The congressional candidate says he created a nonprofit to aid victims of the Hamas attacks. But the documented shipment was carried out through a different organization, before OSJ Food Aid USA received tax-exempt status.
Republican congressional candidate David Flippo is touting his humanitarian work in Israel following an endorsement from AIPAC — but his description of which organization delivered that aid doesn’t match the public record.
“After the October 7th attacks, I started a non-profit to deliver food and supplies to the victims of the attacks,” Flippo wrote while announcing the endorsement.
There is evidence that Flippo helped finance a major shipment of food to Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.
But the organization credited with delivering that aid was the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller — not OSJ Food Aid USA, the separate nonprofit Flippo now leads.
A contemporaneous account of the shipment said the Order of St. John of Jerusalem received a donation from Flippo, then Chancellor of its Nevada Commanderie. According to the account, the Order’s Prior was tasked with ensuring the food reached Leket, an Israeli food-aid organization.
The shipment consisted of roughly 24 tons of rice.
Flippo himself previously described the humanitarian effort in similar terms.
In an iVoterGuide candidate questionnaire, Flippo identified himself as a Knight Hospitaller with the Order of St. John and wrote that he “personally had 24 tons of food aid sent to Israel after the Oct 7th attacks.”
He said the shipment was blessed by a rabbi in Thailand, certified kosher and arrived in Israel in January.
What he did not say in that account was that OSJ Food Aid USA sent it.
Flippo’s own social media posts from the time make the distinction even clearer.
In Malta with the Grand Master of the Order of St John of Jerusalem Kights Hospitaller (Knights of Malta)
I was warded the Bronze Medal of Merit for my donation of 27 tons of Aid shipment to Israel. This weekend I also ran into the president of Malta#TeamFlippo #FlipItRed pic.twitter.com/fHmMCgxOxp— Lt. Col. David Flippo, USAF Ret. (@DavidFlippoNV) December 6, 2023
In December 2023, while visiting Malta, Flippo said he had received the Bronze Medal of Merit from the Order of St. John of Jerusalem for what he described as his “donation of 27 tons of Aid shipment to Israel.”
That account — posted just two months after the Oct. 7 attacks — attributed the recognition to his donation and his relationship with the Order of St. John. It made no mention of OSJ Food Aid USA, the nonprofit whose tax-exempt status would come later.
Even the Nonprofit’s Website Credits the Knights
There is another distinction in an unlikely place: OSJ Food Aid USA’s own website.
The organization’s current homepage promotes humanitarian missions in the Middle East and solicits donations under OSJ Food Aid’s 501(c)(3) status.
But when describing the earlier aid, the website itself credits the Knights Hospitaller of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem.
“Last year, The Knights Hospitaller, of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem delivered 99 tons of food to Derna, Libya, Gaza, & Jerusalem,” the site states.
Its separate Mission Jerusalem page describes 23 tons of rice delivered to Jerusalem, while identifying OSJ Food Aid as the registered U.S. nonprofit elsewhere on the page.
In other words, even the nonprofit’s website preserves the distinction between the organization that carried out the earlier missions and the later U.S. nonprofit.
Read our prior coverage:
The Distinction Has Been Blurred Before
Flippo’s descriptions have previously made that distinction difficult for readers to see.
In a May profile, The Nevada Independent reported that Flippo was a member of the Knights Hospitaller and that he “leads a nonprofit, formed last year, called OSJ Food Aid USA.”
Immediately afterward, the article quoted Flippo discussing his humanitarian work.
“I sent shipments of food to Israel after Oct. 7,” Flippo said.
“I even sent a shipment of food to Libya, because they had huge flooding from two dams that broke.”
The article did not say that OSJ Food Aid USA carried out those shipments. But Flippo also did not distinguish between the newly formed nonprofit and the older Order while describing the aid.
The nonprofit and the Order were presented alongside one another, making it easy to understand how the two could be conflated.
Flippo’s latest campaign statement goes further.
This time, he explicitly says that after Oct. 7: “I started a non-profit to deliver food and supplies to the victims of the attacks.”
🚨 @AIPAC just endorsed my campaign for Congress because I stand firmly with Jewish people against antisemitic terrorism.
After the October 7th attacks, I started a non-profit to deliver food and supplies to the victims of the attacks, my opponent said we should negotiate with… pic.twitter.com/1EuoO0HmFb
— Lt. Col. David Flippo, USAF Ret. (@DavidFlippoNV) October 1, 2026
The available record establishes that Flippo contributed to humanitarian aid following the attacks. It also establishes that the documented Israel shipment was associated with the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and that Flippo was publicly credited with financing it.
What the available records do not establish is that OSJ Food Aid USA — the separate U.S. nonprofit whose IRS ruling date is January 2025 and which Flippo’s FINRA disclosure says he joined as a board member on Jan. 22, 2025 — delivered that post-Oct. 7 shipment.
Screenshot taken from David Flippo’s FINRA disclosure.
Publicly available IRS-derived records provide no detailed revenue, expense or asset figures for OSJ Food Aid USA.
Nevada News & Views asked Flippo to identify what food or supplies OSJ Food Aid USA itself delivered to victims of the Oct. 7 attacks, when those deliveries occurred and, if available, to provide documentation. He did not respond by the publication deadline.
The question is not whether Flippo helped send food to Israel. The record shows that he did.
The question is why he is now telling voters he “started a non-profit” to deliver that aid when the documented shipment was carried out through the Order of St. John, and his separate nonprofit, OSJ Food Aid USA, did not receive IRS recognition until 2025.
For a congressional candidate invoking that humanitarian work while announcing a major political endorsement, the distinction between “I,” the Order and his nonprofit is not a minor detail.
It is the difference between what Flippo did, what the Order did, and what he is now telling voters his nonprofit did.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI.
