Whatsapp co-founder and former CEO Jan Koum, a Ukrainian-American Jew, has donated $2 million to AIPAC's efforts to get pro-Israel Democrats elected in the upcoming mid-term elections.
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By doing so, Koum, who prefers to keep a low media profile, has become one of the biggest participants in AIPAC's latest political initiative, out-donating Haim Saban, Paul Singer, and Bernard Marcus, who donated $1 million each.
Koum's personal wealth is estimated at some $10 billion. In 2014, he sold Whatsapp to Facebook (now Meta) for $22 billion, and in 2018 stepped down as CEO. According to a recent JTA report, since leaving Whatsapp, Koum has devoted his time to a charitable foundation he established that donates enormous amounts to various Jewish causes.
In 2019-2020 Koum donated some $140 million to approximately 70 different Jewish groups. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of this year, Koum has donated tens of millions of dollars to Jewish organizations in eastern Europe. These sums have made Koum into one of the biggest philanthropists in the Jewish world.
An analysis of Koum's donations indicate that he is staunchly pro-Israel. He is a major donor to the US Friends of the IDF; Campus Coalition – an umbrella group of Jewish organizations fighting anti-Israel propaganda on college campuses; and the Maccabee Task Force, which is also taking on anti-Israel propaganda at US universities and colleges.
Meanwhile, Koum has also donated $6 million to the Elad NGO, which works to expand Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem, and $175,000 to an Israeli foundation that serves as a clearinghouse for US donations to settler organizations in Judea and Samaria and right-wing groups such as Im Tirzu, Honenu, Women in Green, and others.
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