EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Pro-Trump, Pro-Netanyahu Donors Who Have Funded Pro-Israel Democrat Ritchie Torres
One of the Democratic congressman's far-right funders had ties to a Zionist terror group banned in the United States.
Why would a rising self-styled progressive star in the Democratic Party accept campaign money and fundraising assistance from far-right donors, one of whom has expressed support for an extremist movement banned in Israel and formerly labeled a terrorist organization in the US, and the other of whom is an ardent Trump supporter?
Over the last year, House Democrat Ritchie Torres has taken a hardline pro-Israel stance while moving away from his leftist roots. Once known as a staunch progressive and fierce advocate for his congressional district, one of the poorest in the nation, Torres’ relationship with progressives has frayed, as he expressed views on Israel and Palestine more in line with those on the right.
Torres’ campaign has been raking in donations this year, with almost $10 million cash on hand reported by the end of June. His almost $6 million in contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this cycle was the largest by a non-leader House Democrat, trailing only contributions by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene, his campaign told POLITICO Playbook.
What hasn't attracted as much attention, and what Zeteo can exclusively reveal, is that Torres has been happy to take money from wealthy businessmen such as Ronn Torossian and Michael Sinensky, who have ties to Donald Trump, the Likud party, and the pro-Israel far right. Torossian told Zeteo that, according to Torres, he has been his “number one fundraiser since Oct 7.”
How Torres Turned Right on Israel
Torres, the first gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress and one of its youngest members, has been solidly pro-Israel for years. The 36-year-old has received over $500,000 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) this year alone, making him one of the pro-Israel group’s top recipients in Congress. Last September, AIPAC’s charitable arm, American Israel Education Foundation, spent $26,000 to bring Torres to Tel Aviv for 10 days, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visited the Gaza border.
Being invited on a Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) trip to Israel a decade ago sparked his initial interest in Zionism, Torres – who is not Jewish – told The Times of Israel in April. “It was one of the most formative and transformative experiences of my life,” he said, adding that he’s spent the last “ten years traveling to Israel” ever since.
Torres has spent a significant amount of time criticizing the widespread Palestine-solidarity university protests this spring. In August, he wrote to Columbia University’s interim president, urging the university to change its nondiscrimination policies to expand a definition of antisemitism to include so-called code words like “Zionist.” In September, Columbia updated its Anti-Discrimination guidelines to include language that the use of code words could possibly violate the policy.
Torres went a step further in his attempts to influence campus speech, calling for the Department of Education to enforce a “third-party antisemitism monitor” for higher education, part of proposed legislation he cosponsored with a New York Republican, Rep. Mike Lawler. The COLUMBIA Act of 2024 was introduced in the House in September.
In August, Torres called for the Democratic National Convention to invite Mosab Hassan Yousef to speak as a Palestinian voice in a later-edited X post, drawing harsh criticism for promoting the former Hamas leader’s son and Israeli spy, who has expressed Islamophobic statements like: "If I have to choose between 1.6 billion muslims and a cow, I will choose a cow” and compared Islam to Nazism. Torres later apologized for promoting Yousef, writing, “An earlier version of the tweet cited someone who, unbeknownst to me, made undeniably Islamophobic comments. I deeply regret the error and condemn hatred, including Islamophobia, in all forms.”
Torres has critiqued progressive Jews and Jewish organizations as “anti-Israel” and accused J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami of wanting to “incite hatred” against Israel.
While Torres has left the Progressive Caucus, and regularly feuds with progressives online, he has remained steadfast in his criticisms of Donald Trump. When Trump came to his Bronx district for a rally in May, Torres didn’t hold back: “Trump is and has always been a fraud,” he posted on X.
Torres has also maintained that President Biden has been the “most pro-Israel president in American history.” But in his pro-Israel activism, Torres has found himself bedfellows with operatives alarming to those who oppose Trump. In June, he spoke at a panel hosted by The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank funded by the Koch family and home of far-right culture warrior Christopher Rufo. It was Torres’ second time at the Institute, this time to speak on a panel about Black-Jewish relations, with figures like Abe Greenwald.
Torres has repeatedly and personally attacked journalists who have written critical pieces about him (once insinuating New York Magazine’s Sarah Jones was racist after the wrong photograph accompanied her profile of him) and he has singled out university students involved in pro-Palestine protests.
“Garbage in garbage out,” he wrote May 5 on X about a Columbia University student. Some critics have pointed out that Torres’ recent behavior ironically feels a bit Trumpian.
Critics on the left, many blocked by Torres, joked that they are waiting for Torres to announce he is now a Republican. So, when Torres was photographed in May at the Manhattan apartment of controversial right-wing PR figure Ronn Torossian, who is avowedly opposed to Democratic national politicians and was described by Politico as the “pro-Trump PR guy at the center of the Mueller probe,” many progressives were shocked but not necessarily surprised. Torossian has also espoused anti-Arab views, and he once called extremist Meir Kahane “the greatest Jewish leader ever.”
But Ronn Torossian did more than just host Torres for a night on the Upper East Side: He has spent the last year supporting the lawmaker, helping the Democrat launch a new political action committee (“Chutz PAC”), and claims to have helped raise over $150,000 for him through a WhatsApp group called “Jews for Ritchie Torres.”
Torossian’s network of New York-area associates, including outspoken Trump supporter Michael Sinensky who urged American Jews to align with Neo-Nazis in comments first reported in The Intercept, held multiple fundraisers for Torres to add to his overflowing war chest, while they discussed the danger to American Jews of a second Biden term.
Meet Ronn Torossian, Ally to Torres… Hater of Democrats
“Do any of you democrats think maybe Jews will be killed in nyc [sic] if Biden wins??” Torossian asked the WhatsApp group in July.
Torossian told this reporter in August that he has known and supported Torres “for years,” and created the WhatsApp group last Oct. 23, shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks. By April of this year Torossian was sharing a link in Facebook groups like “Americans living in Israel.” By June the group boasted 413 members, some who challenged Torossian on his anti-Democrat viewpoints.
“Any jew who votes Biden is out of their mind. Biden is no friend of the Jewish people. I founded this group and together with many others here we have successfully raised more than perhaps anyone else for ritchie Torres. Any jew voting Democrat for president should be shamed [sic] of themselves. You are leading us back to the trains,” Torossian clapped back on July 12.
Over the next two days he added: “Sounds like you democrats still voting Biden need your heads examined and should apologize for leading the Jews back to Auschwitz” and “If you vote democrat as a jew for this presidential election I find it shameful and leading path for us back to the trains and a holocaust, the world may end if Biden gets elected. For Jews it’s a near certain end of our existence in america.”
Torossian regularly shared links to fundraising pages for Torres’ campaign and Chutz PAC in the group, once in a message pinned to the top of the group reading: “Dedicated links for this chat with [sic] the congressman is aware of.”
A statement of organization for Chutz PAC was filed with the FEC on March 7, 2023, but fundraising for the leadership PAC ramped up with a Dec. 28, 2023, event in Midtown Manhattan.
The ActBlue fundraising page for the event, with tiers of support ranging from $500 to $5,000, has a URL ending with “Ronn,” indicating Torossian was involved with a “launch” fundraiser. Torossian confirmed to Zeteo that he helped with Chutz PAC and that “yes many of us who donated oppose Kamala Harris who is no friend of Israel.”
“Please join Ritchie Torres for the launch of ChutzPAC, Thursday, December 28th, 6:30pm-8:30pm, Midtown Manhattan,” the fundraising page read, although it’s unclear if the event actually took place.
“[ChutzPAC] was created by Ritchie in November 2023 with the goal of raising funds to support like-minded incumbents and candidates running for congressional seats who are strong supporters of Israel,” a description of the “Jews for Ritchie Torres” WhatsApp group read.
Torres told Zeteo in a written statement this week: “My campaign has thousands of donors. I do not have nor is it reasonable to expect me to have Godlike knowledge of everything that every donor has ever said or done at every point in his life. When an offensive comment is brought to our attention, we act accordingly and return the contribution, as we have done before and will do in the future. The contributions of both men cited have been returned.”
Torossian’s unwavering support for Torres contrasts with his many strong statements warning Jewish Americans against supporting other Democratic candidates, from Vice President Kamala Harris to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“Democrats are endangering Jewish life in america…Only one party is pro israel [sic]. Fact,” Torossian said in the WhatsApp group in August.
He also shared conspiracy theories: “Trump shot by democrats,” Torossian wrote after Trump was shot by a gunman at a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania. Other chat members agreed, with one saying: “Now we know for sure which side is a danger to our way of life” and another asking a pro-Biden member: “You busy celebrating now scumbag? Or are you bummed your guys missed?”
“Of course there’s election fraud [sic] it’s Democrats,” Torossian wrote on Aug. 13.
Torossian confirmed to Zeteo that he opposes Democrats in national politics but objected to being called “right wing,” saying he has never donated to Trump. He added: “Of course Congressman Torres is aware that the vast majority of decent American Zionist Jews oppose the Biden Harris administration.”
Torossian added that “As someone who lost 70 family members to the Nazis and as an Israeli who has lost countless friends during this last year in Israel it’s very simple that Jews must stand with Israel. None of us apologize for saying that those Jews in name only who stand against Israel at this time are sympathizing with the enemy."
Torossian has repeatedly stated that Torres was aware of the group organizers’ views about Democratic politicians. “Ritchie knows about our views,” Torossian said on July 12. “We won’t be silent on the awful democrats. Ritchie knows how we feel.”
Torossian, a dual Israeli and American citizen, has been involved in right-wing US and Israeli politics since his days as national president of the North American branch of Betar, the right-wing Zionist student group. But his role with the then-associated Kahanist movement in New York has been largely unreported in the U.S.
Torossian was first identified in a 1994 video of a Brooklyn memorial service for Rabbi Meir Kahane by Israeli investigative journalist David Sheen, who knew Torossian from Torossian’s college days leading Betar. In the video, a 20-year-old Torossian speaks at a memorial service for Kahane at the Young Israel of Ocean Parkway synagogue. Torossian confirmed to Zeteo that it was him, “30 years ago.”
Rabbi Kahane sparked the religious Zionist Kahanist movement, outlawed in Israel as a terrorist movement since March 1994, and designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US from 1997 until 2022. The Brooklyn memorial took place in November, nine months after Kahane Chai member Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 people at a Hebron Mosque as revenge for Rabbi Kahane’s 1990 assassination.
Torossian is introduced at the memorial ceremony as “Ronn Ben Israel, the master of ceremonies. He is the campus coordinator of Kahane Chai.”
“We are gathered here today for the fourth year that we have not had the greatest Jewish leader ever, Rabbi Meir Kahane…Kahane lives on,” he said, before urging the attendees to join him for an emergency protest at the Israeli Consulate where some called for then-Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin to be killed, chanting “Rabin must die” and holding “Rabin is a traitor” signs. Torossian also declared, “the only solution is a Kahane revolution,” urging protesters to “make Rabin accountable.” You can watch the video below.
Video: November 1994 Yahrzeit memorial service for Rabbi Meir Kahane and protest outside the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan. Video selection by David Sheen. Longer video here.
A month later, Torossian was arrested with his mentor, Rabbi Avi Weiss, in Oslo at protests against Yasser Arafat receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
By 1997, Torossian was in Israel helping to lead an illegal settler action in Jerusalem: “A Jew is allowed to live anywhere he chooses in Jerusalem,” he told AP [video.] Torossian was named as the spokesperson for the 50 settlers who occupied Palestinian homes.
In 2008, Torossian told Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, “I think we should kill a hundred Arabs or a thousand Arabs for every Jew they kill.”
“Right-wing is Bibi Netanyahu,” Goldberg wrote. “Torossian represents the lunatic fringe.”
Torossian got his start in PR working for the Likud party in Israel, he told POLITICO in 2017: “My first real job was in PR, working for the Likud Party in Israel, where I was living at the time. That’s when I learned how much I love crafting stories. I knew PR was the right profession for me.”
Torossian by then had moved back to New York and launched a PR firm that would grow to become one of the largest in New York, representing high-profile clients like Sean “Diddy” Combs, and with its own share of scandals. The firm, 5W Public Relations, was caught posting fraudulent messages for clients and Torossian was accused of being connected to an extortion scheme involving convicted fraudster and former Rep. Michael Grimm by a rabbi. Torossian was not accused of any crimes in the scandal and has denied any wrongdoing.
In 2015, the liberal NGO, the New Israel Fund, accused Torossian of engaging in coordinated public relations attacks against them with notorious Islamophobe Pamela Geller, a claim Torossian denied at the time.
Torossian served as a national officer of the Zionist Organization of America, an organization that opposes Palestinian statehood, with Nina Rosenwald from 2009 to 2013. Torossian has cited her Gatestone Foundation in some of his writings, and vice versa. Rosenwald, whose organization has published multiple calls for a ban on Muslim immigration to the US, has donated at least $1,000 to Torres.
Years ago, when Torres went on his first life-changing trip to Israel, Torossian was feuding with the group that took him there, the JCRC. Torossian, along with Pamela Geller, attacked the group for allowing the New Israel Fund to march in a parade, according to reports at the time, emblematic of how much the congressman’s stances — and allies — on Israel have shifted.
Torossian Ramps Up Activism
Since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, Torossian has ramped up his political activism. He relaunched Betar USA, filing to start a nonprofit in May called the Betar Zionist Organization Inc. “Betar the international Zionist movement is looking for strong tough proud Jews at campuses across the USA to lead chapters, bring speakers, host rallies and stand up loud and proud,” read a July Instagram post from the group.
Torossian himself was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing while counter protesting a pro-Palestine student encampment at Syracuse University in May. The school’s Public Safety chair wrote that he had been “especially aggressive in his verbal treatment of students,” at the campus, where Torossian is president of the Syracuse Jewish Parents Council.
“Every day Jews are being beaten in New York,” he posted in the “Secret Tel Aviv” Facebook group on May 7. “And Police do not protect Jews or anyone else and the streets have been surrendered.”
Local New York Democrats, including Schumer and Mayor Eric Adams, have not escaped his criticism. Even though Torossian supported Adams during his campaign, Torossian spent the spring and summer warning Jews not to visit New York.
“The NYPD must be shamed next. Jews are being hunted and the mayor and cops are complicit as well.”
“Schumer is a kapo,” he posted on May 31 on X.
Torossian even believes the Anti-Defamation League is too concerned with “left wing issues.”
“You made adl a leftist organization. Why would it be legitimate if every 5 min you are ranting about gun control or all those left wing issues?” he posted on X in June.
At the same time as Torossian attacked New York and national Democrats, members of the “Jews for Ritchie Torres” group held several fundraisers for the congressman. One $1,000 per dinner event scheduled to be hosted by Manhattan steakhouse Hunt & Fish Club co-owner Nelson Braff was canceled due to unspecified threats.
When announcing the fundraiser, Braff wrote on Facebook about “Biden’s indefensible, disgusting, repulsive abandonment while kowtowing to the pro-terror, anti-Jewish wing of the party.”
To date, Chutz PAC has raised $104,279 and donated to Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and New York Rep. Patrick Ryan, among other Democratic candidates.
The “Jews for Ritchie Torres” WhatsApp group rebranded in July to “Jews Against the Squad,” harnessing support for George Latimer in his (successful) primary against Rep. Jamaal Bowman. Two weeks later, the group was renamed again, this time to “Zionists for Don Samuels.”
Torossian wasn’t the only organizer of Torres’ fundraising group to express extreme right-wing views. Michael Sinensky was the second moderator of the WhatsApp group, and he expressed views in the chat that were as extreme, if not more radical, than Torossian’s comments.
Sinensky is a Trump-supporting businessman who personally donated at least $5,000 to Torres this cycle – and claimed in the group that he helped raise $50,000 from others for the congressman. In December, soon after the WhatsApp group was formed, Torres was listed as a special guest at a fundraiser for Sinensky’s charity, Israel Friends US, in Manhattan in December, and in July, co-hosted a fundraiser for Torres in Westhampton, New York.
Sinensky is now the interim executive director of Betar USA, according to a recent “travel advisory” issued by the group warning Jewish tourists not to travel to New York City.
“Michael Sinensky and I are the moderators. Congressman Torres is aware of our viewpoints on israel and the Jewish people…Jews are in great danger in the us and it’s bc of democrats. Get an Israeli passport! But at least don’t vote Biden. And yes we are the admins and have raised significantly more than the number michael mentions [$150,000],” read another post from Torossian in the chat.
Some of Sinensky’s controversial comments in the chat were first reported by this author for The Intercept:
“The bottom line is and it’s a sad one, we need to be supportive ON PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL of the alt right Christian Neo Nazis at the moment (like Ukraine) to fight off the socialist, Marxist, anarchists who are supporting radical Islam. Nazis are better than Islamic terrorists at this moment in time FOR PRESIDENT.”
A day after The Intercept reported Sinensky’s donation to Torres and controversial comments, Torres refunded his $5,000 donation, according to an Oct. 15 FEC filing.
Sinensky did not reply to a request for comment.
Torossian agreed with Sinensky that Jewish Americans should not support the Democratic presidential ticket: “Jews must be ashamed this election for voting Biden Kamala. Simple and easy…And absolutely you can feel free to let ritchie know the majority of American Jews believe Biden is no friend of israel [sic]. He knows how we feel.”
Torres did not clarify what he knew about Torossian’s beliefs when he visited his home in May. But he told Zeteo that he is opposed to the extreme far right stances of Kahanism.
“I am a liberal Zionist who categorically rejects the Kahanism of the far right and the AntiZionism of the far left. I see both as existential threats to the survival, security, and success of Israel as a democratic and Jewish State. I have publicly denounced Ben Gvir as ‘a despicable disgusting dangerous demagogue’ and have said I am rooting for the resignation of both Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.”
“Proud To Host” Torres
Democratic leaders have not publicly weighed in on Torres’ relationship with his right-wing backers since Torossian and Torres first appeared together in an Instagram story posted by the 5W Public Relations founder on May 29.
“Proud to host congressman Ritchie Torres last nite at home with my fav people,” read the caption for the photo (below) featuring a grinning Torres posing with Torossian’s family members at Torossian’s luxury floor-through apartment, which shows - contrary to Torres’ statement to Zeteo - a certain degree of familiarity between the two men.
Two weeks later, on June 16, Torres hinted he’d endorse Latimer in his primary bid against Bowman, in an unusual move for a House Democrat, who doesn't tend to endorse incumbent challengers. House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had endorsed Bowman months earlier.
But Chutz PAC, Torres’ leadership fund that Torossian helped launch, had already donated $5,000 to Latimer’s campaign, which has not been previously reported. The June 24 donation was a drop in the bucket compared to the record-breaking $14 million from AIPAC but unusual nonetheless from a sitting Democratic colleague.
Requests for comment were not returned from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Senator Chuck Schumer or the Harris presidential campaign.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose opponent in her August Democratic primary, received six figures from donors organizing via the WhatsApp group, told Zeteo: “It is deeply concerning that anyone, let alone a member of the Democratic Party, is affiliating and fundraising with a man who actively engages in Islamophobic and antisemitic hate speech. This type of vile rhetoric should be widely condemned, and the use of antisemitic tropes against the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is especially concerning. I hope my House colleague cuts ties with this xenophobe.”
Meanwhile, Torossian’s relaunched Betar USA has been organizing counter-protests in New York and ramping up violent rhetoric on its social media, spurring NYU to issue a statement denouncing Betar’s messaging:
“The University condemns the recent threatening social media posts by an account associated with Betar USA—which is not a recognized NYU organization—directed at members of the NYU community,” and what NYU says was an act of vandalism by the group.
Torres did not reply to a question about whether he supports Torossian and Sinensky’s ongoing activism with Betar USA.
On Sunday, Torres traveled to Michigan to speak to Jewish voters in the hotly contested swing state, reportedly reassuring so-called “wafflers” that Kamala Harris is indeed staunchly pro-Israel. Torres told attendees at a small event that a recent Biden-Harris warning that Israel was jeopardizing military aid unless the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was addressed was just a gesture, and didn’t reflect any meaningful policy change, according to the Jewish Telegraph Agency. Jewish Democratic leaders told the outlet that the Harris campaign had decided that Jewish voters on the fence were more “gettable” than many Arab American voters in Michigan.
One local leader noted that there are Arab American voters who Harris should be chasing — “But they’re the ones who support a two-state solution, that are looking to bring the Jewish and Arab American communities together.”
Days after Ritchie Torres was sent to Michigan by the Harris campaign, Ronn Torossian wondered if the congressman would “return all funds for all of us who stand against a 2-state solution?” adding that “[Ritchie and his staff] told me repeatedly I’ve been his number one fundraiser since Oct 7.”
UPDATE: Since publication of this piece, Ronn Torossian has contacted Zeteo to deny he was ever a leader of any part of the Kahane movement. We have updated the piece to reflect his denial. The video of him being introduced as a “campus coordinator for Kahane Chai” can still be viewed above.
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Vote Torres out and any and all unAmericans that are complicit in genocide, take money from foreign lobbying, and choose their foreign country over our own.
Brilliant bit of investigative work. Thank you.