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Wall Street billionaire ends funding for think tank behind Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan
(JTA) – The Jewish American billionaire known for bankrolling an influential Israeli right-wing think tank said he has stopped doing so because of concerns over the future of Israeli democracy and the disunity within Israeli society.
Arthur Dantchik, a libertarian and major Wall Street executive, gifted millions in tax-exempt donations to Kohelet Policy Forum, the Jerusalem think tank that devised central aspects of the judicial reforms pursued by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and detested by the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have taken to the streets in protest regularly for months.
Dantchik himself had been the subject of protests at his Philadelphia-area home and office.
The Israeli business journal Calcalist discovered Dantchik’s decision to stop funding the think tank. When it approached Dantchik for comment, he confirmed it in a statement.
“Throughout my life, I have supported a diverse array of organizations that promote individual liberties and economic freedoms for all people,” the statement said. “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.”
Exactly how much Dantchik has given to Kohelet has not been disclosed. The very fact of his support for the think tank was unknown until an investigation published by Haaretz in 2021. He is thought to be the group’s largest funder. Kohelet employs dozens of policy experts, researchers and lobbyists and is influential with key members of Netanyahu’s government.
It is also unknown exactly when Dantchik decided to withhold further donations. The news of the change in his philanthropy comes following repeated pressure by activists aligned with the Israeli protest movement decrying Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul as an assault on democracy. Activists have protested in front of his house and one Israeli protest group placed a full-page advertisement in the Jewish newspaper serving the Philadelphia area. The ad in the Jewish Exponent called on Dantchik “get [his] hands off our democracy.”
It is also unclear whether his decision means that Dantchik has also stopped donating to the Shalom Hartman Institute, which is headquartered in Jerusalem and New York. The Claws Foundation, which Dantchik runs with two other board members, gave nearly $3.3 million to the Shalom Hartman Institute in 2021, the most recent year for which a disclosure is available.
Kohelet and the Hartman Institute have declined to comment on Dantchik’s decision. But the Hartman Institute’s co-presidents, Donniel Hartman and Yehuda Kurtzer, had criticized protests against Dantchuk as an example of “overreach” by the protest movement. “When Arthur Dantchik was ‘exposed’ as a donor to the Shalom Hartman Institute, few sought to ask what it meant for him to support both Hartman and Kohelet,” they wrote in a Times of Israel op-ed in June. “We understood this to mean that he genuinely supports a diversity of views in a way that promotes debate and disagreement in service of democracy.”
A leader of the local protest group, Philadelphians Against Kohelet Forum, rejected the critique. “Mr. Dantchik has refused repeated attempts to establish a dialogue,” Tali Reiner Brodetzki wrote in a response, also on Times of Israel. “If indeed Mr. Dantchik holds the same liberal values as the Hartman Institute, then Am Israel (the Jewish people) would forever be grateful if he would withdraw his support from Kohelet.”
Citing anonymous sources, Calcalist reported that Dantchik’s far wealthier business partner and fellow philanthropist Jeff Yass has not donated to Kohelet, confirming recent reporting by the New York Times and the Washington Post, and contradicting the original investigation by Haaretz that named Yass as a donor to Kohelet.
Dantchik isn’t the only donor who has responded to Israel’s political crisis by altering their philanthropy in the country. Earlier this week, the Dan David Foundation, which is known for awarding the prestigious Dan David Prize, announced it would stop donating to projects run by the Israeli government.
“The Dan David Foundation continues to follow with dismay the political developments in Israel, where the government has succeeded in pushing through the first element of a judicial overhaul that has been widely criticized as endangering the balance of powers and undermining the democratic foundations of the state,” the foundation said in a statement.
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The post Wall Street billionaire ends funding for think tank behind Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.