Palestine Childrens Relief Fund (PCRF)

Profile

Country/TerritoryUnited States
Websitehttp://www.pcrf.net/
In their own words“a registered non-political, non-profit, 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization that was established in 1991 by concerned people in the U.S. to address the medical and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian youths in the Middle East.”

Funding

  • In 2023, total income was $92.2 million; total expenses were $27.2 million. 
  • PCRF does not report any donor information or sources of funding, reflecting a complete lack of transparency and accountability.
  • According to its website, “Our foundation relies on grassroots efforts, supported by a worldwide network of thousands of volunteers, to fulfill our humanitarian mission.”
  • In July 2024, PCRF announced a “landmark humanitarian effort” with the European Union and the World Health Organization to “provid[e] critical medical treatment to Palestinian children from Gaza.”
  • In 2023, PCRF received $90,000 from the Tides Foundation.

Activities

  • Headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Ramallah, Gaza City, Jordan, and Beirut, and chapters in additional locations.
  • While claiming a mission to “provide medical and humanitarian relief collectively and individually to Arab children throughout the Levant, regardless of their nationality, politics or religion,” PCRF promotes a narrative of sole Israeli aggression and minimizes the role of Palestinian violence.
  • PCRF systematically erases Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians, including thousands of rocket attacks.
  • PCRF runs the pediatric cancer unit inside Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City. In November 2023, the IDF released “evidence of Hamas infrastructure at Rantisi – video of explosives, suicide vests and even a motorcycle used in the 7 October attacks, hidden in a basement.”

Concerns Relating to Fundraising Partnerships

Leadership 

  • Steve Sosebee – Founder and President
    • In December 2023, PCRF announced the departure of Sosebee. This followed increased media focus on PCRF after the Oct 7th Hamas atrocities and endorsement from Ella Emhoff (step-daughter of Kamala Harris), as well as question that were raised by NGO Monitor regarding his and PCRF’s activities, partnerships, and links to terror, 
    • October 28, 2023: Sosebee tweeted, “I have an Arab, Muslim, immigrant, African family.  I love most of my life in Palestine.  There is no security between Trump or Biden.  But Biden supports genocide.” (emphasis added)
    • October 23, 2023: Sosebee retweeted a video of Gaza that said, “Praise be to God who saved us from the massacres committed by the Zionist occupation against the Palestinian people and gave us a new life.”
    • October 23, 2023: Sosebee described his interview on MSNBC as “concerning the genocide in Gaza.”
    • December 2017: Sosebee published a photo of a sign calling on all British citizens to “offer your apologies and hold responsibility for the Balfour’s Declaration which has caused all the pain and sufferings of the Palestinians since its declaration till this very moment.” Sosebee added “#Balfour #Palestine #Nakba.”
  • Following media attention and the departure of Sosebee, many PCRF employees blocked their social media accounts.
  • Amal Al-Haimoni – Area Coordinator – Hebron
    • October 2023: Al-Haimoni changed her profile picture to an illustration of a man eating with an apron featuring the Star of David eating what is supposed to represent a Palestinian child, using a fork with the US flag and a knife reading “The Arab [world’s] silence.” 

    • October 2023: Al-Haimoni changed her profile picture to a photoshopped image of a soldier stomping the beheaded head of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and in the background a picture of a boy raising the flag of Palestine at the Dome of the Rock.

  • December 2016: PCRF Gaza Area Manager Suhail Flaifl published a photo “honoring” Haider Abdel Shafi, founder of the Abdel Shafi Community Health Association (ACHA), formerly known as the Red Crescent Society for the Gaza Strip (RCS4GS). According to ACHA, Abdel Shafi was arrested for “supporting the military activities” of the PFLP; “he always denied membership of the PFLP” but “expressed sympathy for its radical stand.”
  • August 2022: PCRF Program Coordinator in Jenin Bana Abbadi tweeted, “O Lord, be kind to our people in Gaza and make the situation they are in easy for them. The plot of the Zionist occupation in their throats has been removed. O Lord, O Most Merciful of the Merciful. Have mercy on the martyrs and heal the wounded and injured.”
  • Tala Habash – Chapters Coordinator Assistant
    • Before joining PCRF, Habash served as the Vice President of Florida State University’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
    • July 2020: tweeted, “Everyone should read Ghassan Kanafani’s ‘The Land of Sad Oranges’, which frames this hurt that palestinians know so well in the most beautiful and memorable way.”
    • July 2020: signatory on a letter written by Florida State University students and alumni calling to “Replace the IHRA definition with a serious analysis of antisemitism that affirms the centrality of ending white supremacy in the struggle to end all related systems of oppression.” (On the campaign to undermine the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, see NGO Monitor’s report, “The NGO Campaign to Discredit the IHRA Definition.”)
  • Khaled Abughazaleh – former chair of the board (20142022)
    • According to Palestinian media, in March 2013, Abughazaleh led a PCRF delegation that met with the Hamas-led Ministry of Health in Gaza.
  • Ashraf Abu Issa, PCRF member of the board, as of February 2025.
    • On October 7, 2023, Abu Issa shared a video on Twitter/X, featuring a poet claiming, “Oh people, objectively and realistically, the liberation of Palestine, all of it, from the river to the sea, is possible…it is possible in this time…by continuous and escalating popular resistance, which is happening now…” Abu Assa wrote, “It is possible to liberate all of it” and added the emoji of the flag of Palestine and a victory sign.

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