meeting in Washington, Rowan presented Gaza’s economic potential despite more than 80 percent of the area having been turned to rubble. He estimated Gaza’s coastline at $50 billion in value, rebuilt housing at $30 billion, and infrastructure projects at another $30 billion. Rowan said that keeping these assets under Trump’s Board of Peace would “enable conflict-free management of resources to benefit the people of Gaza.”