During the heat of the 2024 presidential campaign, then-Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley, along with his senior adviser, left the U.S. on a trip to Israel, hosted by the Israel Heritage Foundation (IHF). There, Whatley had a private meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli news outlet Arutz Sheva reported.

But the RNC’s federal campaign finance filings reviewed by Prism do not disclose any travel to Israel in May 2024. On the trip, Whatley and his staffer joined Donald Trump donors, fundraisers, pro-Trump Zionists, and Israeli officials for a banquet event at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Jerusalem. They also came together for tours led by the Israeli military of the kibbutz Kfar Aza and the site of the Nova music festival, among the sites of Hamas’ Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Oct. 7, 2023. The entire trip was organized by IHF, a hard-line pro-Israel nonprofit based in Nassau County, New York.

A Prism analysis of the IHF’s social media, public documents, news reports, and videos reveals a mosaic of links between the 501(c)(3) religious corporation and Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Prism has also uncovered IHF’s ties to officials at the highest levels of the Israeli government, including one Israeli official who ran a get-out-the-vote effort in support of Trump. 

This May, IHF Executive Vice President Joseph Frager spoke from a podium adorned with the IHF’s logo at a dinner that included Israeli officials. 

“We got President Trump elected,” Frager told attendees, according to an Arutz Sheva video of the event.

According to videos reviewed by Prism, one Israeli minister said at an IHF event that she was creating new Israeli propaganda platforms and that she hoped to use attendees to help spread it. Israel’s former Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan told the IHF that its support and activities are “extremely important.”

Prism has previously revealed IHF ties to New York Mayor Eric Adams and top brass at the New York Police Department. Prism has also found that the IHF gave an award to New York Rep. Claudia Tenney, and that during an IHF event featuring the chair of Israel Bonds New York Region, Martin Oliner, he suggested that “maybe we need to kill more civilians” in Gaza.

Prism’s latest findings reveal new layers to the activities of a U.S. nonprofit with ties to the highest levels of the U.S. and Israeli government, all while operating as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) religious organization advocating for hard-line pro-Israel policies.

The IHF declined an on-the-record phone interview with Prism, but provided responses to some questions over email.

“As it relates to President Trump, we properly saw the likelihood that Trump could be elected as President and we built up relationships with him and his people before the election,” the IHF told Prism. “With antisemitism out of control under the Biden Administration we felt it important to see if we could build relationships with the Trump people with the expectation and hope that he would pursue a much better policy with Israel and fighting antisemitism. He has both stood by Israel and he is fighting antisemitism.”

“We have built close relationships with the government of Israel and their representatives and we provide a forum for the government ministers and ambassadors, which they appreciate,” the group wrote in a separate email.

The IHF did not respond to a follow-up email with a full list of details included in this piece. The group did not respond when Prism asked whether the IHF paid for the Israel trip with RNC staffers.

New leadership, new activity

The IHF was originally founded in 1973 as a religious corporation in Rockland County, New York, by Rabbi Yaakov (Jack) Spivak and others under the name Congregation Ayshel Avraham, where it appears to have enjoyed a rich history operating a kollel, a rabbinical seminary, for decades. 

After Spivak died in March 2021, Rabbi David Katz took over the organization as one of three new trustees and reformed the 501(c)(3) in Nassau County. 

In an emailed statement to Prism, the IHF wrote that Spivak ordained Katz to take over his seminary and congregation. However, the nonprofit did not answer whether Katz purchased the 501(c)(3) organization. 

“Israel Heritage Foundation is a DBA [Doing Business As] of Congregation Ayshel Avraham where we pray and we do Torah classes & learn our heritage,” the IHF wrote. “We still operate a Rabbinic Seminary.”

When Prism requested documentation or photographs that show that the IHF has operated a seminary in the last three years, the IHF did not respond. In a Prism review of the more than 900 Instagram posts on the IHF’s page, not one shows any reference to a rabbinical seminary operated by the IHF. 

Publicly available IRS and Nassau County incorporation documents reviewed by Prism show that after Katz took over the original Congregation Ayshel Avraham 501(c)(3), the rabbinical seminary Kollel Ayshel Avraham was split off into a separate legal entity in 2021. It was formerly recognized as its own unique tax-exempt entity by the IRS in July 2022. 

Since moving to Nassau County and operating as the Israel Heritage Foundation, the trustees and officers of Congregation Ayshel Avraham have changed completely since 2021. The activities of the 501(c)(3) have also veered into new territory, hosting multicourse meals at Manhattan restaurants with Israeli officials, orchestrating junkets to Israel, supporting the Israeli settlement movement in the West Bank, and engaging in meetings, according to an Instagram post, that aim to “promote unity and cooperation between the US and Israel.”

Support for Trump

IHF events have sometimes ventured into open support for political candidates.

After Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman spoke at an IHF event in 2024, in support of New York congressional candidate Alison Esposito, he turned and pointed to the camera recording the event and said, “I suggest you cut most of it out of your video if you want to retain your 501(c)(3) status.”

Under the Johnson Amendment, tax-exempt organizations are prohibited from engaging in any political campaign activity, including endorsing political candidates. In July, the IRS, in a joint motion with the National Religious Broadcasters Association, asked a federal judge to order the IRS to stop enforcement of the Johnson Amendment in certain cases for religious organizations. That order was granted, eliciting widespread opposition across the country.

“We have always complied with the 501 C 3 laws as we do not as an organization endorse any candidate, but individually our members are allowed to be politically active and endorse,” the IHF told Prism.

Prism found numerous instances in videos posted to the IHF’s YouTube page in which IHF leadership or guest speakers have directly promoted or opposed political candidates or parties for elected office.

However, Prism found numerous instances in videos posted to the IHF’s YouTube page in which IHF leadership or guest speakers have directly promoted or opposed political candidates or parties for elected office.

Frager, the executive vice president, said at a 2024 IHF event, “The Democratic Party has lost its way. The Republican Party has always been the party of reason.” 

Trump himself spoke at an IHF event at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on July 10, 2023, where he said, “If we don’t win, Israel is in big trouble.” After Trump spoke, IHF Executive President Stephen Soloway told Trump, “You must win and be the president again. You must win.” Former IHF Executive Chair Sam Nahmias later took the podium and said, “This coming election, we all have to come out and vote, we have to make a point. We have to nominate and elect President Trump, there is no question about it. Because otherwise can you imagine another … four years of Biden? It would be ridiculous.”

Trump appears to be the first Republican presidential candidate to attend an IHF event. Prism could not find any Democratic presidential candidate in attendance at any IHF event publicly posted on the IHF’s event gallery or YouTube page. 

At another IHF event hosted with Arutz Sheva in Jerusalem on Aug. 9, 2023, guest speaker Kenneth Abramowitz said, “The Republicans are the only hope for America. There is no hope with the Democrats, because the Democrats aren’t Democrats. The Democrats are the Communist Party. There is no role for the Communist Party in America or anywhere else.” 

“But the Republicans have to have a common voice, which they don’t have. It would be nice if all the competitors to President Trump were to leave, and then go on a speaking circuit as surrogates for President Trump,” he continued. “We do not need any competitors right now.”

At an IHF event in Israel on Aug. 5, 2023, guest speaker Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli military general, told attendees, “For us, it’s important to have a president that understands who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, and what needs to be done. Trump is definitely that kind of president.” Avivi also told the IHF crowd that he works “very, very closely with the government, the Knesset, diplomats, Washington to push all the different policies that we need to push.” 

“Hopefully [Trump] will be taking back the White House in 2024,” guest speaker Cameron Kinsey said at another IHF event in 2023.

An RNC trip to Israel

In May 2024, the IHF hosted Whatley, the RNC chair, among others on a trip to Israel, where Whatley reportedly met with Netanyahu, according to an Arutz Sheva article written by the IHF’s Frager. One trip attendee published a since-deleted dispatch after the trip, saying that several people Whatley “works with” also attended and that Whatley’s job at the time was to “oversee the reelection” of Trump. 

Gates McGavick, an RNC staffer and Whatley’s former senior adviser, also attended the IHF trip, as well as Arie Lipnick, a Republican strategist and consultant. After Trump was elected, McGavick served as a spokesperson for the Trump transition team and has since been hired as deputy director of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Whatley and the RNC did not respond to Prism’s requests for comment.

Prism asked former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison if he had a similar meeting with Netanyahu or if he was invited to one in 2024. In response, Harrison’s office told Prism over email that Harrison and the DNC had “no knowledge” of Whatley and Netanyahu’s meeting, and that Harrison “did not receive an invitation for a similar meeting.”

The IHF’s May 2024 trip to Israel also included Trump fundraiser Ed McMullen, who NBC News reported was on a separate junket at the time in Israel, traveling with former Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien, who also met privately with Netanyahu and joined the IHF for dinner. O’Brien later told the New York Times that Trump was aware of his trip to Israel. According to a report on the far-right website Breitbart, O’Brien said at the time that “putting Donald Trump back in power and electing Donald Trump is critical.” 

The author of the Breitbart report, Joshua Klein, also traveled with the IHF delegation and dined with the IHF for breakfast and dinner. At a separate IHF event in New York City on Dec. 17, 2023, that Klein also attended, IHF’s Frager said, “Josh Klein’s brother [Aaron] is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right-hand man, and I won’t say more.” Aaron Klein has served as a senior adviser to Netanyahu and has previously appeared with Frager at an Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce press conference in New York. 

Trump administration links

At an IHF event in New York City in May, Executive Director Katz told a room of Israeli officials and other IHF guests that he was invited to the “VVIP” room during Trump’s election night party in 2024, according to an Arutz Sheva video. Later, the IHF learned that Trump’s new ambassador to Israel would be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a hard-line Zionist who has frequented IHF events.

“Ambassador Huckabee has visited Israel several times with Dr. Joseph Frager. It’s clear that the Israel Heritage Foundation plays a meaningful role, not through grand gestures, but consistent deeds,” Katz said, according to an Arutz Sheva report. An embedded video recording shows Katz telling the audience that the “Israel Heritage Foundation is a great influence. We don’t just accomplish—we do.” 

Frager told attendees, “Don’t forget how important America is to Israel. A lot of us stayed here in order to help you over there.”

There are numerous links between the IHF’s leadership and Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Jonathan Burkan, the IHF’s honorary chair, also served as the New York State Republican Party’s congressional finance chair and Trump 47 Jewish Coalition co-chair. Soloway, the IHF’s executive president and a previous Trump appointee, was described as “one of the closest confidants of President Trump” at one IHF event. The IHF’s honorary president, Jerry Wartski, was prominently featured in one of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign videos. Rabbi Meir Melnicke, identified within an IHF letter as an IHF chair, blessed a 2024 Trump campaign rally in Nassau County. 

In addition to Huckabee, the IHF has also hosted several people who have since been appointed to key positions within the second Trump administration, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Department of Defense Katie Arrington, and Kari Lake, Trump’s senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Hegseth and Huckabee have headlined several IHF events. Huckabee’s Form 278e federal financial disclosures show that the IHF paid him $10,000 on Dec. 17, 2024. The U.S. State Department even listed an award Huckabee had received from the IHF as evidence within its Certificate of Competency issued to the Committee on Foreign Relations during Huckabee’s nomination. The IHF has since praised Huckabee’s “dedication to serving Israel.” 

Hegseth did not report any IHF payments in his federal ethics filings before his appointment and confirmation as defense secretary.

Lake previously headlined an IHF event in April 2023, according to an IHF video of the event. That year, Lake was paid $5,000 by the IHF, according to her 2024 Senate campaign financial disclosures.

The IHF also privately met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in February 2024, where members connected with then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is now Trump’s secretary of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security has since used federal agents to abduct green card and student visa holders across the U.S. on unsubstantiated allegations of antisemitic activities. The IHF has published statements in support of deporting students for endorsing or supporting terrorism.

Israeli connections

Prism also found intimate connections between the IHF and Israeli political leaders. IHF leadership has met frequently with Israeli settlement movement leader Yossi Dagan, according to IHF Instagram posts. 

As head of the Shomron Regional Council, an Israeli local government entity in the occupied West Bank, Dagan has developed his own foreign relations unit that, according to a report by Israeli news outlet Hamechadesh translated from Hebrew to English, has “hosted numerous delegations of senior officials from the American government, evangelical pastors, congressmen and senators.” 

“Many of the guests who came to Samaria, and the people who met with the delegations from Samaria in the United States, are now appointed to key positions in the incoming Trump administration,” the report states, using part of Israel’s name for the occupied West Bank, Judea and Samaria.

Dagan was also directly involved in an Israeli effort to get out the vote for Trump in 2024, according to an Arutz Sheva report.

Shortly after the November 2024 election, the IHF met with Dagan in New York “to discuss vital ways America can support the Judea and Samaria region,” according to an IHF Instagram post. “This meeting highlights the foundation’s efforts to strengthen US-Israel ties and promote economic development and regional security in the area.” Dagan also wrote in a Facebook post on the same day that he had “meetings with donors from New York.”

Prism asked the IHF if it had given money to Dagan with the knowledge that it would be used to support Dagan’s get-out-the-vote campaign for Trump. The IHF wrote, “To our knowledge no money we gave to any organization was for any efforts to support any political candidates.”

The IHF’s Katz also met with Dagan at the Shomron Regional Council offices in December 2024. An IHF Instagram post said that the meeting “highlights the IHF’s commitment to fostering strong relationships with local leaders and promoting community development in the region.”  

Dagan also spoke at a Jan. 12 IHF event featuring Huckabee, which Israeli Channel 14 reported strengthened diplomatic and personal ties between Israel and the U.S.  

In May, the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs officially incorporated Dagan’s foreign relations unit into an “official public diplomacy tool of the State of Israel,” according to Jewish News Syndicate.

Pro-Israel advocacy

The IHF’s website states that its 501(c)(3) offers the service of “Israel Advocacy” and describes as its mission “to support sovereignty throughout Israel, including Judea and Samaria, strengthen Israel’s security, encourage worldwide Aliyah [Jewish immigration to Israel], combat bigotry and Anti-Semitism by showing Israel authentically and establish genuine peace through Israel’s good deeds and innovation.”

In several instances, IHF events in Israel and within the U.S. have been “produced” by the hard-right, pro-settlement Israeli media outlet Arutz Sheva, where IHF’s Frager is a staff columnist. 

Joint IHF and Arutz Sheva events in 2023, 2024, and 2025 have featured Israeli officials, including some who explicitly call for attendees to help spread pro-Israel messaging.

At one such event in New York on June 5, 2023, Israeli Knesset member for Netanyahu’s Likud party Galit Distel Atbaryan told attendees “a secret,” according to a video of the event posted on the IHF’s YouTube page: Netanyahu had asked her to “make a deep hasbara, explain [to] the world why this is our land.” 

Hasbara is a Hebrew term roughly translated to “explanation.” A 2024 report by Palestinian policy network Al-Shabaka identified hasbara as Israeli “state-sponsored propaganda” and “information warfare” that “involves a coordinated effort by both state institutions and NGOs.”

According to the video, Distel Atbaryan told attendees that she is building “a huge platform. … I’m going to use the social media to create this platform. I’m going to use you guys for this also,” she said, gesturing her hands out to the attendees. “I want to spread it to millions of people in every country.”

Frager took the podium next, telling Distel Atbaryan, “You’re going to be very successful. We are there for you.” 

Following Frager’s comments, Gilad Erdan, then Israel’s U.N. ambassador, told the crowd that “allocating budget to hasbara is no less important than military spending. … I believe that your activities, your support, is extremely important today.” He thanked the IHF, saying, “We are sending a very strong message to our enemies by working together with you.”

Since August 2023, other Israeli officials who have attended IHF events include Director of the Israeli Ministry of Defense Mission to the USA and Canada Aviram A. Hasson; New York Consul General Ofir Akunis; Yesha Council Chair Yisrael Ganz; Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar; current Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon; Knesset members Ohad Tal, Simcha Rothman, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Dan Illouz; Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu; Education Minister Yoav Kisch; and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, among others. 

According to an Arutz Sheva report, Smotrich told the IHF at one event in Israel, “I want to make a ‘deal’ with you—we, MK [Knesset Member] Rothman, Minister Silman and others, will take care of some ‘small’ things that we have to take care of, but you will spread the truth and the light all over the world about the Israeli success story, and help us to harness more and more partners who recognize this and support Israel unconditionally—support the historical and biblical right of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, support a united Jerusalem, and support our right to settle anywhere in the Land of Israel.”