Yuval Noah Harari to donate $1m. to WHO following Trump funding cuts

"In the spirit of global solidarity, we call upon all people to cooperate and help each other in these difficult times."

APRIL 16, 2020 15:11

Yuval Noah Harari of Hebrew University of Jerusalem attends a session at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE) — Yuval Noah Harari of Hebrew University of Jerusalem attends a session at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2020

(photo credit: REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE)

In response to US President Donald Trump's temporary halting of US funds to the World Health Organization, an Israeli professor is donating $1 million to the organization, the professor announced over social media.

Prof. Yuval Noah Harari – a historian with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's department of history – alongside his husband and manager Itzik Yahav announced plans to donate the money through Sapienship, a multidisciplinary organization advocating global responsibility, which the two co-founded in 2019.

"In the current global crisis, our biggest enemy is not coronavirus, but the inner demons of humankind: hatred and greed," Harari and Yahav said in a press release uploaded to Harari's Twitter.

"If people blame the pandemic on foreigners and minorities ,and if the rich care only about their own profits – it will be much harder to overcome the situation. But if we react to the pandemic with global solidarity and generosity, we can not only defeat it more easily, but come out of the crisis stronger than ever before."

Harari explained that the WHO is the leading global effort to fight the coronavirus.

"Unfortunately, the US president has chosen this moment to halt funding to the WHO," he added. "Luckily, there are more than 7 billion other humans on this earth, and we can do better.

"In the spirit of global solidarity, we call upon all people to cooperate and help each other in these difficult times."

Harari called on others to send donations to the WHO through the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO.

The Trump administration announced a halt to funding towards the WHO due to criticisms directed at the organization's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The decision sparked widespread condemnation, but the Trump administration has refused to budge.

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In response to the decision, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates announced that he planned to donate $150m. to the WHO through his organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The foundation is the second-largest donor to the WHO, after the US.

"De-funding the WHO makes absolutely no sense during a pandemic. We need a global coordinated response," Melinda said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

"When you're in a crisis like this, it's all hands on deck."

Reuters contributed to this report.