Earlier this week, Israeli Police announced that they had detained an unnamed mayor of a southern city, along with several municipal employees and local businessmen, on suspicion that they had embezzled millions of shekels in charitable funds that had been donated to the city in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks and resulting war. This morning, it was revealed that the mayor was Ashkelon’s Tomer Glam.

During and following the 2023 Hamas attacks, Ashkelon, located just a few miles north of the Gaza Strip, came under regular bombardment, as a significant percentage of the city’s 170,000 residents lacked bomb shelters and other fortifications. A number of international funders, including Jewish federations, the British United Jewish Israel Appeal, P.E.F. Israel Endowment Funds and the Gerald and Gail Ronson Family Foundation, donated millions of shekels to the city’s philanthropic fund, the Ashkelon Foundation. 

According to its tax filings, the foundation raised NIS 23.6 million ($7.65 million) in 2023, with more than a quarter of that — NIS 6.7 million ($2.2 million) coming from overseas donations. In 2024, the foundation raised NIS 11 million, with NIS 1.9 million ($600,000) coming from abroad. Millions of shekels were also donated to Ashkelson by foreign-funded Israeli organizations, including some NIS 5.7 million ($1.9 million) by the Jewish Agency and NIS 3.2 million ($1 million) from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Israel office.

According to police, “donations received by the local authority worth millions of shekels, which were donated by various figures in Israel and abroad for the welfare of residents… made their way into the personal pocket of the mayor and his associates.” 

The alleged embezzlement raises concerns that donors may be less willing to provide assistance in the future out of concern that the funding will again be diverted. A 2023 study on the subject that was published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly found that donations to organizations that experience “diversions” — an illicit use of funds, including embezzlement or theft — decrease by some 5% on average, but more when the matter is reported in the press. Addressing the matter requires improvements to governance, the authors noted. 

Police believe that Glam and his associates issued false orders for services and products in order to make payments to local businesses, including some owned by family members of Glam, who either kicked back a portion of the money or provided personal favors and services to the mayor and others in the municipality. Israel’s public Kan broadcaster reported that one of the local businesses that received funds from the Ashkelon Foundation to repair bomb shelters in the city is suspected of instead performing renovations on Glam’s family home. In other cases, vendors were selected to provide items to the municipality that they did not normally sell. “What does a store that sells batteries and car parts have to do with mattresses for people?” an investigator in the case told the Ynet news site.

The police investigation arose after a local city council member, Eva Tuati, who had been requesting information about the community foundation’s activities throughout the war to no avail, filed a freedom of information request to obtain it. Tuati told the Israeli nonprofit news outlet The Hottest Place in Hell, which first reported on the matter in September, that when she received the documents, they “were missing vital information; raised suspicions and questions; and obscured more than they revealed.” These gaps in the legally mandated reporting prompted the police probe into the matter, resulting in the detention of Glam and 11 other suspects this week.

Through his attorney, Glam has denied wrongdoing. “The mayor did not put one shekel in his pocket unjustly or illegally and did not provide money or favors to associates,” his attorney said in a statement. “He understands that the police must investigate and expressed hope that the probe ends quickly and will show that it is all noise and empty clatter devoid of substance.” Glam, who has since been released from house arrest, has been barred from the Ashkelon municipality for a week. 

Glam was detained for questioning shortly after delivering a speech at a conference in Eilat for municipal treasurers in which he stressed the need to safeguard public funds. “My mother always told me — when the money is yours, do with it what you want. When the money belongs to the public, act far more responsibly.”