April 17, 2025
Attn: The Archewell Foundation
9665 Wilshire Boulevard, Fifth Floor
Beverly Hills, California 90212
Dear James Holt and Shauna Nep,
First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude for your support of our Afghan Women’s Sewing Group and Support Circle. The program has had a transformative impact. With your resources, the Muslim Women’s Coalition led efforts that strengthened mental health, restored purpose, and built community among women who have already endured so much.
It is in that spirit that I write to express my deep disappointment regarding the Foundation’s decision to revoke funding in response to an independent opinion piece I authored on Gaza. To suggest that the piece constitutes hate speech or propaganda is, at best, a profound misrepresentation.
Israel’s treatment of Palestinians has been described as apartheid by all credible human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, as well as some Israeli organizations such as B’Tselem and Yesh Din. These findings are echoed by UN Special Rapporteurs and legal scholars. Concerns about crimes against humanity and genocide have been widely documented and are grounded in international law.
We are unwavering in our commitment to justice, dignity, and human rights for all people, including Palestinians. The article in question was published on the front page of the Op-Ed section of the multiple Pulitzer Prize winning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin’s largest circulated newspaper. A paper of that caliber does not publish material promoting hate, violence, or propaganda.
We live in a time when peaceful advocacy for Palestinian human rights is frequently and unjustly mischaracterized. Criticizing the policies of a government is not antisemitism. Antisemitism is hostility or prejudice toward Jewish individuals or communities, something I unequivocally reject. In fact, Jewish-led organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace have been at the forefront of the protests and encampments I referenced in my opinion piece. To conflate political critique of Zionism with antisemitism is not only inaccurate, it undermines the meaning of both concepts.
There is painful irony in your decision to withdraw support from Afghan women, many of them war survivors, because the leader of a women’s organization dared to speak out against the creation of more war survivors. The people enduring the crisis in Gaza are exactly those your mission claims to support. How can it be against your mission and values to advocate for their safety and dignity?
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. If your foundation believes that calling for the freedom of a people from oppression is “hateful,” if these people happen to be Palestinian, then we too regret to inform you that our values do not align.
I make no apology for standing up for human rights and speaking out against dehumanization of all people, including Palestinians. In the very Op-Ed in question, I wrote:
“Jews refuse to have their beautiful faith conflated with the genocidal actions of a racist apartheid government and are actively speaking out against Israel. These young Jews believe ‘never again’ means never again for everyone, not just Jews.”
How is that antisemitic? Only in a world where the definition of antisemitism is distorted to silence dissent.
Silencing women of color who speak out against injustice perpetuates the very harm your foundation purports to address. Yielding to pressure from Islamophobic and anti-Arab “media” compromises your credibility and undermines your mission. In choosing PR over principle, you betray the communities you claim to uplift.
Who you fund is ultimately your decision, but we ask that you retract your defamatory statements and issue a public apology, not to salvage our reputation, which remains pristine, but to salvage yours. With MWC’s proven track record—driven by Jewish, Muslim, and Christian staff—we are confident that more credible foundations and generous donors will continue to support this vital work.
Respectfully,
Janan Najeeb
Founder and Executive Director
Muslim Women’s Coalition
LaunchGood Campaign Organized by MWC Supporters