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Billionaire New England<\/span> Patriots owner Robert Kraft wants you to know he has spent \u201cdecades\u201d supporting the Palestinian people.\u00a0<\/p>\n Days after pressuring pop singer Ed Sheeran to drop rapper Macklemore<\/a> from his tour over the latter\u2019s \u201cFree Palestine\u201d remarks, Kraft claimed in a statement<\/a> posted to social media that \u201cfor decades\u201d he has \u201csupported efforts that create opportunity for Palestinians,\u201d such as initiatives to \u201cto build businesses, create jobs, and forge relationships\u201d between Israelis and Palestinians. The claims were made as a part of Kraft\u2019s pledge to give $2 million to \u201caid in the region.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Kraft did not disclose which organizations would receive his money.<\/p>\n Nor did he mention his long history of donating to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces<\/a>, an organization that collects money on behalf of Israeli soldiers, and the United Democracy Project<\/a>, the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies to tilt <\/a>American politics<\/a> in favor of Israel<\/a>. Kraft has also given money to a host of pro-Israel advocacy groups that attack critics of Israel, spread content that critics warn is Islamophobic, and have steadfastly defended Israel against mounting evidence of its ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n The Intercept\u2019s analysis of tax forms since 2006 show that Kraft\u2019s charity group, the Kraft Family Foundation, has donated $196,000 to the Friends of the IDF and an additional $123,000 to other organizations \u2014 Brothers for Life and Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans \u2014 that directly benefit Israeli military soldiers. In his seven separate donations to the Friends of the IDF, Kraft earmarked the money to \u201cPromote education for young Jewish soldiers.\u201d <\/p>\n Since 2020, Friends of the IDF has poured more than $20 million into its lone soldier program, which supports young Jewish Americans, and Israelis who have no familial support, to serve in the Israeli military\u2019s reserve soldier program, according to an investigation by The Intercept<\/a>. The program has continued throughout Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kraft has organized trips to Israel for former and current NFL players, including a 2017 trip in which he led a delegation of former players on a visit<\/a> to an Israeli Air Force base, organized by the Friends of the IDF.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2019, Kraft gave $20 million to found a new organization, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, now known as the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate. Upon its founding, Kraft pledged<\/a> the organization would oppose the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, claiming<\/a> the Palestinian rights movement \u201cand other efforts to delegitimize and undermine the State of Israel are the most disconcerting times for the country I love so much.\u201d Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reciprocated the love when Kraft announced the new group while accepting an award for his Israel advocacy, declaring, \u201cIsrael does not have a more loyal friend than Robert Kraft.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the years, Kraft\u2019s foundation has also given $63,500 to the right-wing media watchdog group<\/a> Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, or CAMERA, which has run pressure campaigns<\/a> against news outlets<\/a>, journalists, students, and scholars<\/a> it deems anti-Israel and has routinely denied Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza, dismissing such evidence as \u201cthe Gaza GenoLie<\/a>.\u201d When Kraft gave $36,000 to CAMERA in 2018, the donation included a memo, \u201cfighting antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n