Nina Rosenwald
{{Short description|American activist and philanthropist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Nina Rosenwald
| honorific_suffix =
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| alma mater = Sarah Lawrence College (B.A.)
New York University (M.A.)
| organization = William Rosenwald Family Fund
Gatestone Institute
Sears Roebuck
American Securities Management
| parents = William Rosenwald
| relatives = Julius Rosenwald
(grandfather)
Lessing J. Rosenwald
(uncle)
Edith Rosenwald Stern
(aunt)
Edgar B. Stern
(uncle)
Armand Deutsch
(cousin)
}}
Nina Rosenwald is an American political activist and philanthropist. An heiress to the Sears Roebuck fortune, Rosenwald is vice president of the William Rosenwald Family Fund and co-chair of the board of American Securities Management.{{cite news|title=Nina Rosenwald – Profile|url=http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/rosenwald_nina|work=Militarist Monitor|publisher=The Militarist Monitor (previously Right Web)|access-date=7 October 2013|date=5 March 2013}} She is the founder and president of Gatestone Institute,{{Cite book|last=Marzouki|first=Nadia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pg8pDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT93|title=Islam: An American Religion|date=2017-04-04|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-54392-7}} a New York-based right-wing anti-Muslim think tank.{{Cite news|title=Don't overlook John Bolton and Mike Pompeo's anti-Muslim ties|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dont-overlook-john-bolton-and-mike-pompeos-anti-muslim-ties/2018/04/12/6a4ce456-3dc3-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html|access-date=2022-07-06|issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/30/rightwing-thinktank-pulls-funds-commons-groups-disclosure-rules|title=Rightwing thinktank pulls funds for Commons groups after disclosure row|last=Ramesh|first=Randeep|date=30 December 2014|access-date=16 February 2017|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rACiCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|title=Coercive Concern: Nationalism, Liberalism, and the Schooling of Muslim Youth|last=Jaffe-Walter|first=Reva|date=16 March 2016|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804798426|page=17}}Sengupta, Kim (14 March 2017). [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-elections-geert-wilders-us-backers-right-wing-conservative-think-tanks-a7629946.html Secretive American conservatives are helping bankroll Geert Wilders' Dutch election campaign.] The Independent. London. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
A descendant of philanthropists and Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe, Rosenwald has focused on donating to pro-Israel organizations. She has been described as "an ardent Zionist all her life" as well as the "Sugar Mama of Anti-Muslim Hate" by Max Blumenthal.[http://afoui.org/nina-rosenwald American Friends of the Open University of Israel]. Retrieved 24 September 2013. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002100819/http://afoui.org/nina-rosenwald/ |date=2 October 2013 }}{{Cite web|title=Fear, Inc.|url=https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fear-inc/|access-date=2022-07-06|publisher=Center for American Progress|date=26 August 2011}}{{Cite news|title=The Sugar Mama of Anti-Muslim Hate|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/sugar-mama-anti-muslim-hate/|access-date=2022-07-06|issn=0027-8378}}
Family
Born and raised in New York City, Rosenwald is one of three daughters of William Rosenwald and Mary Kurtz Rosenwald.Van Gelder, Lawrence (1 November 1996). [https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/01/us/william-rosenwald-dies-benefactor-to-many-was-93.html?pagewanted=2 "William Rosenwald Dies; Benefactor to Many was 93"], The New York Times. Retrieved 24 September 2013. Her sisters are Elizabeth R. Varet and Alice Rosenwald.
Rosenwald's grandfather, Julius Rosenwald, was an early investor in Sears, Roebuck & Company, and served as president of the company from 1908 to 1924. Thereafter until his death in January 1932 he served as chairman.[http://www.searsarchives.com/people/juliusrosenwald.htm "Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932)"], SearsArchives.com. Retrieved 24 September 2013. In 1912, he partnered with Booker T. Washington and the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) to build more than 5,000 schoolhouses for African-American children throughout the South.Eckholm, Erik (15 January 2010). [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/us/15schools.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Julius%20Rosenwald&st=cse "Historic Black Schools Restored as Landmarks"], The New York Times, page A16. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
Rosenwald's father moved from Chicago to New York City in the early 1930s and was chairman of the investment firm American Securities. In 1939, he was one of three founding members of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA).{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/01/13/archives/3-jewish-groups-unite-for-refugees-combined-appeal-to-be-offered-to.html|title=3 Jewish Groups Unite for Refugees – Combined Appeal to Be Offered to Nation for Fund 3 or 4 Times That Given Last Year|newspaper=The New York Times|date=13 January 1939|access-date=8 December 2008|url-access=subscription}} Rosenwald's mother, a professional violinist, was a refugee from both the Russian Revolution and Nazi Germany.[https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/11/15/violinist-mary-kurtz-rosenwald-79/ "Violinist Mary Kurtz Rosenwald, 79,"] Chicago Tribune, 15 November 1985. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
Education
Rosenwald received a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York and her M.A. in English from New York University in New York City.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}
Political activism
Rosenwald's political activism began in the 1970s in support of Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson. She also supported the campaigns of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, serving for many years on his campaign finance committee. In 1984, Rosenwald was appointed to the Rules Committee of the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, and she served as a delegate from New York at the 1996 Democratic National Convention.{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/D/1996/NY.html |work=PoliticalGraveyard.com|accessdate=12 December 2016|title=New York Delegation to the 1996 Democratic National Convention}}
According to the Militarist Monitor website, formerly known as "Right Web", Rosenwald's donations to pro-Israel organizations have "earned her a place of considerable influence in the 'pro-Israel' firmament". She has served on the board of directors of many pro-Israel organizations, including Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Hudson Institute and was vice president of Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). In 2003, she was a recipient of the Louis Brandeis Award, given by the Zionist Organization of America for her pro-Israel advocacy.Klein, Morton A. (17 November 2003)
[http://zoa.org/2003/11/101416-house-majority-leader-tom-delay-at-zoa-dinner-its-not-occupied-territory-its-israel "House Majority Leader Tom Delay At ZOA Dinner: 'It's Not Occupied Territory, It's Israel'"]. ZOA.org. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
Apart from founding the Gatestone Institute and serving as its president, she also serves on the boards of Human Rights in China, the Middle East Forum, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, the Institute for National Security Studies (Israel)[http://www.inss.org.il/about.php?cat=70 "Institute for National Security Studies – About"], inss.org.il. Retrieved 24 September 2013. and the American Friends of the Open University of Israel, which raises funds to expand access to higher education for all Israelis, including Muslims, Christians and Jews.[http://afoui.org/about-the-foundation/about-open-university-foundation/ American Friends of the Open University of Israel – About Us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003043401/http://afoui.org/about-the-foundation/about-open-university-foundation/ |date=3 October 2013 }}, afoui.org. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a founding member of the Board of Regents for the Center for Security Policy, and a former board member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} In 2011, she was a guest member at AIPAC's Gala event.{{cite news|title=Israel's Open University Hosts New York Gala|url=http://www.algemeiner.com/2011/11/06/israels-open-university-hosts-new-york-gala|accessdate=29 September 2013|date=6 November 2011}}
Her family fund has given financial support to two institutions located in settlements on the West Bank: the Beit El yeshiva, which counsels its students to defy government orders to evacuate illegal outposts, and Ariel University. It also donates to the Central Fund of Israel, a New-York-based NGO which reportedly serves as a major vehicle for the transfer of American donations to "hard-core" settlements on the West Bank.
Rosenwald resigned from the board of Freedom House in 2007, arguing that it had changed radically and was over-reliant on public largesse and government funding. Rather than a "voice for freedom", she maintained, it had become "very little more than a Beltway bandit". In 2007, The Washington Post listed Rosenwald as one of the "people of means and influence" who raised money to lobby President Bush to pardon Scooter Libby.
=Allegations of Islamophobia=
Some critics have categorized her and the Gatestone Institute as anti-Muslim,Blumenthal, Max (13 June 2012) [http://www.thenation.com/article/168374/sugar-mama-anti-muslim-hate "The Sugar Mama of Anti-Muslim Hate"], The Nation. Retrieved 24 September 2013.{{cite web|url=https://thinkprogress.org/meet-an-islamophobia-network-funder-the-varet-and-rosenwald-family-8d61878d9d0f/|title=Meet An Islamophobia Network Funder: The Varet And Rosenwald Family|website=ThinkProgress|date=2 September 2011 }} while there are Muslims who have disputed this allegation, critics have accused the Gatestone Institute of publishing false articles and being a source of Islamaphobic viral falsehoods.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/john-bolton-chaired-anti-muslim-think-tank-n868171|title=John Bolton chaired anti-Muslim think tank|publisher=NBC News|access-date=23 April 2018}}{{Cite news|author=Carol Matlack|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-14/debunking-the-muslim-nogo-zone-myth|title=Debunking the Myth of Muslim-Only Zones in Major European Cities|date=14 January 2015|publisher=Bloomberg News}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.snopes.com/european-union-gag-order-on-revealing-muslim-terrorists-religion/|title=False: European Union Gag Order on Revealing Muslim Terrorists' Religion |date=18 November 2016|newspaper=Snopes.com|access-date=16 February 2017}}{{Cite web |title=Gatestone Institute {{!}} Factsheet: Islamophobia {{!}} The Bridge Initiative |url=https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-gatestone-institute/ |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=Bridge Initiative}}{{Cite journal |date=2011-06-13 |title=Appendix: Selected List of Interviews |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511842344.010 |journal=Activists, Alliances, and Anti-U.S. Base Protests |pages=201–204 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511842344.010|isbn=9780521175562 }} It is also on the ADL and SPLC's list of "anti-Muslim activists" of funding Islamaphobic groups and peddling anti-Islamic false rhetoric meant to stoke hatred and fear of the Muslim religion and those who practice it.{{Cite web |date=23 March 2018 |first=Lee |last=Fang|title=John Bolton Chairs an Actual 'Fake News' Publisher Infamous for Spreading Anti-Muslim Hate |url=https://theintercept.com/2018/03/23/gatestone-institute-john-bolton-chairs-an-actual-fake-news-publisher-infamous-for-spreading-anti-muslim-hate/ |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=The Intercept}}{{Cite web |date=17 February 2017 |first=Lee |last=Fang |title=Her Father Championed Jewish Refugees. She Finances the Anti-Muslim Refugee Movement. |url=https://theintercept.com/2017/02/17/muslim-refugee-rosenwald/ |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=The Intercept}}
Max Blumenthal, writing for The Nation, commented that Rosenwald has donated over $2.8 million to the following organizations since 2000: the Gatestone Institute, the Center for Security Policy, Project ijtihad, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, the Middle East Forum, the Clarion Fund, Commentary magazine and the Hudson Institute. The Middle East Forum received $2.3 million from Rosenwald over a ten-year period ending in 2012. Rosenwald has also given money to David Horowitz and Brigitte Gabriel. Rosenwald's support of these entities led Blumenthal to label her "The Sugar Mama of Anti-Muslim Hate". She has also been described as a counter-jihad "elite".{{cite book|url=https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/files/192414854/Aked_Jones_Miller_Counterjihad_report_2019.pdf|last1=Aked|first1=H.|last2=Jones|first2=M.|last3=Miller|first3=D.|year=2019|title=Islamophobia in Europe: How governments are enabling the far-right 'counter-jihad' movement|series=Public Interest Investigations|publisher=University of Bristol|page=66|isbn=9780957027497|hdl=1983/cd525157-683a-493b-b27f-9a5ffbca312c|hdl-access=free}}
Some Muslims have disputed the allegation of Islamophobia. When criticized by the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) for making 2013 contributions in excess of $1,000,000 to "Islamophobic groups", prominent Muslims affiliated with the Gatestone Institute, including Zuhdi Jasser, former Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy and founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD),CAIR profiles the AIFD as having past ties with the Center for Security Policy, the Abstraction Fund, and the Alan and Hope Winters Family Foundation, all of which are alleged to promulgate anti-Muslim bias{{cite web
|url=http://www.islamophobia.org/islamophobic-organizations/56-american-islamic-forum-for-democracy.html
|accessdate=6 October 2020
|title=Islamophobic Organizations: American Islamic Forum for Democracy
|last1=
|date=24 April 2019
|website=islamophobia.org
|publisher=Council on American–Islamic Relations
|archive-date=10 October 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010083754/http://www.islamophobia.org/islamophobic-organizations/56-american-islamic-forum-for-democracy.html
|url-status=dead
}} came to her defense. Jasser said:{{cite web|last1=Miller|first1=Paul|title=Islamic Scholars Blast CAIR for Trapping Muslims into a 'Trance of Victimhood'|url=http://observer.com/2015/05/islamic-scholars-blast-cair-for-trapping-muslims-into-a-trance-of-victimhood|website=The New York Observer|date=27 May 2015 |accessdate=29 May 2015}}
"It goes without saying, but to those who may not know Nina, and having known her now for many years, it is clear to me that she has the highest respect for Muslims who love their faith, love God, and take seriously our Islamic responsibility to defeat the global jihad and its Islamist inspiration."
In response to anti-Muslim allegations made by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) toward Rosenwald, writer and film maker Raheel Raza said, "If Muslims guided by CAIR could take the time to read and reflect on efforts of people like Nina, they would broaden their horizons and gain a lot of insights into the betterment of Muslims."
References
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/03/AR2007070300012.html|title=Scooter Libby's Pals, Trusting in Providence|date=2007-07-03|newspaper=The Washington Post|author=Libby Copeland, David Montgomery|quote=There are former Cabinet-level officials, including Ed Meese, Jack Kemp and Spencer Abraham. There is conservative thinker Bill Bennett and political philosopher Francis Fukuyama. There's Ron Silver, of "West Wing" fame. There's Mary Matalin, a former Cheney adviser, and Nina Rosenwald, chairwoman of the Middle East Media Research Institute. There is Steve Forbes, who knows a thing or two about writing checks.}}
{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XraAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Nina+Rosenwald%22|title=Fund Raiser's Guide to Private Fortunes|publisher=Taft Group|year=1988|isbn=9780914756590|accessdate=2016-12-20}}
{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gSXLSDHXACcC&dq=%22Nina+Rosenwald%22&pg=PA22|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425015317/https://books.google.com/books?id=gSXLSDHXACcC&pg=PA22&dq=%22Nina+Rosenwald%22|title=Miles to Go: A Personal History of Social Policy|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1997|page=22|isbn=9780674574403|accessdate=2016-12-20|archivedate=25 April 2021|url-status=bot: unknown}}}}
External links
- [http://gatestoneinstitute.org/ Gatestone Institute] website
- [http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/author/Nina+Rosenwald Articles written by her on Gatestone Institute]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenwald, Nina}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:Activists from New York City
Category:American people of German-Jewish descent
Category:American philanthropists
Category:American political activists
Category:American counter-jihad activists
Category:New York (state) Democrats
Category:New York University alumni