Israel Land Fund (ILF)

The ILF also offers tours, education, and information to strengthen the connection between Jewish people living outside Israel with the country. ²

Activities

The Israel Land Fund was established in 2007 by Aryeh King to purchase Israeli land for Jewish people to promote Zionism to Jews living outside Israel. The ILF claims that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people and that the ability of non-Jews to acquire land and property in Israel threatens the future and security of the Jewish people. The Israel Land Fund is especially concerned with what it calls “hostile and enemy elements” acquiring land and establishing themselves in the State of Israel.  ¹

The ILF offers real estate and legal services to help Jewish investors purchase land and property from non–Jewish owners. Its website includes listings for properties available throughout Israel, and the ILF also assists investors with finding tenants. ³

The ILF helps identify the owners of private land in cases where there is no available information on ownership. After identification, the ILF can return the land to its Israeli heirs. The ILF also assists heirs of Israeli land and property to locate their land and decide what to do with it. ⁴

Controversy

The Israel Land Fund has been criticized by the left-wing news website The Intercept and the explicitly Marxist publication Jacobin for facilitating supposed ethnic cleansing and Palestinian displacement through its land purchase programs. Jacobin claims that the activities of the ILF, including the funding of alleged illegal Israeli settlements, perpetuate a cycle of violence and oppression that prevents peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Jacobin further claims that as conflicts escalate in Israel and the Palestinian territories, antisemitism and Islamophobia increase in the United States.  ^{5  6}

Both sources claim that the ILF is being funded by American Jewish charities, primarily the Central Fund of Israel, which receives funding from local chapters of the Jewish Federations of North America.  ^{5  6}

Funding

Israel Land Fund tax filings confirm that the Valera Fooksman Charitable Trust contributed $1,000 in 2018.  ⁷

The left-wing news website The Intercept and the explicitly Marxist publication Jacobin both claim that the Central Fund of Israel provides the majority of the Israel Land Fund’s funding.  ^{5  6} The Central Fund of Israel’s tax filings confirm that the organization donated more than $92 million in grants to organizations and programs in the Middle East in 2023, but no organizations are specifically named in the filing.  ⁸ The Central Fund of Israel’s website lists some of the organizations that it supports financially, but the Israel Land Fund is not listed. ⁹

People

Aryeh King is the founder of the Israel Land Fund and a Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem. ¹⁰

Donor Organizations

Central Fund of Israel (CFI) (nonprofit)

Valera Fooksman Charitable Trust (nonprofit)