by Gidon Dokow / Makor Rishon
Analysis of documents submitted to the Israeli Registrar of Nonprofits by Blue White Future confirms this as one of the most expensive political campaigns in Israeli history.
Financial reports indicate the organization’s 2023 turnover approached 160 million shekels ($45 million), with 120 million shekels specifically allocated to opposing Minister Yariv Levin’s judicial reform. This included 56 million shekels for public relations and media campaigns, 50 million shekels for “field activities to strengthen democracy,” 2.2 million shekels for legal assistance to detained protesters, 2 million shekels for salaries, 1.8 million for logistics and facilities, 680,000 shekels for project management, and 300,000 shekels for international travel.
While substantial, these figures represent only part of the anti-reform protest funding, as Blue White Future served as just one of several financial channels supporting the movement.
Documentation filed with the Registrar of Associations (which registers all Israeli non-profit organizations) leaves significant questions about funding sources unanswered. While over 83 million shekels ($23.4 million) originated from abroad, primarily the United States, tracing specific sources proves challenging. The largest single donation – nearly 64 million shekels – came through PEF Israel, an organization that facilitates tax-deductible donations from the US to Israel, obscuring the original donors.
Another significant contributor, the Middle East Peace Dialogue Network (MEPDN), increased its typical annual donation from hundreds of thousands of shekels to 14 million shekels in 2023. The American website Data Republican claims MEPDN functioned as an indirect channel for USAID funds, though Blue White Future categorically denies receiving any US government funding.
Israeli donations, totaling over 71 million shekels, prove more traceable. Prominent donors include billionaires and millionaires such as Morris Kahn, Ora Stibbe– former left-wing MK Stav Shaffir’s mother-in-law, Israeli-Canadian billionaire Mark Scheinberg – who previously backed Gideon Saar’s New Hope party with loan guarantees– Paz Litman, and Jonathan Kolber.
Corporate donors included Paragon – associated with former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Paradox Capital – linked to influential Israeli businessman and media advertising figure Ilan Shiloah, and Zur Shamir Holdings, owner of Direct Insurance. Additional supporters included the Underwater Observatory in Eilat, Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek (1 million shekels), Kibbutz Gilad (250,000 shekels), and former left-wing MK Zehava Galon’s NGO Zulat , which contributed over 250,000 shekels toward legal defense for arrested protesters. Some donors received the registrar’s official permission to remain anonymous.