Muslim Women’s Coalition Responds to Archewell Foundation’s Public Withdrawal of Support, Reaffirms Commitment to Justice and Human Rights
CAIR-Chicago and CAIR join demand for apology, encourage community support for MWC
- For Immediate Release and Distribution -
(MILWAUKEE, WI – 4/17/2025) – The Muslim Women’s Coalition (MWC), a Wisconsin-based nonprofit dedicated to empowering Muslim women and girls through education, leadership, outreach, and wellness, has responded to the Archewell Foundation's decision to publicly terminate funding for a project supporting Afghan women refugees in response to pressure from anti-Palestinian extremists. MWC calls attention to the troubling precedent this sets for grassroots organizations doing critical work on the ground.
Earlier this week, a rightwing, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian media outlet threatened to write a negative article about the Archewell Foundation's decision to make two grants totaling $55,700 to support MWC's Afghan Women's Sewing Group and Support Circle project, which provides training and mental health support to Afghan refugees who are building new lives in America.
The criticism was in response to two editorials written independently by the MWC founder over a year ago that were critical of the Israeli government's human rights abuses. The editorials were published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Muslim Journal.
SEE LAUNCHGOOD CAMPAIGN.
In a statement, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said:
“It is important to note that the editorials Archewell’s letter references are one year old, which suggests that it was not the pieces that triggered the defunding, but more recent third-party pressure, consistent with the current trend of anti-Palestinian groups like Betar and others targeting government, private foundations, schools and employers to purge and censor anti-genocide voices.”
In a statement, CAIR's national office said:
"We strongly condemn the Archewell Foundation for instantly bucking under pressure from anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian voices who seek to smear and silence the Muslim Women Coalition over its criticism of the Israeli government's genocide in Gaza and apartheid policies. If this foundation established by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle truly cares about empowering women and advancing humanitarian causes, it cannot treat Palestinian women and others facing slaughter and starvation as less than human. The Archewell Foundation must apologize to the Muslim Women's Coalition and stop ignoring the plight of the Palestinian people.”
In a letter sent to the Archewell Foundation, MWC Executive Director Janan Najeeb wrote, in part:
“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 those people happen to be Palestinian—then we too regret to inform you that our values do not align.”
Rather than standing firm in the face of a bad-faith media hit piece, Archewell chose to distance itself from one of the very types of organizations it claims to uplift: women-led, community-rooted, and focused on healing and empowerment.
This moment is not just about MWC. It’s about the many local organizations doing transformative work who could just as easily find themselves in the crosshairs of political and racist smear campaigns. When influential institutions retreat from their values at the first sign of controversy, they don’t just let down their partners, they risk alienating the very communities they claim to serve.
Supporters of MWC have already launched a fundraiser to continue the Afghan Women’s Sewing Group and Support Circle, reaffirming what we have always known: the power of community far outlasts performative allyship.
The Muslim Women Coalition's full letter to the Archewell Foundation reads:
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
END
CONTACT: Janan Najeeb, Founder and Executive Director, Muslim Women’s Coalition, jnajeeb@mmwconline.org; Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago, 202-870-0166, arehab@cair.com; Hafsa Haider, Communications Coordinator of CAIR-Chicago, 561-317-7509, hhaider@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com