In its second large investment in less than a month, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund announced today the allocation of NIS 284 million ($95.1 million) for southern Israel plus an additional NIS 110 million ($37.2 million) earmarked for rebuilding Gaza border communities devastated in the Oct. 7 attacks.

The KKL-JNF board approved the package earlier this week, presenting it as a single push to develop the Lakhish region, the Western Negev, the Beersheva metropolitan area and the Arava while continuing to rebuild communities affected by the Hamas assault, among them Nir Oz, Be’eri, Kfar Aza and Holit.

“Today, KKL-JNF is telling the residents of southern Israel: We are here by your side, and we will continue to stand with you in the years ahead,” chair Eyal Ostrinsky said in a statement shared with eJewishPhilanthropy.

The new investment in southern Israel follows KKL-JNF’s recent NIS 859 million ($287.7 million) investment in the North, reported in eJP earlier this month. 

Yet even as KKL-JNF moves over a billion shekels throughout southern and northern Israel, its inner workings and larger strategy remain opaque to some of the philanthropic professionals operating alongside it. Asked about whether KKL-JNF is making investments in collaboration with major foundations operating inside Israel, three Israel-based foundation professionals told eJP they know very little about how KKL-JNF operates. Ostrinsky’s representatives told eJP he was not available to speak on the record about the investment.

The southern allocation spans infrastructure, agriculture, public buildings, education, culture, commemoration and programs meant to draw new residents. Its largest line, roughly NIS 190 million ($63.6 million), covers environmental development, public buildings and land preparation across the region, with NIS 80 million ($26.9 million) earmarked for the Lachish, Yoav, Be’er Tuvia, Shafir and Nahal Sorek regional councils and NIS 52 million ($17.4 million) for the Beersheva metropolitan area, home to what KKL-JNF bills as Israel’s largest cycling park.

Other line items include NIS 57 million ($19.1 million) to open three Houses for Excellence in Eilat, Dimona and Kiryat Gat; NIS 32 million ($10.7 million) for land and agriculture in the Central Arava and Hevel Eilot; and NIS 30 million ($10.5 million) over three years to help mission-driven groups and premilitary academy graduates settle in towns such as Sderot, Ofakim and Netivot.

The Gaza border allocation will fund physical reconstruction, infrastructure, agriculture, commemoration and community renewal. Be’eri and Kfar Aza will join Nir Oz as what is being called “Special Major Assistance Priorities”; each is set to receive NIS 20 million ($6.7 million) over three years, while Holit will receive NIS 5 million ($1.6 million) for memorial work.

Kfar Aza’s NIS 15 million ($5 million) commemoration plan follows a clash with Israel’s Heritage Ministry, which had offered NIS 2 million ($670,000) and sought veto power over how the kibbutz marks Oct. 7. Ostrinsky directed that KKL-JNF’s agreement bars any party from dictating how residents tell their story, memorialize those murdered and honor the soldiers who fell defending the community.

KKL-JNF also approved NIS 12 million ($4 million) for Kibbutz Beit Nir, where 46 Nir Oz families are expected to resettle, on top of NIS 10 million ($3.4 million) previously committed. Additional funds will prepare agricultural land in the Eshkol Regional Council, where 10 communities were classified as “red” (bearing the heaviest losses on Oct. 7).

“Our support for Be’eri, Holit and Kfar Aza will help these communities rebuild while preserving their right to commemorate what happened in the way they choose,” Ostrinsky said in the statement.