What is the American renewal projects association with Israel and does Israel pay them?
Executive summary
The phrase “American Renewal Project” appears to refer to at least two distinct phenomena in U.S.–Israel civic and political ties: an American conservative organization that has funded free trips to Israel for Republican leaders, and the long-standing Israeli “Project Renewal” program that is financed in large part by twinned overseas Jewish communities and American Jewish fundraising bodies; available reporting does not show Israel paying the U.S. conservative group to run those trips (Haaretz) and documents describing Project Renewal make clear its funding comes from abroad to Israel rather than the reverse (Haaretz; Encyclopedia.com) [1] [2].
1. What the U.S. “American Renewal Project” reporting actually documents
Reporting from Haaretz in 2014 identified an organization called the American Renewal Project as one of two U.S. conservative groups that financed free trips to Israel for Republican leaders, alongside the American Family Association, noting that roughly 60 Republican National Committee members signed up for a trip financed by those groups (Haaretz) [1]. That coverage frames the American Renewal Project as a U.S.-based political-conservative actor paying for travel to Israel for U.S. conservatives — not as an Israeli-funded entity — and the article does not report any payment or direct funding flowing from the Israeli government to the U.S. group [1].
2. What “Project Renewal” in Israel is and who pays it
Project Renewal is a decades-old joint program of the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency for Israel aimed at rehabilitating distressed neighborhoods; Encyclopedia.com and historical accounts say the program’s projects are funded by twinned communities abroad — in many cases U.S. Jewish communities organized through mechanisms such as the United Jewish Appeal — which act as the financing and liaison partners for implementation in Israel [2]. These sources show funding running from diaspora communities into Israeli neighborhoods under the Project Renewal banner, not payments from Israel to American groups [2].
3. How this gets confused with broader U.S.–Israel funding dynamics
The confusion between similarly named initiatives and broader aid flows is understandable because U.S.–Israel financial ties are extensive and multi-channel: the United States has provided tens of billions in bilateral military and missile-defense assistance to Israel over decades, structured through instruments like Foreign Military Financing and multi-year memoranda of understanding (MOU) that shape joint projects and procurement arrangements (Congress.gov; CFR; Costs of War/Brown reporting) [3] [4] [5]. Political actors on both sides — and critics — often frame programs and trips as evidence of influence networks, but the specific Haaretz reporting attributes trip financing to U.S. conservative groups rather than Israeli government payments [1].
4. What the public record does — and does not — show about Israel paying U.S. groups
Available reporting reviewed for this analysis does not document the Israeli government making payments to the American Renewal Project described in Haaretz; instead, Haaretz reports U.S. groups financed Israel trips [1], and Encyclopedia.com describes Project Renewal as funded by twinned communities abroad with U.S. organizations as intermediaries [2]. There are broader debates and critiques about how American money (private and public) supports pro‑Israel advocacy, media, and political influence — reflected in academic and policy critiques — but those sources do not establish that Israel pays the American Renewal Project to run trips or programs [6] [5]. If a reader is seeking a definitive transactional ledger — who paid whom and when — the sources provided do not contain a direct invoice trail showing payments from the Israeli government to the U.S. conservative group; further investigative documentary evidence (contracts, IRS filings, or Israeli government transfer records) would be required to settle that narrower question.