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Kohelet Policy Forum

The Kohelet Policy Forum (KPF or Kohelet; Hebrew: פורום קהלת) is a conservative, libertarian, right-wing Israeli nonprofit think tank established in 2012 and run by founder and chair Moshe Koppel alongside Avraham Diskin, Avi Bell and Eugene Kontorovich. Its goal is to influence government policies within Israel.[1]

Kohelet Policy Forum
פורום קהלת‎
Formation2012
TypePublic policy think tank
HeadquartersAm Ve'olamo 8
Location
  • Jerusalem
Chairman
Moshe Koppel
WebsiteKohelet.org.il

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. Amid the controversy, which has seen KPF lose its main donor, the organization has attempted to soften its public position on judicial reform. Pursuant to the loss of donations, in April 2024, KPF announced that it would cut about half its staff, although 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.[2][3]

Organization

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Established in January 2012 by Moshe Koppel, KPF is a conservative, libertarian, right-wing Israeli nonprofit think tank.[4][5][6][7] It is chaired by Koppel and run together with Israeli academics such as Avraham Diskin, Avi Bell and Eugene Kontorovich.[8][9]

Funding

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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.[10] 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.[5]

An investigative article published at Haaretz said that the principal donors to the Forum are Jewish American billionaires Jeff Yass and Arthur Dantchik.[11] This has been disputed by acquaintances of Yass who state that he has never been a donor to Kohelet.[12]

Network

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Alongside its think tank role, KPF or its former researchers have founded various organizations, including the Shiloh Policy Forum, a settlement organisation for which KPF pays the salaries of three staff members.[13] The Civil Society Forum is also connected to the KPF, and the Israeli Immigration Policy Center has worked alongside it.[13] KPF has also trained anti-LGBTQ groups.[13]

Both founders of "Next Generation – Parents for Choice in Education" are also KPF researchers,[13] while several other NGOs, including "Coalition for Autonomy in Education", "Choosing Educations", "Tacharut – the Movement for Freedom of Employment" (which works against Histadrut), "Our Interest – Your Lobby", and "Hamerchav Shelanu" ("Our Space"), are also linked to KPF.[13]

In February 2023, Kohelet research fellow Avital Ben-Shelomo became director general of the Education Ministry of Israel.[13]

Policy positions

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Constitutional

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KPF has promoted the Nation-State Bill.[14] It has also filed Amicus curiae briefs in a number of appeals.[15]

Judicial reform

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Main article: 2023 Israeli judicial reform

KPF worked on policy papers which underpin the attempted 2023 Israeli judicial reform, 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.[16]

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.[17] 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."[18]

On 9 March 2023, in a self-proclaimed "guerilla operation", members of the "Brothers In Arms" (Hebrew: אחים לנשק), leading the Reservists Protests as part of the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests, in a demonstration that included around a hundred people, blocked the entrance to the Kohelet Policy Forum offices in Givat Shaul with sandbags and barbed wire stating that "everyone knows that Kohelet is hurting the economy and the security of Israel".[19] On 14 March, Koppel suggested that the override clause should be dropped, but supported the other controversial proposals.[20]

On 26 July 2023, Yuval Diskin, former head of the Shin Bet, 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 and the Kohelet organization, with a clear goal of thwarting their plans to alter the essence of our democracy and our country".[21] In July 2023, amid the judicial reform protests, KPF came under criticism for allegedly using sock puppet accounts to skew its Wikipedia page, which it has claimed was done by an employee without the consent or knowledge of KPF.[22]

On 4 August 2023, the Israeli newspaper Calcalist 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.[23][24][25] Following Arthur Dantchik'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.[26]

Socioeconomic

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The forum supports a libertarian approach to economic policy, and promotes free-market principles in Israel, including deregulation, reducing the scope of government and eliminating impediments to free trade like tariffs, quotas and licensing requirements.[1]

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.[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b David M. Weinberg (12 August 2022). "The Kohelet Forum's feat". Israel Hayom. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023. (David M. Weinberg is a senior fellow at The Kohelet Forum.)
  2. ^ "התרומות פסקו - ופורום קהלת נאלץ לפטר מחצית מעובדיו | כלכליסט". calcalist (in Hebrew). 2024-04-02. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  3. ^ שלומוביץ, נתנאל (2024-04-02). "פורום קהלת מקצץ את פעילותו ומפטר עשרות חוקרים". הארץ (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  4. ^ David M. Weinberg (3 December 2022). "How did Kohelet Forum become Israel's dynamic think tank?". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023. (David M. Weinberg is a senior fellow at The Kohelet Forum.)
  5. ^ a b Shuki Sadeh (5 October 2018). "The Right-wing Think Tank That Quietly 'Runs the Knesset'". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2023-08-02. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  6. ^ Meirav Arlosoroff (22 January 2023). "Israel's Most Influential Think Tank Puts Agenda Over Data". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2023-02-02. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  7. ^ Philissa Cramer; Ron Kampeas (26 January 2023). "Advocates for Netanyahu's judicial reforms are increasingly pressing their case in English". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  8. ^ "Kohelet Policy Forum - Home Page". Kohelet. 2008-07-16. Archived from the original on 2014-05-15. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  9. ^ Uri Misgav (2014-02-23). "Bennett urges 'zero tolerance' for Israeli Arabs' national aspirations". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  10. ^ "פורום קהלת (ע"ר)". Kohelet. 2008-07-16. Archived from the original on 2018-10-06. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  11. ^ Slyomovics, Nettanel (11 March 2021). "The U.S. billionaires secretly funding the right-wing effort to reshape Israel". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  12. ^ David Segal; Isabel Kershner (20 March 2023). "Who's Behind the Judicial Overhaul Now Dividing Israel? Two New Yorkers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Shuki Sadeh (2 February 2023). הזרועות של קהלת: אלה העמותות והגופים שפועלים סביב הגוף המשפיע בימין. Haaretz (in Hebrew)., Shuki Sadeh (12 February 2023). "The Kohelet Tentacles: Inside the Web Surrounding the Right-wing Think Tank". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2023-08-02. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  14. ^ Eugene Kontorovich (2018-07-19). "Get Over It—Israel Is the Jewish State". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2023-05-06. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  15. ^ Israeli Supreme Court decision 9149/10 regarding KPF's application to join as friend of the court Archived 2023-02-16 at the Wayback Machine{dl}
  16. ^ הצעת חוק היועמ"שים: "הייעוץ המשפטי לא יחייב את רה"מ והשרים" [The ombudsmen's bill: 'The legal advice will not bind the Prime Minister and the ministers']. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  17. ^ Shlomo Teitelbaum (8 March 2023). הכלכלן הראשי בפורום קהלת: הרפורמה המשטרית עלולה לגרום לפגיעה קשה בכלכלה [The Chief Economist at the Ecclesiastical Forum: The administrative reform may cause severe damage to the economy]. Calcalist (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  18. ^ "N12 - כלכלן בפורום קהלת התפטר ברקע הרפורמה המשפטית: "הם טועים"". N12. 2023-03-16. Archived from the original on 2023-04-20. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  19. ^ Golditch, Haim; Elbaz-Alush, Korin; Halbi, Einav (9 March 2023). "Protesters Block Offices of Kohelet Forum: Former Commander of Sayeret Matkal Arrested" (in Hebrew). Ynet. Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  20. ^ Jeremy Sharon (14 March 2023). "Kohelet, right-wing think tank that inspired overhaul, calls for partial compromise". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  21. ^ "N12 - תוכנית עשר הנקודות לעצירת החקיקה | יובל דיסקין". N12. 2023-07-26. Archived from the original on 2023-08-01. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  22. ^ Benjakob, Omer (July 18, 2023). "Conservative Israeli think tank uses "sock puppets" to skew Wikipedia". Haaretz. Archived from the original on July 20, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  23. ^ Filut, Adrian (4 August 2023). "Calcalist Exclusive: Arthur Dantchik, the main donor of Forum Kohelet, stops financial support of the organization". Calcalist. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  24. ^ פילוט, אדריאן (4 August 2023). "חשיפת כלכליסט: ארתור דנצ'יק, התורם הראשי של פורום קהלת, הודיע על הפסקת התמיכה בארגון | כלכליסט" [Calcalist disclosure: Arthur Dantchik, the main donor of Kohelet Forum, announced the stopping of support for the organization]. כלכליסט (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  25. ^ "כך הכניעה המחאה את התורם המרכזי לפורום קהלת | כלכליסט". calcalist (in Hebrew). 2023-08-05. Archived from the original on 2023-08-07. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  26. ^ "N12 - הפורום - קהלת, הסיפור - איוב: העמותה שמצאה עצמה בעין הסערה". N12. 2023-08-07. Archived from the original on 2023-08-07. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  27. ^ adva (2018-11-18). "The Latest Enemy of Neo-Liberals: Single Mothers". Adva Center. Archived from the original on 2023-05-24. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
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