Israeli conservative think tank behind judicial reform loses main donor who calls for 'healing and national unity'

One of the main donors to the Kohelet Policy Forum, seen as the most important think tank behind the judicial reform drive, has stopped supporting think tanks in Israel, according to a report by the Israeli financial news website Calcalist.

Billionaire Arthur Dantchik, who Forbes named the 104th richest person in 2022, supported a number of ideologically diverse Israeli think tanks over the years, ranging from the conservative Kohelet Policy Forum (KPF) to the liberal Shalom Hartman Institute.

Dantchik confirmed the report, stating, "Throughout my life, I have supported a diverse array of organizations that promote individual liberties and economic freedoms for all people. Nevertheless, when a society becomes dangerously fragmented, people must come together to preserve democracy. I stopped donating to think tanks in Israel, including the Kohelet Policy Forum. I believe what is most critical at this time is for Israel to focus on healing and national unity."

Protesters against the judicial reform had targeted Dantchik at his Philadelphia-area home and office over his support of Kohelet Forum and placed an ad in the Jewish Exponent calling on Dantchik “get [his] hands off our democracy,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

In March, the KPF, considered to be a major force behind the coalition’s judicial reforms, issued a call for compromise in order to achieve judicial reforms with a “broad consensus.” 

At the time, protesters stormed the KPF offices, placing bags of mortar and coils of razor wire at the entrance of the offices, calling the director a “traitor.” 

The Kohelet Policy Forum describes itself as "a non-partisan think-tank... dedicated to promoting the values of individual liberty and free markets, Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and representative democracy."

The organization has been considered the main inspiration and ideological underpinning of Israel's government's judicial reform plans and has publicly supported them.

Some of its members, however, have expressed skepticism about certain aspects of the proposed reform package.

In July, Michael Sarel, head of the economic forum at the Kohelet Forum, warned, "It is possible that the present situation [of the judicial system] is not good, but this does not mean that the proposed reform is excellent because it had many flaws and could have led to serious damage to the separation of powers and given absolute power to 61 members of the Knesset."