Since the October 7 terror attacks, various right-wing organizations in Israel have been promoting the resettlement of the Gaza Strip by Jews. One of the most prominent of these groups is the Nachala Settlement Movement, under the leadership of Daniella Weiss, one of the former heads of the Gush Emunim movement. Shomrim can now reveal that, in 2023, Nachala received a donation of 6.68 million shekels ($1.9 million) from Israeli millionaire Leah Dankner, who stipulated that the money should be used specifically for encouraging Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. For any Israeli NGO, this would be a donation of almost unprecedented generosity, but especially for a tiny NGO like Sa’u Tziona Ned V’Degel, the official organization through which Nachal operates and raises funds. Indeed, over the decade before Danker’s massive donation, the organization had managed to raise a total of around 6 million shekels.

Nachala, which was founded by Weiss and the late Rabbi Moshe Levinger, started operating in 2005 and its stated goal was “to increase the prestige of the Land of Israel and to bring about the settlement of the Land of Israel within all its borders.” According to the group’s Facebook page, “the movement focuses on educating youth and public and political awakening, with the goal of returning to establish new settlements in Judea and Samaria, in the Negev, the Galilee and the Gaza Strip.” One of the issues that Nachala has focused on in recent years is populating the illegal West Bank outpost of Evyatar, which was retroactively legalized by the Israeli government earlier this year.

Weiss has never made any secret of her intentions: ever since the October 7 attack, most of her organization’s energy has focused on the Jewish resettlement of Gaza. To this end, Nachala set up “settlement groups” to build communities in various locations in Gaza and held a mass gathering on the Gaza border, which was attended by several cabinet ministers and Knesset members. According to a report from Avi Amit on Kan Television’s Real Time program, Weiss even crossed into Gaza.

In an interview last week with Maariv’s Sherry Makover-Balikov, Weiss said “Since the outbreak of the Shemini Atzeret War [the October 7 attack U.B], I have dedicated all of my time to the resettlement of the Gaza Strip. I took it upon myself to make every effort and not to make do with returning to Gush Katif; not just to the northern settlements of Elei Sinai and Dugit; not just Netzarim and Kfar Darom, which are close by Rafah. We want to settle the whole of the Gaza Strip. The State of Israel must draw up a detailed plan for the Jewish settlement of the whole of Gaza.” She also said that her movement has ordered 40 mobile homes for the first new settlements.

When Weiss was asked where the funding for her movement came from, she replied that “we received a donation of 6 million shekels on condition that the money be used for settling Gaza.” Indeed, it has now become evident that the organization did receive this massive donation from someone who, while not well-known herself, comes from a famous Israeli dynasty: Leah Dankner.

Dankner, who was born in 1925, never married and has no children. She was raised in a family of six children, including three of the country’s most prominent businessmen – Shmuel, Yitzhak (the father of Nohi Dankner) and Avraham (the father of former Bank Hapoalim director Danny Dankner). Some 20 years ago, Leah Dankner’s name starred in the financial sections of Israeli newspapers, mainly because of business conflicts within the Dankner family. Writing in Haaretz almost 20 years ago, Alon Idan described her as a rather eccentric character: “She keeps to herself, lives modestly, has an extraordinary appearance, has no connection with the rest of the family but also manages investments of millions of shekels – and almost thwarted the sale of the family’s business empire,” Idan wrote. He added that, over the years, she did not attend family events and celebrations. “Leah is distanced from the family,” one person close to the family told Idan. “For years she’s been shutting herself and avoiding them.” Jeanette Dankner, the widow of the patriarch of the dynasty, Avraham Dankner, said at the time that, “I don’t know what’s happening with her. She’s alone. She’s an individual.”

Since the turn of the century, there have been almost zero public references to Leah Dankner’s activities, but research shows that she still has holdings in several companies and her name has come up in several court cases over the years. She was among the defendants in two different legal cases revolving around real estate and based on the court hearings, it seems that she lives in sheltered housing in Tel Aviv.

Shomrim spoke to several people who know Leah Dankner, who said that she has donated money to various causes in recent years – not necessarily political ones.

Shomrim was unable to obtain a response from Leah Dankner to this article.