Canadian Israeli philanthropist Sylvan Adams committed $100 million to help rebuild the southern Israeli city of Beersheva’s Soroka Medical Center, which was seriously damaged this summer in an Iranian missile strike. The donation, which was announced on Sunday during the Israeli government’s weekly meeting, matches a commitment by the Israeli government and one by Clalit Medical Services, the healthcare provider that runs the hospital. 

Adams told eJewishPhilanthropy that the Health Ministry’s director-general, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, approached him about making a donation to the hospital, which had been searching for funders in the wake of the June 19 attack. 

“I’m well known at the Ministry of Health,” said Adams, who has also made significant donations to three other Israeli hospitals: Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv and Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Rishon Lezion. 

“[Soroka] was already in desperate need of modernization, and then it was partially destroyed by an Iranian ballistic missile. The serious condition of Soroka became critical,” Adams said on Sunday. 

“We began a dialogue. [I had the] opportunity to be the catalyst for two others to join: the government and Clalit,” he said. “This is a beautiful public-private partnership of an enormous size.”

The collective $300 million will go primarily toward the construction of a new fortified hospitalization tower. In addition, $50 million will be dedicated to rebuilding and modernizing hospital infrastructure, and $50 million will be allocated for “expanding emergency capacity, modernizing critical and maternal care, integrating AI-based diagnostics, precision medicine and next-generation imaging technologies,” according to a statement from Adams’ office.

While Adams’ gift is the largest ever made to Soroka, it is far from the only substantial donation that has been made to the hospital since the attack. Soon after the Iranian strike, the Koum Family Foundation launched a major philanthropic effort to help restore Soroka, contributing $50 million to the cause. “I’m grateful to the growing community of philanthropists rallying around the hospital, especially Jan Koum,” Adams said in his remarks at the government meeting.

Adams told eJP that he hopes the investment will help turn Soroka Medical Center into one of the premier hospitals in the country and in the Middle East. 

The gift was also part of Adams’ broader effort to energize southern Israel, both to help it recover from the Oct. 7 attacks and as part of the vision of Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, to “make the desert bloom,” he said.

 Adams noted that he also recently announced support for an ambitious initiative to encourage 1 million people to immigrate to Israel in the next five years. 

“How are we going to bring 1 million new immigrants if we don’t have economic opportunity for  them?” he said. “There’s a push factor of antisemitism [around the world]. The pull factor has to be that we make life easy for the immigrants… that they don’t have to downsize when they move [to Israel].”

At the government meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Adams, who was recently named president of the Israel branch of the World Jewish Congress, as a “great friend and benefactor of the State of Israel.”

“You raise Israel’s standing in so many fields and make a truly significant contribution. I want to thank you on my behalf, on behalf of the government, the citizens of Israel and especially the residents of the Negev,” Netanyahu said.

This $100 million commitment represents one of the largest single donations ever made in the State of Israel. It is also Adams’ second donation of this size in the city of Beersheva. Shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks, Adams announced that he was donating $100 million to the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, which is based in the city.