Ever since Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s plan to overhaul the Israeli judicial system was unveiled to much public discussion, the Kohelet Policy Forum has repeatedly hit the headlines, thanks to its influence over the Israeli right and state institutions. It now appears that the Kohelet Policy Forum is far from being the only organization with huge influence. An investigative report by Shomrim has found that the forum has taken an entire network of organizations and associations under its wing – and the connections between them are often hard to follow. In some cases, the link between them has been downplayed and kept hidden from public security.

The Kohelet network can be divided into three categories. The first are organizations or associations with a direct link to the Kohelet Policy Forum, most of which were established by officials from the forum or received funding from it. There are six such organizations. The second category is organizations that collaborate with the forum, while the third category is organizations with the same managerial committee as the forum. (See tables below.)

It is common and accepted practice in NGOs and civil society for one large association to support several satellite groups, either financially or organizationally. The rationale for this arrangement is that it allows the organizations to decentralize activity according to categories, using organizations with specialized knowledge in those fields. This strategy enables NGOs to maximize their resources, thereby significantly increasing their activities’ scope and influence. In the past, right-wing Knesset members have been highly critical of so-called left-wing organizations which operated in this way. The New Israel Fund tops the list of organizations angering the Israeli right, which argued that, since the NIF was engaged in so many activities that the public was unaware of, it should have limitations placed on it. 

Now it seems that the Kohelet Policy Forum has adopted similar tactics – at least in some cases. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon in October 2021, Prof. Moshe Koppel, the founder and chairman of the forum, was asked about this very issue but refused to give a clear answer. “The New Israel Fund gets donations and invests them; we are just a research institute. Until recently, most of our work was internal, but not every project needs to be like that. If someone is crazy about a certain issue, why shouldn’t they work directly with me? We can help them with whatever it is they are lacking.”

In response, Kohelet said that these organizations are totally independent and that “the Forum is proud to play its part in helping Israeli civil society – of every type – blossom.” The complete response appears below.

Pompeo’s Statement and the Campaign Against the Teachers’ Union

The most obvious example of the connection between Kohelet and these organizations is its link with the Shiloh Policy Forum, the only association which highlights – at least in some of its publications – that it was “founded by the Kohelet Policy Forum.” In some political circles, especially those on the right of the spectrum, the Shiloh Forum is well thought of and, among its other achievements, it was seen as influencing a 2019 statement by Mike Pompeo, in which the then-U.S. Secretary of State recognized the legality of Israeli settlements. The main body of the Shiloh Forum’s work centers around the territories and the settlements, as well as Palestinian construction in Area C of the West Bank. In the past two years, it has started addressing the Jewish settlement in the Galilee and the Negev.

Former Secretary Pompeo Addressing the Kohelet Forum

An examination of the Shiloh Forum’s official documentation highlights just how tight the links are: all seven of the founding members of Shiloh back in 2018 were also members of the Kohelet Forum, including Prof. Moshe Kaplan and director Meir Rubin. At the time, the chairman of Shiloh, Bentzi Liberman, was a senior researcher at Kohelet, as was Michael Leiter, who now holds the same position with the Shiloh Forum. And that’s not all: the address of the Shiloh Forum, according to its website and Facebook page, is the same Jerusalem address as Kohelet’s. According to the latest report submitted to the Registrar of Associations, Kohelet also pays the salaries of three officials from Shiloh. According to the same report, however, Shiloh does not have any paid employees, so it is safe to assume that Kohelet pays these salaries directly. None of this prevented Kohelet and Shiloh from claiming, in response to an investigation last month by Shomrim and Haaretz, that Shiloh is an independent body.

Kohelet is also linked to two other organizations dealing with education; in both cases, the connection is not highlighted. The first of these is Next Generation – Parents for Choice in Education, founded in 2019 by Riki Maman and Avrum Tomer, both of whom are education researchers for Kohelet. When it was established, the address of Next Generation was the same as Kohelet’s and, as of today, its management committee includes, in addition to Maman and Tomer, Meir Buchnik, who is a senior official at Kohelet. The Kohelet Forum is mentioned only at the very bottom of the organization’s website, in a reduced font, where it says, “The site was established by the Kohelet Forum (TEO),” as well as on the pages containing biographies of Maman and Tomer.

Tomer says in response that the Next Generation is an organization with no finances of its own and conducted no significant activities other than salon meetings and various publications. “You could call the Next Generation an offshoot of the Kohelet Forum, but there’s nothing new in that and who cares anyway? Anyone who takes an interest can see that the key people are the same key people. Even a quick Google search shows that there’s a connection. Nobody is trying to hide anything.”

The other education organization is the Coalition for Autonomy in Education, which was also established in 2019. The organization is a coalition of a number of groups working in the field of education, including Next Generation and Tacharut – The Movement for Freedom of Employment, which receives most of its funding from Kohelet and some organizations associated with the left of the political map. “We did not force Kohelet’s positions on any member of the coalition,” Tomer says. Last summer, against the backdrop of teachers’ unions threatening to hold industrial action that would interrupt the start of the new school year, the coalition launched a campaign on social media against the Israel Teachers Union, under the headline ‘Who’s looking out for the students?’ Beyond this, the coalition has organized several conferences since it was established, some of which were held in conjunction with the Education Ministry and were attended by politicians from various parties.

Another Kohelet researcher, Avital Ben-Shlomo, is the coalition's research and policy coordinator. Last month, Haaretz reported that she was appointed director general of the Education Ministry, where she will be responsible for the ministry’s ‘administrative autonomy.’ Another Kohelet researcher, Dr Yitzhak Klein, was involved in the establishment of the coalition. The link to the Kohelet Forum is mentioned on the ‘About’ page of the coalition’s website and in a small font at the foot of the homepage, where Kohelet is credited with building the website. 

“I’m not going to lie. We knew that most of the big funding came from the Kohelet Policy Forum,” says Dr. Hadar Franco, founder of Choosing Education, an NGO that was a founding member of the coalition. “Organizing conferences, an internet site and videoclips – they all cost money. At that time, Kohelet was not in the headlines and before the understanding that it operates like an octopus’s tentacles. But I don’t regret the cooperation for one minute, because our messages were important. I founded the organization with the understanding that to make things happen, we needed cooperation between organizations with differing viewpoints. When things became too political, we took a step back. For example, we didn’t support the campaign against (the secretary general of the Teachers Union) Yaffa Ben-David.”

Avital Ben-Shlomo, research and policy coordinator for the coalition, says in response that “the Kohelet Forum initiated the establishment of the coalition. We usually spearhead initiatives, but this is a full partnership.” She adds, “it’s true that Kohelet is the main funder of the coalition’s operations, but that is no secret.”

It's a detail that is missing from your publications.

“It’s not a detail that interests most people who take an interest in our activities. It’s not that we have anything to hide, but it’s just not that relevant to point it out.”

From the Istanbul Convention to Guardians of the Wall

As mentioned, in addition to direct links with associations and organizations, Kohelet also cooperates with NGOs that it was not involved in establishing and where none of its people hold positions. One example is the Israeli Immigration Policy Center, which worked together with Kohelet to formulate some of the ideas currently at the basis of Yariv Levin’s proposed overhaul of the judicial system, as well as the campaign against Israel signing the Istanbul Convention, which, among other things, would have meant that female victims of violence would be afforded refugee status in Israel. Opposition to Israel’s proposed joining of the Istanbul Convention stemmed from Kohelet’s concern that doing so would alter Israel’s immigration policy.

Kohelet also cooperated with My Israel on a campaign called ‘Bringing them to Justice,’ which sought to help law enforcement authorities track down perpetrators of attacks against Jews during Operation Guardian of the Walls. On behalf of other organizations, including one by the name of Competition and Our Interests, Kohelet had even gone to court over such issues as the regulation of milk and port inspection. The organization stated that it is in no way connected to Kohelet, even if they have previously worked together.