Kohelet Policy Forum
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The Kohelet Policy Forum (KPF or Kohelet; ) is a conservative, libertarian, right-wing Israeli nonprofit
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
established in 2012 and run by founder and chair Moshe Koppel alongside
Avraham Diskin Abraham Diskin (; born 1947) is an Israeli political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. Diskin was the Chair of the Political Science Department of the Hebrew University ...
, Avi Bell and
Eugene Kontorovich Eugene Kontorovich (; born 1975) is an Israeli legal scholar, specializing in constitutional and international law. He is the head of the international law department at the Kohelet Policy Forum, an Israeli conservative think tank. Career In ...
. Its goal is to influence government policies within
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. In 2023, the organization rose to prominence for its involvement in advocating for judicial reform in Israel and its publication of many of the policy papers that underpin the
2023 Israeli judicial reform The 2023 Israeli judicial reform is a set of five changes to the Judiciary of Israel, judicial system and the Israeli system of government, balance of powers in Israel that were proposed in January 2023. The intent of the measures is to curb ...
. Amid the controversy, which has seen KPF lose its main donor, the organization has attempted to soften its public position on judicial reform. Due to the loss of donations, in April 2024, KPF announced that it would cut about half its staff. However, as there is a significant overlap between KPF and the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, it is difficult to determine whether or not this is a form of rebranding.


Organization

Established in January 2012 by Moshe Koppel, KPF is a conservative, libertarian, right-wing Israeli nonprofit
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
. It is chaired by Koppel and run together with Israeli academics such as
Avraham Diskin Abraham Diskin (; born 1947) is an Israeli political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. Diskin was the Chair of the Political Science Department of the Hebrew University ...
, Avi Bell and
Eugene Kontorovich Eugene Kontorovich (; born 1975) is an Israeli legal scholar, specializing in constitutional and international law. He is the head of the international law department at the Kohelet Policy Forum, an Israeli conservative think tank. Career In ...
.


Funding

According to its own account, KPF is a non-governmental organization which relies only on private donations and does not accept public funds from any government, domestic or foreign. The largest donations have been made anonymously, and amount to several million dollars sent through an American nonprofit organization called American Friends of Kohelet Policy Forum. An investigative article published at ''
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
'' said that the principal donors to the Forum are Jewish American billionaires
Jeff Yass Jeffrey Steven Yass (born July 1958) is an American billionaire businessman. According to ''Forbes'', Yass has a net worth of US$59 billion as of May 2025 up from $27.6 billion in April 2024. The richest man in Pennsylvania, he is also the 25th w ...
and
Arthur Dantchik Arthur Dantchik (born 1957) is an American businessman and philanthropist who is a co-founder and the managing director of Susquehanna International Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based financial services firm founded in 1987. With a net wort ...
. This has been disputed by acquaintances of Yass who state that he has never been a donor to Kohelet.


Network

Alongside its think tank role, KPF or its former researchers have founded various organizations, including the Shiloh Policy Forum, a
settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...
organisation for which KPF pays the salaries of three staff members., The Civil Society Forum is also connected to the KPF, and the Israeli Immigration Policy Center has worked alongside it. KPF has also trained anti-LGBTQ groups. Both founders of "Next Generation – Parents for Choice in Education" are also KPF researchers, while several other NGOs, including "Coalition for Autonomy in Education", "Choosing Educations", "Tacharut – the Movement for Freedom of Employment" (which works against
Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...
), "Our Interest – Your Lobby", and "Hamerchav Shelanu" ("Our Space"), are also linked to KPF. In February 2023, Kohelet research fellow Avital Ben-Shelomo became director general of the Education Ministry of Israel.


Policy positions


Constitutional

KPF has promoted the
Nation-State Bill Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People (), informally known as the Nation-State Bill () or the Nationality Bill, is an Israeli Basic Law that specifies the country's significance to the Jewish people. It was passed by the ...
. It has also filed
Amicus curiae An amicus curiae (; ) is an individual or organization that is not a Party (law), party to a legal case, but that is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. Wheth ...
briefs in a number of appeals.


Judicial reform

KPF worked on policy papers which underpin the attempted
2023 Israeli judicial reform The 2023 Israeli judicial reform is a set of five changes to the Judiciary of Israel, judicial system and the Israeli system of government, balance of powers in Israel that were proposed in January 2023. The intent of the measures is to curb ...
, which involves giving the government control over judicial appointments, limiting judicial review of laws and government decisions, an "override clause" which is intended to allow the Knesset to overrule supreme court decisions with a majority of 61 out of 120 votes, and limiting the authority of the government and ministerial legal advisors. KPF's Michael Sarel came out strongly against the 2023 Judicial reform in Israel, and in a personal position paper which he clarified does not reflect KPF's position, said that it can cause damage to the separation of powers and even threaten free elections, and warned of severe economic consequences. Following Sarel's criticism, Tom Sadeh, an economic researcher at KPF, resigned, saying "The differences of opinion regarding the judicial reform between me and the Forum do not allow me to continue working in it wholeheartedly." On 9 March 2023, in a self-proclaimed "guerilla operation", members of the " Brothers In Arms" (), leading the Reservists Protests as part of the
2023 Israeli judicial reform protests From January to October 2023, large-scale protests took place across Israel in response to the government's push for a 2023 Israeli judicial reform, wide-ranging judicial reform. The proposed reform aimed to give the government full control of ...
, in a demonstration that included around a hundred people, blocked the entrance to the Kohelet Policy Forum offices in
Givat Shaul Givat Shaul (, lit. (''Saul's Hill''); ) is a neighborhood in West Jerusalem. The neighborhood is located at the western entrance to the city, east of the neighborhood of Har Nof and north of Kiryat Moshe. Givat Shaul stands 820 meters above sea ...
with
sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of Hessian (cloth), hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunke ...
s and
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stating that "everyone knows that Kohelet is hurting the economy and the security of Israel". On 14 March, Koppel suggested that the override clause should be dropped, but supported the other controversial proposals. On 26 July 2023,
Yuval Diskin Yuval Diskin (; born June 11, 1956) is a former director of the Israeli internal security service Shin Bet, serving as its 13th director from 2005 to 2011. He was appointed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and later served under subsequent Prime M ...
, former head of the
Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; , (GSS); ), better known by the Hebrew acronyms, acronyms Shabak (; ; ) or Shin Bet (from the abbreviation of , "Security Service"), is Israel's internal Security agency, security service. Its motto is "''Magen ...
, published a ten point plan to combat the judicial overhaul plan, in which he identified the KPF as one of the main drivers of the proposed plan. He wrote: "We should focus our messaging on our true rivals: the supporters of a messianic, Kahanist and racist
State of Judea The State of Judea (, ''Medīnat Yəhuda'') is a proposed halachic state in the West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza ...
and the Kohelet organization, with a clear goal of thwarting their plans to alter the essence of our democracy and our country". In July 2023, amid the judicial reform protests, KPF came under criticism for allegedly using
sock puppet accounts A sock puppet, sock puppet account, or simply sock is a false online identity used for deceptive purposes. The term originally referred to a hand puppet made from a sock. Sock puppets include online identities created to praise, defend, or s ...
to skew its
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page, which it has claimed was done by an employee without the consent or knowledge of KPF. On 4 August 2023, the Israeli newspaper
Calcalist ''Calcalist'' (, a Hebrew wordplay on ''The Economist'', from כלכלה, ''kalkala''; economics) is an Israeli daily business and economics newspaper and website. History and profile ''Calcalist'' was first published on 18 February 2008, and c ...
reported that Dantchik decided to stop donating to KPF, following protests by Israelis in the Philadelphia region against him. Dantchik's donations are conjectured to account for 93% of KPF's budget. Following
Arthur Dantchik Arthur Dantchik (born 1957) is an American businessman and philanthropist who is a co-founder and the managing director of Susquehanna International Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based financial services firm founded in 1987. With a net wort ...
's announcement, Channel 12 news reported that senior members of KPF met with ministers and members of the Knesset from the coalition in order to try to convince them to pause the legislation concerning the judicial overhaul, claiming that at this point it is causing more damage than good.


Socioeconomic

The forum supports a libertarian approach to economic policy, and promotes free-market principles in Israel, including
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
, reducing the scope of government and eliminating impediments to
free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...
like tariffs, quotas and licensing requirements. (David M. Weinberg is a senior fellow at The Kohelet Forum.) One of the reports published by the forum in 2018 criticized the benefits allotted to single-parent households in Israel, claiming that they constitute an economic incentive to women to become single mothers. The report suggested that these benefits should be reduced or eliminated, and that single mothers should be encouraged to work more and rely less on the state.


References


External links

* {{Authority control Think tanks based in Israel Organizations based in Jerusalem Non-profit organizations based in Israel