Emanuel brothers give $550,000 to train Palestinian children's doctors in Tel Aviv

On 31 August 2026 the brothers Rahm, Ari and Ezekiel Emanuel announced a $550,000 donation to Rozana USA, the American arm of Project Rozana, a medical charity that builds health-care links between Israelis and Palestinians. The gift honours their parents, Dr. Benjamin and Marsha Emanuel. Rozana USA's board chair, Kenneth Bob, told eJewishPhilanthropy it is the largest private donation the organisation has received. The gift was first reported by Politico.

The money will pay for 11 pediatric doctors and 36 pediatric nurses from An-Najah National University Hospital in Nablus to train at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, known as Ichilov, through its Dana-Dwek Children's Hospital. The programme covers clinical training, fellowships and leadership development, and also trains respiratory technicians, a specialty not currently available in the West Bank. Its purpose is to staff a new pediatric hospital that An-Najah is establishing, which would be the first children's hospital in the northern West Bank. An-Najah's chief executive, Dr. Iyad Maqbool, said training the doctors and nurses in specialised pediatric care will be key to the new hospital's success.

Rahm Emanuel, a former White House chief of staff, Chicago mayor and U.S. ambassador to Japan, visited the programme in Tel Aviv in July and called it one of the most inspiring examples of coexistence he saw in Israel. He describes the effort as health-care diplomacy. Ezekiel Emanuel is a prominent oncologist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, and Ari Emanuel is a Hollywood talent agent and media executive. In a statement through Rozana, the brothers said the gift would ultimately improve care for Palestinian children and build trust between Israeli and Palestinian medical professionals.

The initiative drew objections from a far-right Israeli lawmaker who chairs the Knesset Health Committee and said she would try to block it; The Times of Israel noted it was unclear whether she had the authority to do so.