Concert - Together for Israel
Founded as a semi deniable pass through called Kela Shlomo by the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, the company became Concert - Together for Israel in 2018. It later (in 2021) changed its name to Voices of Israel - Together for Israel.
Background
Concert - Together for Israel's "activity and funding are based on a partnership between philanthropists, organizations and a joint venture agreement with the State of Israel and the Ministry of Strategic Affairs." [1]
The Concert for the organisation states that the goals of Concert are
- "to enhance the image of Israel in the global arena and combat delegitimization and new antisemitism worldwide, using tools of public diplomacy. Concert provides funding to like-minded groups that promote programs consistent with the objectives of Concert. Concert supports and fosters cooperation within the network of pro-Israel organizations in Israel and abroad, using a range of tools, such as mapping, planning, and research; organizing delegations of thought leaders to Israel; facilitating social media engagement and campaigns; empowering initiatives of organizations in the pro-Israel network; building professional capabilities and advancing innovative and creative endeavors that promote a positive perception of Israel and combat hate and incitement against the State of Israel." [1]
Key figures listed on Concert's website are:
Shareholder and board members of Concert (formally Kella Shlomo) include Micah Avni, Sagi Balasha, Dore Gold, Yossi Kuperwasser, the former director general of the Strategic ministry and Ehud Danoch, the former Israeli consul general in Los Angeles.
The initial documents filed by Kella Shlomo (now Concert Together for Israel) named Vasker as a consultant and one of the corporation’s three signatories.” Speaking to Haaretz, Vasker “confirmed he had helped Kuperwasser in the fight against BDS, saying he had proposed a technological idea. However, he added that he is not now active in the Kella Shlomo corporation.” He later confirmed, “that ICS is a project he manages, but refused to disclose its clients.”[2]
In January 2018, Avni was positioned as the CEO of Concert-Together for Israel. In an interview with the Times of Israel Avni suggests that “if a global consensus ever develops that Israel has no right to exist, the country will indeed cease to exist.” Anvi points to Airbnb’s West Bank boycott as an example of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity. [3]
According to Russia Toady, Concert is a corporation “created” by the Israeli Government, which received ‘$37 million from the Netanyahu government, and reportedly expected to raise the same amount through international donors, from “philanthropic sources” and “pro-Israel organizations”’ to “implement part of the ministry’s activities related to the struggle against the phenomena of delegitimization and boycotts against the State of Israel.”
According to RT, in December 2017 the Israeli Government “approved plans to dedicate $75 million to fight the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.” Kella Shlomo will primarily target social media and online: engagement in the online space “the opponent directs most of his conscious and moving efforts to this space,” and will conduct ‘“mass awareness activities” and organize delegations of public opinion leaders “especially those who influence non-Jews.’ [4]
Funding of US groups
In August 2020 the Forward reported that the Ministry of Strategic Affairs had pledged to match private donations to Concert, up to $37.5 million over four years. Because private donors proved hard to find, Concert "only ever got $5.2 million in matching grants from the ministry". It granted about $10.5 million in total, a little more than half of it to US groups. Several groups received more than $1 million each, including Christians United for Israel and Hasbara Fellowships. Concert gave Hasbara Fellowships more than $1 million in May 2019. The paper reported that the ministry and Concert together had given "at least $6.6 million" to 11 US groups.[5] (Journalistic.)
David Miller wrote in Al Mayadeen English in November 2022 that the ministry was given the lead role against BDS in 2015 and created the 4IL platform and the Act.IL app. He also wrote that the Combat Antisemitism Movement "was co-founded by the former Israeli spy and Director General of the MSA" Sima Vaknin-Gil.[6] (Critical.) Her biography on the advisory board of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy describes her as "a member of the founding team" of the movement.[7] (ISGAP-side source.)
Activity
Concert is seen as a “public benefit company” that “first, to build a strategic picture of who the demonizers are, what they’re doing right, and how best to counter them. And then, second, to help organize, direct and fund the counter-strategy.” [3]
Anvi states that the Israel government’s involvement is vital to combat BDS successfully: “You can’t talk about Israel’s image, or combating the delegitimization of Israel, without the government actually having some kind of involvement in that,” he argues, because otherwise “everything would be left completely to everybody’s interpretation. “…there are lots of challenges working with the government — and every day I learn about new ones,” but “to my mind you can’t address this in a major way without them having a seat at the table.” [3]
He adds: “If you have an organization whose mission is to protect the state and to build up the state’s image, and it’s not working in full cooperation with the state, then it can’t really be doing its job. And if you don’t want to be cooperative with the state because you don’t like the government, well, I feel like that’s something you need to deal with within yourself, because we’re a democratic state. We have a government. Once it was a different government. Maybe two weeks from now it will be another government. That’s what we have, what we have to live with… That’s the playing field.” [3]
Concert’s mission is to “combat delegitimization of Israel and help strengthen Israel’s image in the world.” Avni says that Concert is managed “by a board of directors of which I am the chairman and has shareholders like any public benefit company.” Its CEO is Ayelet Shiloh Tamir, the former CEO of Masa (Israel experience programs). “And there is a steering committee where the government has representation and oversight on budget, so they know what’s going on and where things are going.” [3]
Concert is seen as a long-term project, “Working to strengthen Israel’s image is not a problem that started yesterday, and it’s not a problem that we’re going to fix tomorrow morning’, Avni states. [3]
After the death of his father, Anvi states he became more activistic for the Pro-Israel cause, however what he saw was a disconnected industry: “a bunch of silos — lots of different organizations, some doing great stuff, some doing less effective stuff — but hardly working together, hardly communicating. And a government doing its stuff each time, changing with different governments and different ministers.” Concert aimed to fix this: “Not people sitting around the table, agreeing on a unified strategy, and then combing organizations and doing everything together,” but as the facilitator, so that “when different organizations can collaborate on certain projects, and their skill sets can help strengthen one another, we can help pull that together.” [3]
One part of the strategy is gathering publicly available information: “It became very clear to us over time that we need to distance ourselves as much as possible from any kind of concept of intelligence gathering or stuff like that. We’re working completely and entirely with public information.” [3]
“If a person puts up a post, a public post on Facebook, and says I’m a big supporter of this or that anti-Israel organization, not only that but I’m organizing a demonstration on my campus tomorrow — if they put that public post out for the whole world to know, that’s public information, so there’s nothing wrong with being aware of that post and making sure that the Jewish students on their campus are aware of it,” he says. “Which would be very different from breaking into somebody’s email and seeing what’s going on there or following them on the street.” [3] “Our line is very clear: only completely public information in terms of what we’re gathering, following every law in every state in terms of databases, in terms of privacy. We’ve got the best legal advice. We did a big block of work in terms of building up ethical standards.” [3]
Avni says that Concert will not have anything “to do with Black Cube or psyop (psychological operations) types.” Adding that he’s “sure that military intelligence and Mossad do all sorts of things protecting our country and protecting Israel. If anything like that needs to be done, that’s the place for it to be done.” Avni adds that “without information it’s very difficult to build an effective strategy on the other fronts.” [3]
At the beginning of 2018, when the Israeli Government stepped in the information gathering work was split into a Concert-funded subsidiary headed by Yossi Kuperwasser — a former head of research in the IDF Military Intelligence division and an ex-director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs — called Keshet David (formally knowns as Innovative Collaboration Strategies. [3]
Avni also says that Concert wants to empower “the pro-Israel community. It’s basically setting up roundtables and bringing people together, organizations, so that they can work more effectively, benefit from information, benefit from matching funding. We have a pool of money where we can match funding on activities which are meeting our goals.” [3]
In the future, Concert will help with pro-Israel campaigns “through existing organizations — marketing and public relations, getting messaging across.” He adds that with “those who are attacking us, we need to understand what they’re doing, and understand what’s working and what’s not, and think of ways that we as a pro-Israel community can tone down what’s actually damaging us out there. But most of the Western world is in the middle,” he says, “There’s places there where we really need to be influencing.” [3]
Avni wants Concert to serve as a “pro-Israel accelerator — for different startups, for people who have great ideas and initial concepts that they want to test out to either combat BDS or build up the country’s image.” [3]
On the Government involvement, Anvi states that “The government gets a copy of every invoice for everything that their matching funds have been used for; They have complete transparency into the books. They get monthly reporting. That is all viewed by the comptroller of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and the legal adviser of the ministry. It doesn’t mean that they have decision-making power on every invoice or expense, but they’ll know exactly where the money is going, so presumably if somebody would ever be doing something not kosher, it would be seen and be very clear.” Anvi adds that Concert “are considering working together with Act.il in terms of help getting information and making it publicly available. They’ve built up a wonderful system of getting pro-Israel activists around the world together to work online influencing things. We’re looking at that, and perhaps we’ll be helping that expand into other areas of the world.” [3]
Meetings and Funding
A legal opinion written at the of establishment by the Ministry of Strategic Affair’s legal adviser stated that the activities to be conducted by Concert would be those that “require an ‘outside the government’ discussion with the different target audiences.” Concert would “provide a rapid and coordinated response against the attempts to tarnish the image of Israel around the world.” [8]
The first steering committee meetings, in July 2018, revealed cash flow problems and requests to the government to get the project started. At the committee’s second meeting in November of 2018, ‘Concert’s representatives reported to the government that creating the “work structure and methods of operation of Concert in the United States has turned out to be a matter of high complexity,” and asked to hire a U.S. lawyer, whose name remains confidential, at a cost of 133,000 shekels.’ [8]
At third meeting in December 2018, Ayelet Shiloh Tamir, explained that “because of the difficulty and refusal of donors to donate directly to Concert, a mechanism must be allowed through which contributions are transferred to the organization that carries out the activity and from it to Concert.” [8]
The final meeting, reported by Forward, was in January 2020 here “Concert’s representatives complained to the government about a lack of a budget. At this meeting, the company’s chairman of the board, Micah Avni, expressed his dissatisfaction with the low budget for the year just beginning because of the frozen state budget” [8]
Anvi reported said that “A much higher budget is required than the agreement the government allocated,”
“We need flexibility to operate separately from the government, from politics and budget. The company is building relationships with groups and donors who are hesitant about working with the government, something that in itself takes time, but the trust is being rebuilt and the timing is sensitive. … The decision not to keep the government’s commitment according to the cabinet decision is devastating. From the beginning, this was small change for such a broad phenomenon and the value the government will get relative to the true budget required to deal with the phenomenon.” [8]
Minutes from the steering committee meetings describe the contracts Concert would establishing. These included: ‘research and information; awareness campaigns (“defensive and offensive”); the digital battlefield; public relations delegations of “influencers” to Israel,and “strengthening pro-Israeli network.”’ One project dealing with the “link between BDS organizations and terrorist organizations” cost of 2.4 million shekels. [8]
Co-operators with Concert included: ‘delegations of influencers on the part of a U.S. organization called Our Soldiers Speak; delegations of evangelical clergy of Christians United for Israel; and an organization named Eagles’ Wings, which Concert staff said is “viewed as more liberal in the evangelical Christian world, so it is able to reach wider audiences.”’ [8]
Forward report that 2.5 million shekels funded “the organization Israel-is, whose goal, according to the documents, was “preparing Israelis for their big trip” – providing seminars for backpackers before trips to Latin America and Thailand of the type many Israelis take after completing their military service. The program’s website says its goal is to help and strengthen Israel’s image around the world. Other funds went to the Zionist Federation in South Africa; an organization named The Israel Allies Foundation, which describes itself as promoting political support for Israel on the basis of Judeo-Christian values; and the Reservists on Duty’s Gideon Group project, which trains Israeli students to counter the BDS movement on campuses overseas, as well as other projects.” [8]
Concert Portfolio
A number of projects, either supported or funded by Concert, are listed on Concert's website:[9]
- European Jewish Association (EJA) Described as "“Bootcamps” - Two-day training program for 40 young Jewish leaders and pro-Israel activists from all over Europe providing them with tools and knowledge meant to empower and prepare them for combatting Antisemitism and advocating for the State of Israel in Europe. Sessions include learning about the Abraham Accords, modern manifestations of Antisemitism and the challenges in advocating on social media platforms and in public discourse. The “Bootcamps” build the next generation of European Jewish leaders enabling them to continue to advocate for Israel and combat Antisemitism."
- Israel Engage Israel Engage is described as "a virtual summit designed to equip student leaders on universities and colleges across North America with the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence in order to effectively combat antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric on campus and on social media platforms. Israel Engage training summit teaches students about Jewish indigeneity to the Land of Israel, how to advocate for Israel on social media, how to use the law to fight antisemitism, along with practical strategies to ensure campuses adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism."
- Leaders of Tomorrow According to Concert, "Leaders of Tomorrow program was established in order to create a bridge between young Israelis and young people from the Gulf states by creating joint forums, digital hackathons and mutual delegations. Thus, facilitating direct interpersonal dialogue between young people from Israel with their counterparts in UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, enabling them to demonstrate to international audiences the meaning of the Abraham Accords."
- Reservists on Duty According to Concert, "Gideon Group is a flagship leadership program in the field of public diplomacy. Gideon Group trains 120 students on 6 campuses throughout Israel, providing them with professional, in-depth training and tools for better understanding Israel in today’s context as well as a historical perspective. The program prepares the students to better share the truth about Israel and combat incitement against Israel on social networks. Upon completion of the training, the students lead projects and activities on social media platforms."
- Israel-Is According to Concert, “Backpackers as ambassadors” empowers young Israelis to proudly bring positive representation of Israel to diverse locations, challenging misinformation about the Jewish state through peer-to-peer interactions and activities. As these trained Israeli ambassadors extensively trek throughout Central and South America and the Far East, they organize various meet-ups and take advantage of opportunities to positively influence public opinion about Israel.
- Genesis Prize Foundation with Matan (Israeli affiliate of United Way Worldwide: Investing in the Community "Genesis Prize Competition “Speak Out for Israel.” Concert partners with the Genesis Prize Foundation and Matan: Investing in the Community to support 25 Israeli organizations whose projects expand the Israeli discourse beyond the conflict." Those organisation were:
Projects and organizations set to receive funding include:[10]
- ADL Israel, American Jewish Committee, ELNET, United with Israel, which will engage diplomats, policymakers, legislators and high-level influencers in conversations about multiculturalism and democracy in Israel, as well as anti-Semitism and delegitimization of the Jewish State;
- Stand with Us, a popular fellowship program training highly capable brand ambassadors for Israel;
- Jerusalem Press Club and the Honest Reporting project by Media Central, which work with foreign reporters and media outlets in Israel and beyond to promote better-informed coverage;
- Initiatives such as Heroes for Life and Innovation Africa, which recruit Israelis who volunteer to travel and work around the world, including underdeveloped communities in Africa, Central and South America to promote education, health and infrastructure in the context of Jewish values;
- Creative Community for Peace and Music Port, which work to promote understanding of Israeli culture and its links with the global creative community – as members of the entertainment industry are being targeted by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement;
- Startup Nation Central Innovation Discovery Platform and Taglit’s Center for Israeli Innovation, which provide information to global Jewish and non-Jewish audiences highlighting the many contributions of Israel’s high tech sector.
- Also: Act-IL Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya | THE AGUDA – The Association for LGBTQI Equality in Israel | B’nai B’rith World Center Jerusalem | Heroes for Life | HonestReporting’s MediaCentral Project | Innovation: Africa | he Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism | Jewish Agency for Israel | Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs | Maala – Business for Social Responsibility | NGO Monitor | ON THE MAP – The New Israeli Film & TV Fund | The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation | The Reut Group: From Vision to Reality | Taglit Birthright Israel | United with Israel | Vibe Israel[11]
- South African Zionist Federation Concert worked on '“Blankets of Hope,” a tikun olam project aimed at improving the perception of Israel and strengthen support for Israel from local South African churches. The project included distribution of warm soup and thousands of blankets branded “With love from Israel” to the homeless.'
- America Israel Friendship League According to Concert, "The America-Israel Friendship League builds and mobilizes support for Israel and strengthens the relationship between the two countries through people-to-people exchanges. A leadership delegation to Israel of the US National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) for a week-long professional visit to educate on political realities in the Middle East through a series of meetings and briefings; covering social, economic, and geopolitical issues relating to Israel and its neighbors; promoting the understanding of the vital historic friendship between the United States and Israel by NAAG state and local chief law enforcement representatives."
- I like Israel According to Concert, '“I Like Israel” (ILI) events provide an opportunity to move beyond the negative news items about Israel in the German press and to showcase the achievements of the Jewish state. ILI hosted a first-of-its-kind conference, held in Frankfurt, Germany, with 150 pro-Israel activists from across Europe and Israel. The conference included peer joint learning sessions, networking, and round table discussions to enhance the capacities of the professional staff of pro-Israel organizations working to improve the perception of Israel in Europe.'
- The MirYam Institute According to Concert, "The MirYam institute champions rigorous debate about Israel, led by Israelis who hold diverse opinions, but who are unified in their dedication to a flourishing Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. MirYam organized a delegation to Israel that included graduate and postgraduate students from around the world studying for degrees in international law, public policy, and communications at some of the most elite universities, many of whom are likely to be the policy makers of tomorrow. The program delved into the complexities and truths about Israel and the Middle East."
- Israel Allies Foundation According to Concert, "The Israel Allies Foundation is a non-governmental organization that encourages cooperation between faith-based supporters of Israel in 40 parliaments and legislatures worldwide, who endorse the right of Israel to exist within secure borders. In cooperation with Concert, IAF organized its annual faith-based diplomacy conference in Jerusalem, which brought together caucus chairpersons to discuss joint strategy and set policy relating to important Israeli initiatives for the upcoming year."
- Hasbara Fellowships According to Concert, "Hasbara Fellowships is a pro-Israel campus leadership program working with over 80 universities across North America. Concert supports Hasbara Fellowship leadership training delegations of students to Israel. The program brings student leaders to tour, learn, and participate in simulations, which provided participants with important information and tools to be used in their capacity of educators about Israel when they return to their campuses."
- Ohr Torah Stone’s Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding & Cooperation According to Concert, "The Ohr Torah Stone Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding & Cooperation (CJCUC) is dedicated to religious dialogue, mutual understanding, and active cooperation between Jews and Christians. Concert helped fund a delegation of African and US United Methodist Church leaders to Israel. The delegation met with leaders of Israeli industry in the fields of water, agriculture, and medicine, as well as with Israeli public officials, to obtain a better understanding of modern-day Israel and to coordinate humanitarian aid for Christians facing financial hardship in the birthplace of Christianity and in other areas in the Middle East."
- Conexion Israel According to Concert, "Conexion Israel brings business people, decision makers, politicians, and journalists to Israel to learn about the most important Israeli innovations and technologies, to strengthen growth and development in Latin America, and to nurture ties of cooperation with Israel. Concert funded a delegation to Israel of senior Mexican religious leaders, who toured strategic geopolitical areas and met with top Israeli innovators."
- Eagles Wings According to Concert, "Eagles Wings is a global pro-Israel community that focuses on bridging friendships across cultural divides. Concert supported two delegations to Israel of young leaders from Brazil and the US, where they gained tools to help serve as educated ambassadors for Israel in various aspects of their lives and leadership, now and in the future."
Leaked documents on the company's origins and FARA advice (2016–2021)
Origins in the "12 Tribes" initiative
According to emails from a cache attributed to Benny Gantz that was released in 2025 by the hacking group Handala, which Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) says is "believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and published by DDoSecrets. The authenticity of the emails has not been independently verified.[12] Jack Poulson first reported in September 2025 that the cache shows Gantz's 2015–2016 anti-BDS initiative, "12 Tribes", being folded into the Ministry of Strategic Affairs' planned public-benefit company, which became Kela Shlomo and then Concert.[13]
Minutes of a meeting on 14 June 2016, sent by Assaf Orion of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), record that Minister Gilad Erdan recalled having offered Gantz the chairmanship of the public-benefit company. According to the minutes, Erdan stressed "the need for a platform of influence and mutual dependence between the Ministry and the proposed company", so that after receiving government (49%) and donor (51%) budgets the company would not "turn against the government". He also said that, apart from decisions on fields of activity, the government would not interfere in the content of the company's work. Director-general Sima Vaknin-Gil said the company was aiming for NIS 40 million from government and NIS 40 million from donors (all translated from Hebrew).[14] An INSS presentation attached to the minutes recommended a "controlled profile – 'war is deception'".[14] On 22 June 2016 Gantz wrote that he had "decided not to take a formal role in the organisation" (translated from Hebrew).[15] The minutes and Gantz's reply were not quoted in Poulson's reporting.
FARA advice and government control
According to leaked Israeli Ministry of Justice documents published by Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) in July 2024. The files came from a hack claimed by a group calling itself Anonymous for Justice, and their authenticity has not been independently verified.[16] The documents show the Ministry of Strategic Affairs taking advice from the Washington law firm Sandler Reiff in 2018 on the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The Guardian, in a story by Lee Fang and Jack Poulson, first reported in August 2024 that officials proposed creating an American nonprofit to avoid scrutiny under the law.[17]
In a memo revised on 1 July 2018, Sandler Reiff concluded that the proposed structure "would, in our view, convert the PBC into a government-controlled entity for purposes of FARA, and thus would require any U.S. entity receiving funds and directions from the PBC to register under FARA". The options it set out included cutting government funding of the company "to less than 50%" and using a donor-advised fund, "the point of which is to create an additional layer of separation between the government and the grant recipient in the US", with any recommended purpose limited to "VERY general terms". The memo warned that if anyone acting at the government's direction marketed delegations in the US, "approaching college campuses, approaching Christian groups, running a media campaign, and the like, then this likely will require FARA registration".[18]
A Ministry of Justice letter of 16 September 2018 summarised objections raised at a meeting the previous month. Treasury said the proposed engagement "looks more like support than a procurement mechanism". Justice officials warned that the structure was "an informal control mechanism that could look like an attempt to circumvent American law" (translated from Hebrew).[19] In its preliminary response to a petition in the High Court of Justice (HCJ 3428/18) in December 2018, the State said the ministry maintained "real and effective supervision" over the joint project (translated from Hebrew).[20]
On 16 December 2019 the ministry's legal adviser, Liat Glazer, argued against publishing the law firm's name. She wrote that "it was agreed with them that the engagement with the State would not be revealed", and that pro-Israel organisations in the US had "expressed fears about cooperation (including direct engagements with the Ministry or through the PBC 'Concert')" (translated from Hebrew).[21] Middle East Eye reported the non-disclosure agreement in August 2024.[22]
On 31 December 2019 a ministry official sent talking points for the Attorney General's meeting with a group of US state attorneys general, noting that "this is a delegation arriving within the framework of the 'Concert' initiative" (translated from Hebrew).[23] The America-Israel Friendship League says its January 2020 attorneys general delegation "occurred in Cooperation with the Government of the State of Israel".[24]
In December 2021, after the ministry's functions had moved to the Foreign Ministry, Israeli officials asked Arnold and Porter (John Bellinger) to review the new government decision and "the new contract between Israel and the PBC (named 'Concert')". They noted that "insofar as funding may be relayed to organizations situated in the US, there is an interest in not running afoul of FARA legislation and regulations".[25]
Legal basis and governance
A Ministry of Strategic Affairs paper, "Concert – background + status" (December 2018), was published by The Seventh Eye. It says that the ministry contracted "the PBC 'Kela Shlomo'" under Government Decision 3299 of 28 December 2017, and that "the venture's name was later changed to 'Concert'". The contract was signed on 10 May 2018 as a joint venture under Regulation 3(30) of the tender regulations. The paper says the company had to raise "at least NIS 128 million" in matching donations "from donors abroad". It says a steering committee is "the supreme authority", with half its seats held by government representatives, including the ministry's legal adviser and the Prime Minister's Office accountant (translated from Hebrew).[26] The paper describes US donor funds as "intermediaries (a kind of 'clearing house')" that let donors claim US tax exemption.[26] For the company's origins see Kela Shlomo.
At a Knesset transparency committee hearing on 17 December 2018, chair Micah Avni said: "The legal name is 'Concert'" (p. 61). He said that "the venture was set up at the initiative of the Government of Israel; there is a government decision to set up this venture" (p. 64). He also said there were "donors who brought NIS 10 million who don't want to be exposed" (p. 85) (translated from Hebrew).[27]
Academic assessment
In a 2024 open-access volume, Yousef Munayyer writes that the Ministry of Strategic Affairs "took extensive measures to conceal its funding" of partner organisations. He says it passed money through "a public benefit corporation which went through a series of name changes (originally 'Kela Shlomo,' then 'Concert: Together for Israel,' and finally 'Voices for Israel' [sic])".[28] He states that the Israel Allies Foundation "has received funding from the MSA's proxy funding vehicle Concert" (p. 198). Citing Israeli press reports from August 2024, he says the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs increased funding of "tens of millions of shekels" to about a hundred entities "through the public benefit company previously named Concert" (note 64, p. 314).[28]
Grant competition
The Seventh Eye reported in July 2020 that Kela Shlomo/Concert and the ministry put NIS 5.7 million into a Genesis Prize Foundation grant competition alongside Robert Kraft's prize money. The site called this "a creative manoeuvre that allowed them to support organisations without paying them directly". It said that many of the 26 winners worked with the ministry, including StandWithUs, the Reut Institute, HonestReporting, ELNET, the Jewish Agency, Act.IL and NGO Monitor (translated from Hebrew).[29]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Concert, , Who we are, archived on 22 February 2022
- ↑ Uri Blau , Spying on Linda Sarsour: Israeli Firm Compiled BDS Dossier for Adelson-funded U.S. Group Battling Her Campus Appearances, Haaretz, 25 May 2018, archived on 29 September 2021
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 David Horovitz The relegitimizer: A terror victim’s son partners with government to combat BDS, Times of Israel, 5 December 2018, archived on 15 February 2022
- ↑ Israel launches secret squad to challenge negative image & boycott campaign, Russia Today, 9 January 2018, archived on 14 February 2022
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Aiden Pink, U.S. pro-Israel groups failed to disclose grants from Israeli government The Forward, 31 August 2020 (archived copy). Journalistic.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 David Miller, Hasbara: 'Israel's' Propaganda Policy Al Mayadeen English, 13 November 2022; republished at Propaganda in Focus (Substack). Critical.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, Advisory Board isgap.org, accessed 20 October 2026. ISGAP-side.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Noa Landau, Israel set up a front company to fight BDS. This is how it failed, Forward, 29 July 2020, archived on 18 Feb. 22
- ↑ Concert Portfolio. Archived 22 February 2022.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240913092407/https://www.genesisprize.org/press-center/2020-06-15-26-israeli-and-international-non-profit-organizations-to-receive-genesis-prize-grants-to-speak-out-for-israel
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20240224035502/https://www.genesisprize.org/laureate-initiatives/combating-anti-semitism-and-efforts-to-delegitimize-israel
- ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Benny Gantz emails ddosecrets.org, 27 August 2025, accessed 21 October 2026. DDoSecrets says the emails "were released by Handala, a hacking group that is believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and applies its "Cyberwar" disclaimer.
- ↑ Jack Poulson, Leak indicates billionaire funders of Israeli cyber campaign targeting anti-apartheid activists All-Source Intelligence (Substack), 17 September 2025, updated 27 September 2025.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Benny Gantz emails (released by Handala, published by Distributed Denial of Secrets), email from Assaf Orion (INSS), "BDS and delegitimisation: main points of meeting with Minister Gilad Erdan – 14 June", 15 June 2016, with attached INSS presentation of 13 June 2016 (Hebrew), archive path
beny/Inbox!5/0000003261, dataset page ddosecrets.org, accessed 21 October 2026. Leaked email; authenticity not independently verified. - ↑ Benny Gantz emails (released by Handala, published by Distributed Denial of Secrets), "12t" email thread, 22–23 June 2016 (Hebrew), archive path
beny/Inbox!5/0000003178-Re_ 12t.html, dataset page ddosecrets.org, accessed 21 October 2026. Leaked email; authenticity not independently verified. - ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Israel Ministry of Justice ddosecrets.org, 25 July 2024, accessed 21 October 2026. DDoSecrets lists the dataset in its "Cyberwar" category, warning of "an increased chance of malware, ulterior motives and altered or implanted data".
- ↑ Lee Fang and Jack Poulson, Israel feared legal trouble over US advocacy efforts, leaked files suggest The Guardian, 17 August 2024.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Justice leak (Distributed Denial of Secrets), Sandler Reiff, memo "MOJ/MSA – SOI – Initial Recommendations" (revised 1 July 2018), Library of Leaks entity 10856394 Library of Leaks, accessed 21 October 2026. Leaked document; authenticity not independently verified.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Justice leak (Distributed Denial of Secrets), Ministry of Justice letter summarising the 6 August 2018 meeting on Kela Shlomo activity in the US and FARA, 16 September 2018 (Hebrew), Library of Leaks entity 9602525 Library of Leaks, accessed 21 October 2026. Leaked document; authenticity not independently verified.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Justice leak (Distributed Denial of Secrets), State's preliminary response in HCJ 3428/18, December 2018 (Hebrew), Library of Leaks entity 9950367 Library of Leaks, accessed 21 October 2026. Leaked document; authenticity not independently verified.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Justice leak (Distributed Denial of Secrets), email from Liat Glazer on non-publication of the law-firm engagement, 16 December 2019 (Hebrew), Library of Leaks entity 9816891 Library of Leaks, accessed 21 October 2026. Leaked document; authenticity not independently verified.
- ↑ Middle East Eye, Israel concerned US advocacy ran afoul of foreign agents law: Report Middle East Eye, 19 August 2024.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Justice leak (Distributed Denial of Secrets), email from the Ministry of Strategic Affairs with talking points for the Attorney General's meeting with US state attorneys general, 31 December 2019 (Hebrew), Library of Leaks entity 10742808 Library of Leaks, accessed 21 October 2026. Leaked document; authenticity not independently verified.
- ↑ America-Israel Friendship League, National Association of Attorneys General aifl.org, accessed 21 October 2026. AIFL-side.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Justice leak (Distributed Denial of Secrets), email exchange between the Ministry of Justice, the Foreign Ministry and Arnold & Porter, 1–3 December 2021, Library of Leaks entity 10945460 Library of Leaks, accessed 21 October 2026. Leaked document; authenticity not independently verified.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, קונצרט – רקע + סטטוס ("Concert – background + status"), 2 pp., December 2018 (Hebrew), published by The Seventh Eye, accessed 21 October 2026. Official (primary).
- ↑ Knesset, Special Committee for the Implementation of Government Information Accessibility and Transparency, Protocol no. 154, 17 December 2018, 138 pp. (Hebrew), published by The Seventh Eye, accessed 21 October 2026. Official (primary).
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Yousef Munayyer, "Closing Spaces Beyond Borders: Israel's Transnational Repression Network", in Zaha Hassan and H.A. Hellyer (eds), Suppressing Dissent: Shrinking Civic Space, Transnational Repression and Palestine–Israel (2024), pp. 187–205; open-access PDF OAPEN Library, accessed 21 October 2026 (Wayback Machine copy). Critical.
- ↑ The Seventh Eye, פרויקט הדגל של המשרד לנושאים אסטרטגיים נכשל; ארגון התעמולה "קלע שלמה" לא הצליח לגייס כספים ("The Ministry of Strategic Affairs' flagship project failed; the propaganda organisation 'Kela Shlomo' did not manage to raise funds") The Seventh Eye, 29 July 2020 (Hebrew), accessed 21 October 2026 (Wayback Machine capture). Critical.