Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace member gives $1.5M to AIPAC-linked super PAC: Report

Marc Rowan, the billionaire CEO of Apollo Global Management, has donated $1.5 million since the beginning of the year to the United Democracy Project, a super PAC (Political Action Committee) affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), according to Federal Election Commission filings, Anadolu reports.

Rowan, whose net worth exceeds $8 billion, is an executive member of Trump’s “Board of Peace,” a United Nations-approved body tasked with advancing Trump’s stalled Gaza plan.

The donation, reported by The Intercept on Thursday, represents a small portion of Rowan’s wealth and supports a foreign policy centered on backing Israel and continued US weapons supplies to the country amid its war on Gaza.

Speaking at a February gathering of President Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace, Rowan described areas devastated by Israeli bombardment from the perspective of their development potential.

“The potential here is tremendous,” he said. “This is not a problem of money or collateral. This is a problem with peace.”

Federal Election Commission filings show that he made his first donation to the United Democracy Project (UDP) in early March, contributing $1 million, followed by another $500,000 donation on July 23.

On the same day as Rowan’s second donation, the AIPAC-linked super PAC spent nearly $50,000 on campaign mailers targeting progressive pro-Palestine US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.

In Missouri, UDP also spent $100,000 on phone banking against former Democratic Rep. Cori Bush in her race against pro-Israel incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell.

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It is unclear whether Rowan’s donations were used to support any of UDP’s specific political activities. Rowan and UDP did not respond to The Intercept when contacted for comment.

Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now, said transparency was needed over Rowan’s dual role as a major donor to AIPAC’s super PAC and a member of Trump’s Gaza board.

“Now he sits on a board that will decide Gaza’s future,” Jarrar told The Intercept. “Palestinians did not choose him, and neither did American voters. Americans and Palestinians alike deserve to know whose interests are actually being served.”

Rowan has been a vocal critic of pro-Palestine student protesters, labeling their calls as “antisemitic,” while AIPAC has strongly supported Trump’s Gaza plan and Israel’s position in negotiations with Hamas.

At a February meeting in Washington, Rowan presented Gaza’s economic potential, despite more than 80% of the territory being in ruins. He estimated the value of Gaza’s coastline at $50 billion, rebuilt housing at $30 billion and infrastructure projects at another $30 billion.

Rowan said placing these assets under Trump’s Board of Peace would allow for “conflict-free management of the resources to benefit the Gazans.”

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