Pepperdine Graphic

Pepperdine Hires Johnnie Moore, Executive Chairman for Organization Criticized for Role in Violence and Gaza Aid

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The Rev. Johnnie Moore, Jr.’s profile photo on X.

Pepperdine hired evangelical leader the Rev. Johnnie Moore, Jr., executive chairman of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to a University spokesperson. Moore is now the vice chancellor of Pepperdine’s Washington, D.C. campus, an anonymous University administrator told the Graphic.

Moore’s employment follows closely with the development of the School of Public Policy’s new Master of Middle East Policy Studies (MMEPS) program in Washington, D.C., which begins this fall. The program was founded as an alternative to what School of Public Policy (SPP) Dean Pete Peterson described in a June 18 op-ed as “anti-Israel bias” across other Middle East programs. According to the program’s website, MMEPS is partnered with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, described as pro-Israel by The New York Times.

“A full description of his role and responsibilities is forthcoming, along with a more detailed description of the exciting growth happening at our D.C., campus,” a University spokesperson wrote to the Graphic in an Aug. 19 email.

The Graphic reached out to Moore for comment via multiple channels, including an email with a Pepperdine domain, but did not receive a response. Peterson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Johnnie Moore’s Background

Moore began his career at Liberty University, where he became the senior vice president for communications and was once described by The Washington Post as Jerry Falwell’s assistant and protege. After that, he founded The Kairos Company, a public relations firm later acquired by marketing agency JDA Worldwide in 2022, where he now serves as president, according to a 2022 company press release. Among dozens of other faith-based organizations and institutions, Pepperdine is listed as a client on JDA Worldwide’s website.

Moore has been a fixture of President Donald Trump’s faith advisers, beginning when he co-chaired the 2016 Trump campaign’s evangelical advisory board. Along with other faith leaders, Moore repeatedly visited the White House throughout the first Trump presidency, according to The New York Times. He has continued to visit the White House throughout the second Trump presidency.

Moore, who calls himself a Christian Zionist, has a history of pro-Israel advocacy that included pushing for the U.S. to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017. As part of his advocacy, Moore co-chairs on various boards of high-profile pro-Israel organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, Combat Antisemitism Movement and International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, according to his LinkedIn.

In a February post on X, Moore endorsed President Trump’s plan to take over the Gaza Strip.

Over the past year, Moore has repeatedly promoted Pepperdine’s new MMEPS program on social media, including a post on X that characterized the fall cohort’s application pool as “super competitive.” Previous to his involvement with the new program, he moderated the October 2023 President’s Speaker Series event featuring Rabbi Ari Berman, the president of Yeshiva University, according to Pepperdine.

Criticism of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

In June, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) appointed Moore to be its executive chairman. The GHF is a U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid organization that has been the subject of international scrutiny from the United Nations, human rights organizations and over 170 charities and non-governmental organizations. His appointment came days after the initial executive director, Jake Wood, resigned, citing the inability of the Foundation to adhere to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, according to CNN.

The GHF was publicly launched in late May during Israel’s ongoing aid blockade, which began in early March, according to the U.N. The Foundation was designed to bypass the U.N. and prevent Hamas from systematically stealing aid, which Israeli military officials have never found proof of, according to The New York Times.

In an Aug. 5 press release, U.N. experts called for the immediate dismantling of the GHF, citing the killings of at least 859 Palestinians near aid sites by Israeli forces and GHF contractors. Israeli forces have killed over 61,158 Palestinians in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

“We are leaving a State accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in charge of feeding the population affected by the genocide without oversight and with impunity,” U.N. experts said in the press release. “This overt hypocrisy is disturbing.”

Human Rights Watch said the GHF aid sites, built in militarized zones in Gaza, were selected and constructed by the Israeli military, according to an Aug. 1 report. The human rights organization also criticized Israel for potential war crimes and violations of international law.

Amnesty International expressed “grave concern” that GHF’s operations were “inhumane under international law” in a May 29 statement. The Center for Constitutional Rights released a statement alleging GHF could be legally liable for complicity in Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Moore has repeatedly denied accusations of violence against Palestinians near GHF aid sites. In a July 31 speech at a Heritage Foundation event, he accused some officials in the U.N. of becoming the “press secretary for Hamas.”

This is a developing story.

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Contact Henry Adams via X: (@henrygadams) or by email: henry.adams@pepperdine.edu