In the wake of the attacks by the terrorist group Hamas on Israelis that began on Saturday, the natural response of many people is to give donations to support the victims and their families. More than 1,000 Israelis have been reported killed and more than 2,800 injured, according to the Israeli Defense Forces; about 150 people are being held by Hamas, the Israeli government says.
Billionaire Yuri Milner, who was born in Russia but has long been a citizen of Israel, has promised $10 million in donations to Israeli humanitarian groups.
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Billionaires have begun to weigh in. On Tuesday, Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said in an Instagram story that “The terrorist attacks by Hamas are pure evil. There is never any justification for carrying out acts of terrorism on innocent people,” and saying that his focus is on the safety of “our employees and their families in Israel and the region.” Hedge fund founder Bill Ackman went viral on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday with a post saying that CEOs had asked him if Harvard University would release the list of members of Harvard organizations that assigned “sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous attacks to Israel, so none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.” New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who started a foundation to combat antisemitism in 2019, went on CNBC Tuesday and condemned the attacks on Israel.
So far, just a few of the world’s billionaires have publicly stepped up to make donations. Here’s who we’ve tracked so far:
Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and a billionaire from his financial data and media company, has been a longtime supporter of Israel, and offered to match donations to Magen David Adom, the Israeli Red Cross.
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Mike Bloomberg: The financial information and media mogul –and the world’s 11th richest person, worth some $96 billion–is a longtime supporter of Israel. On Tuesday, October 10 he posted on Instagram that he is donating an unspecified amount to Magen David Odom–the Israeli Red Cross–and will match donations made by others. A representative for the American Friends of Magen David Odom has not yet replied to a request for comment from Forbes, nor has a spokesperson for Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“In the wake of this weekend’s appalling terrorist attacks on Israel, I’m stepping up my support for @Magen_David_Adom , the Israeli Red Cross,” Bloomberg said on Instagram, adding that the group “operates Israel’s ambulances and Medivac units, runs its emergency dispatch system, and trains its paramedics.”
Yuri Milner: The Russian-born billionaire, who’s long been a citizen of Israel and a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, is best known for being an early investor in Facebook and Twitter through DST, his venture capital fund. So far Milner has announced $10 million in donations to Israeli humanitarian groups. Milner said on X (formerly Twitter) on October 10 that he and his wife Julia are donating $5 million from their Breakthrough Foundation–an Isle of Man-based entity-to The Jewish Agency for Israel, a nonprofit group that has a Fund for Victims of Terror. Milner, who wrote that he and his wife “are devastated by the horrific unprovoked attacks on Israel,” said the donation would support “both emergency aid and longer-term rehabilitation.”
Milner also posted on X that his foundation is donating $2.5 million to Magen David Odom (the Israeli Red Cross, the same group that Mike Bloomberg is supporting), and another $2.5 million to Tel Aviv Saurasky Medical Center to provide trauma care for victims and additional intensive care units.
Lynn Schusterman: The Oklahoma-based billionaire’s Schusterman Family Philanthropies funds causes in both the U.S. and Israel. It has been donating to a number of groups in Israel, including IsraAid, which has provided disaster relief and trauma counselling around the world including for Syrian refugees in Greece, and for Afghani refugees; this marks the first time the group is providing trauma counselling in Israel. The foundation is also supporting reservists who’ve been called up to defend the country; it hasn’t set an exact budget yet but expects to donate millions of dollars to address short- and long-term impacts of the crisis.
Lynn’s daughter Stacy Schusterman, who’s chaired the family foundation since 2018, shared this statement with Forbes: “Israel has been core to our family’s philanthropy for more than three decades. While we do not yet know the full impact of the horrifying attacks this weekend by Hamas terrorists, it has already been catastrophic on an unimaginable scale. We mourn the lives lost, pray for the safety of all who are missing and being held hostage, and wish those being called to serve their country a safe return. … We will persevere, and we will be there to support Israel.”
Bernard (Bernie) Marcus: The cofounder of Home Depot has been an active philanthropist, donating more than $1 billion to education, hospitals and Jewish causes. A spokesperson for Marcus says he’s two of the long-term groups that Marcus is supporting right now, in addition to Magen David Adom, are the IDF (the Israel Defense Forces) and nonprofit group Nefesh B’Nefesh, or Jewish Souls United, which is helping to bring physicians from outside Israel into the country.
Forbes will add to this as we get more information. This article was first published on forbes.com