A foundation created by Steven Spielberg using profits from Schindler’s List has provided grants to a Jewish organization that later helped organize a protest against Israeli government policy in New York. However, a review of the available grant records found no evidence that Spielberg’s money directly funded the protest itself.
In late 2025, a striking claim began circulating online: money Steven Spielberg earned from Schindler’s List was being used to fund anti-Israel protests.
The allegation first appeared in a column by Daniel Greenfield and was subsequently repeated by several other outlets. But a closer examination of the funding trail, the foundation’s grants, and the protest at the center of the story reveals a more complicated picture.
There is a genuine financial connection between Schindler’s List proceeds and an organization involved in protests against Israeli policy. What has not been established is that Spielberg’s money paid for the protest itself.
Schindler’s List Profits Did Go to Spielberg’s Foundation
The first part of the story is well documented.
After Schindler’s List was released, Spielberg decided not to keep his personal profits from the film. In 1994, he created the Righteous Persons Foundation, or RPF, and directed his earnings from the movie toward the foundation, which supports Jewish life, education, cultural projects and social initiatives.
Spielberg later added profits from other films, including Munich and Lincoln, to the foundation.
RPF is separate from the USC Shoah Foundation, which Spielberg also founded in 1994 to preserve testimony from Holocaust survivors. The two are legally distinct organizations, although RPF has provided substantial financial support to the Shoah Foundation over the years.
The Foundation Did Fund T’ruah
The second part of the claim is also supported by public records.
RPF has provided grants to T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, a Jewish rabbinic organization that has publicly criticized elements of Israeli government policy and Israel’s conduct during the Gaza war.
Records reviewed for this investigation show that RPF awarded T’ruah $150,000 in 2024, for example.
The foundation describes its support as funding aimed at expanding T’ruah’s clergy network and providing training and resources on issues including antisemitism, immigration and Israel-Palestine.
RPF has also funded other Jewish social-justice organizations, including Bend the Arc and Jews United for Justice.
Then Came the New York Protest
On July 28, 2025, a protest was held outside the Israeli Consulate in Midtown Manhattan.
T’ruah and the New York Jewish Agenda were among the organizers, alongside several other Jewish organizations.
Participants called for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, an end to the war and the release of the hostages.
During the demonstration, some participants blocked traffic as an act of civil disobedience. According to contemporary reports, eight rabbis were arrested and held at a Manhattan police precinct for around two hours before being released.
This is where the connection behind the headlines comes from.
Money originating from Spielberg’s Schindler’s List profits went to RPF. RPF gave money to T’ruah. T’ruah later helped organize a protest against Israeli government policy that resulted in arrests.
All three of those statements are supported by the available evidence.
But one important link is missing.
No Evidence the Grant Paid for the Protest
A review of available grant documentation found no indication that RPF specifically provided money for the July protest, protest logistics, demonstrations or civil-disobedience activities.
The foundation’s descriptions of its grants refer instead to training, organizational development, clergy networks and programs dealing with human rights and antisemitism.
No document reviewed showed that RPF money paid for signs, transportation, staff time, security, organizing costs or other expenses directly connected to the July 28 demonstration.
It is therefore accurate to say that a foundation created with Schindler’s List profits funded an organization that later helped organize the protest.
Based on the available evidence, however, it is not accurate to state as fact that the foundation funded the protest itself.
The Larger Dollar Figures Could Not Be Fully Verified
Greenfield’s original column claimed that RPF had directed approximately $2.4 million since 2020 to groups he characterized as anti-Israel, including roughly $650,000 to T’ruah.
The research reviewed for this fact-check could not independently reconstruct those exact cumulative figures from the available grant and tax data.
Public records do confirm substantial grants to T’ruah and several other organizations, but the specific $2.4 million and $650,000 figures appear to rely primarily on the original reporting and were not independently verified in full.
Two Separate Protests May Have Been Conflated
Another complication concerns the protest itself.
The T’ruah event took place on July 28, 2025, outside the Israeli Consulate.
A separate demonstration was held on August 4 near the Trump International Hotel and was organized by IfNotNow.
Some accounts surrounding the controversy appear to blend details from the two protests, despite the fact that they were separate events organized by different groups.
What Has Spielberg Himself Said?
No public statement was found in which Spielberg endorsed the July protest, T’ruah’s protest activity or the demonstration itself.
Since October 7, Spielberg has repeatedly spoken about the Hamas attacks and rising antisemitism.
He has described the October 7 massacre in extremely strong terms and warned about the resurgence of antisemitism. At the same time, in a 2024 speech, he said it was possible to condemn both the atrocities committed by Hamas and the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza.
No evidence was found that Spielberg personally directed the grants to T’ruah, approved the July demonstration or publicly commented on the controversy surrounding RPF’s funding.
So Did Schindler’s List Money Fund Anti-Israel Protests?
Verdict: partly supported, but misleading without important context.
The basic funding chain is real.
Profits from Schindler’s List helped create Spielberg’s foundation. That foundation provided money to T’ruah. T’ruah later helped organize a protest against Israeli policy in New York in which eight rabbis were arrested.
But the available records do not establish that RPF’s grants were specifically used to finance that protest.
There is also no evidence that Spielberg personally ordered the money to be used for protest activity, endorsed the demonstration or even commented publicly on it.
The financial connection exists.
The stronger claim that Steven Spielberg, or Schindler’s List money specifically, funded the anti-Israel protest itself remains unproven.
