Marc Rowan has a vision for Gaza.
asserted
Rowan → have → Gaza
“The potential here is tremendous,” he said at a February gathering of President Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace, where Rowan described land devastated by Israeli bombing with a developer’s zeal.
asserted
Rowan → say → zeal
In the U.S., Rowan is simultaneously helping ensure a pro-Israel political project has no problem with money.
asserted
project → help → money
Since the start of this year, according to Federal Election Commission filings, the billionaire CEO of Apollo Global Management has donated $1.5 million to the United Democracy Project, a super PAC for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spending a fraction of his vast wealth to preserve a foreign policy defined by support for Israel’s genocide and the flow of U.S. weapons to Israel.
uncertain
CEO → accord → Israel
Rowan — who is worth more than $8 billion and reportedly consulted on his business with convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — is an executive member of Trump’s “Board of Peace,” a United Nations-approved body tasked with carrying out Trump’s stalled plan for Gaza.
uncertain
who → consult → Gaza
He made his first donation to UDP of the year in early March, giving $1 million, filings show, just as the group began spending aggressively against the now-ousted Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a loud critic of U.S. support for Israel.
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group → make → Israel
A second donation for $500,000 arrived on July 23.
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donation → arrive → July
The same day, the AIPAC super PAC shelled out nearly $50,000 in campaign mailers in Michigan to attack the progressive pro-Palestine candidate for U.S. Senate, Abdul El-Sayed.
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PAC → shell → Senate
In Missouri, it dropped another $100,000 for phone banking services against former Democratic Rep. Cori Bush in her race against pro-Israel incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell.
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it → drop → Bell
It’s not clear which specific UDP efforts have been backed by Rowan’s largesse, and neither Rowan nor UDP responded to requests for comment.
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Rowan → ’ → comment
But Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with Democracy for the Arab World Now, connected Rowan’s position on Trump’s Gaza board and his major part as a donor to AIPAC’s super PAC as a matter of transparency.
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Jarrar → connect → transparency
“Now he sits on a board that will decide Gaza’s future,” Jarrar told The Intercept.
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Jarrar → sit → Intercept
“Palestinians did not choose him, and neither did American voters.
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voters → choose → him
Americans and Palestinians alike deserve to know whose interests are actually being served.”
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interests → deserve → ?
Rowan, a major donor to Trump’s failed 2020 presidential campaign, has long made his animus toward critics of Israel known.
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animus → make → Israel
In recent years, he has been a fierce advocate against student protesters calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza, broadly mischaracterizing their anti-genocide calls as “antisemitic,” and played a key role in ousting leaders at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, over their handling of the protests.
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he → call → protests
In 2025, he served as a consultant to the White House in its recent attacks on higher education.
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he → serve → education
He donated an initial $250,000 to UDP in 2022, the year the AIPAC super PAC was founded, and more than quadrupled his giving by 2024.
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PAC → donate → 2024
Trump appointed him to the Board of Peace this past January.
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Trump → appoint → Peace
“Marc Rowan has used his position to try to silence Palestinians and smear students protesting Israel’s genocide,” said Margaret DeReus, executive director of Peace, Accountability, and Leadership PAC, which launched this cycle as a pro-Palestine counterweight to the pro-Israel lobby.
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which → use → lobby
PAL PAC backed both El-Sayed and Bush, who have committed to cutting military aid to Israel.
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who → back → Israel
(El-Sayed prevailed in his Democratic Senate primary against Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens, while both Bush and Massie lost their races.)
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Bush → prevail → races
Rowan “gives millions to fund the now-fringe idea that billions of our tax dollars should fund the Israeli military and targets candidates who are calling to stop sending U.S. tax dollars to Israel’s genocide,” DeReus said.
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DeReus → give → genocide
She added that his presence on “Trump’s corrupt board” lays bare the actual goal of the governing body: “the continued genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians living in Gaza.
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presence → add → Gaza
As support for Israel among the American people has plummeted, and more leftist candidates run on promises to enact an arms embargo on Israel, AIPAC has broken its own spending records and set new ones, helping make El-Sayed and Massie’s primaries among the most expensive ever.
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primaries → plummet → expensive
In Congress, the lobbying giant has also worked to consolidate power among its pro-Israel base.
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giant → lobby → base
In July, AIPAC lobbied members for the passage of a Pentagon program that further enmeshes military technological sharing between the U.S. and Israeli militaries.
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that → lobby → militaries
Last week, Democratic leadership appointed three hawkish, pro-Israel, and AIPAC-backed Democrats to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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leadership → appoint → Committee
In addition to his AIPAC super PAC spending, Rowan has also directly given to a host of pro-Israel candidates this cycle, including New Jersey Democrats Rep. Josh Gottheimer and Sen. Cory Booker, as well as Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig in her failed Senate bid.
asserted
Rowan → give → bid
The majority of Rowan’s spending, however, has been in favor of Republicans, including Mike Rogers, who is facing off against El-Sayed; Florida Sen. Ashley Moody, a vocal opponent of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement; and Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and former Israeli Defense Forces volunteer who famously wore his IDF uniform to Congress.
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who → include → Congress
AIPAC has long championed Trump’s plan for Gaza, which has included overt calls to displace Palestinians, and supports Israel’s hard line in its negotiations with Hamas leaders.
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which → champion → leaders
Israel, which occupies nearly 70 percent of Gaza, has refused to withdraw its military from the Strip.
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which → occupy → Strip
Israel blames Hamas for refusing to disarm, though the Palestinian militant and political group has said it would only surrender its weapons in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and the establishment of a Palestinian state — conditions the Israeli government has refused.
asserted
government → blame → state
AIPAC also regularly celebrates the ongoing bombardment of the Strip, where more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the so-called ceasefire was brokered, including this week when bombing killed two children.
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bombing → celebrate → children
At the meeting in Washington, D.C., this past February — when Trump also pledged $10 billion in public funds to the board — Rowan fired off property value estimates in Gaza, more than 80 percent of which lies in ruins.
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percent → pledge → ruins
He cited a coastline valued at $50 billion; a housing stock, if rebuilt, worth $30 billion; and infrastructure projects worth another $30 billion.
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He → cite → billion
Rowan spoke next to generic renderings of glistening high-rise apartments, palm tree-laden highways, solar power plants, and coastal oil depots.
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Rowan → speak → apartments
Consolidating all of these assets under the supervision of Trump’s Board of Peace, Rowan said, would allow for “conflict-free management of the resources to benefit the Gazans.”
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Rowan → consolidate → Gazans
“One hundred fifteen billion of value,” he promised.
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he → promise → value
“It just needs to be unlocked and financed.
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It → need → ?
…and 34 more, not listed.
