The Executive Behind Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is Bringing Israel to the Midwest

This week, the governor of Indiana, Mike Braun, announced a partnership with an Israeli venture capital group run by Chemi Peres, the son of former Israeli Prime Minister and architect of Israel and Apartheid South Africa’s nuclear programs, Shimon Peres.

The venture capital group, Iron Nation Fund, is an overtly political project on the part of prominent Israeli investors. The firm’s own website describes its mission is “to protect and sustain Israeli innovation in the wake of the October 7th”. The group seeks to do so by attracting Israeli tech companies to the United States, more specifically Indiana, as they have received a partnership that promises them $15 million in investments from Indiana’s Economic Development Corporation.

How is it that such a generous deal was cut, and what does this tell us about Indiana’s relationship to Israel and its largest industries?

A prominent Evangelical Christian, Johnnie Moore, was central in the formation of this partnership. Moore was not only the executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (accused of being “slaughter masquerading as aid”) but also CEO of the public relations firm JDA Worldwide. Following a trip to Israel, Moore made connections between Iron Nation and JDA Worldwide’s parent company, the Indianapolis-based PR firm Prolific.

Prolific was one of the main movers in attracting Iron Nation to Indiana, and through them Iron Nation investors were able to travel to Indiana to meet with key groups such as the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP). Both groups have numerous ties with shady entities. For example, both were central in the incubation and funding of Indiana’s Applied Research Institute.

Iron Nation choosing Indiana rather than more conventional tech hubs such as San Francisco or New York City may seem unusual. However, Indiana has attracted Israeli interests for longer than it appears at first glance.

Multiple Israeli companies have very large investments based in the state. Most recently, Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems corporation, which produces the Iron Dome air defense system, has started a joint venture with California’s Kratos Defense to manufacture rocket motors in Indiana. Rafael is quite literally as old as Israel, and is one of the country’s largest and most important defense companies. Now they are receiving up to $10 million from the IEDC under Governor Mike Braun to build a facility in Westgate@Crane, a technology park near Southern Indiana’s NWSC Crane, which is the world’s third largest naval base. The project is also $75 million in federal funding from the Department of Defense. Braun even attended the ground breaking ceremony.

Before Braun, Governor Eric Holcomb was incentivizing the Israeli renewable energy company Doral to build a massive solar farm in Northern Indiana. The IEDC promised up to $1.5 million in support for the project, alongside a $500 million investment from Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management. Holcomb even sits on the board of Doral Renewables, notably alongside the former head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen. Meanwhile former Indiana Governor Evan Bayh sits on the board of Apollo Global Management.

Indiana’s government organ investing in Iron Nation, the IEDC, even formerly had an office based in Israel. While the current IEDC website is scrubbed of any mention of this, Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine reveals that until about July 2025 contact info for Elad Schnarch, director of the Israeli office, was prominently displayed.

Furthermore, except the current governor Mike Braun, every governor since 2005 has visited Israel, with Mike Pence and Eric Holcomb going multiple times. Pence, Holcomb, Senator Joe Donnely, and Mitch Daniels all also met with Benjamin Netayahu during their trips. Pence during one trip refused to attend the Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas’ Christmas dinner.

For years Indiana’s heads of state have courted the Israeli government and its industries. Some governors have done this directly, such as through Braun’s monetary support of Rafael, which is a state-owned industry. This is money flowing directly out of Indiana into Israel.

At times, the mechanism for this have been even more crude. The current state treasurer, Daniel Elliott, has continued to purchase Israeli bonds, to the extent that the state of Indiana now holds $110 million in direct investment to the state of Israel. He has also met with Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to present him with gifts. Elliott had no issue meeting with him despite Smotrich previously remarking, “…no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens, even though it may be just and moral…”.

Politically and economically, the United States and Israel have long seemed to operate in complete lock step with one another. However, Indiana is now proving to be a testing ground for the potential depth of this relationship. Beyond high level senators or presidents visiting the country, now state officials and even mayors are travelling to Israel.

Indiana marks a new degree of complete integration between the two states. Indiana officials travel to Israel as if it were Ohio or Illinois. Joint economic initiatives are launched with neighbors, although now, instead of geographic neighbors, they are instead ideological. The ongoing evolution of this relationship will not only determine Indiana’s future, but perhaps will serve as a model for other states too.