Youngest-ever KKL-JNF chair vows to cut waste, mend fences and rebuild trust

Eyal Ostrinsky’s recent appointment to chair the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund followed weeks of torturous coalition bargaining within the World Zionist Organization.

Those negotiations took on added gravity after a controversial and unsuccessful bid by Miki Zohar, a minister with the ruling Likud party, to appoint the prime minister’s son, Yair Netanyahu, to a senior paid position within WZO.

The deal that was finally struck will see representatives from the Likud and the center-left opposition each serve half of the five-year terms as heads of the WZO and KKL-JNF.

Ostrinsky, 45, the youngest KKL-JNF chairperson to date, emerged as the consensus choice for that job. Active in the Labor Party from a young age, he has worked in national organizations such as WZO, where he served as chief of staff for former WZO vice chair Yizhar Hess, and KKL-JNF, where he advised former chairman Danny Atar. In the Knesset, he held advisory and organizational positions with several lawmakers.

He will be replaced for the second half of the term by Likud’s Shai Hajaj, who chairs the Regional Government Center.

Ostrinsky has already made headlines since becoming chairman by promising that KKL-JNF will stop buying West Bank land and will halt funding for educational programs at West Bank outposts that encourage radical right-wing settlers to persecute Palestinians.

He also refused to apologize for being the only person at the presidential table at last month’s annual Israel Bible Quiz not to wear a kippa. In a long Facebook post, he explained that the Hebrew Bible belongs to Jews of all stripes.

KKL-JNF, established in 1901 to buy and develop land for Jewish settlement and best known for the hundreds of millions of trees it has planted throughout Israel, serves as the Jewish people’s custodian for 13 percent of the land in the country, the management of which is carried out by the Israel Lands Authority.

A kind of NGO officially registered as a company for the benefit of the public, it works in forestry, water, education, community development, tourism, and research and development.

Over the years, it has been tainted by accusations of cronyism, a bloated staff, high salaries and perks, and a lack of accountability.

Soon after starting his new job, Ostrinsky approached media outlets, including The Times of Israel, and asked to be interviewed. Asked why, he said he wanted the public to know and trust that he understood what needed to be repaired and that he would take the organization to “better places.”

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The Times of Israel: A Knesset report in November revealed that KKL-JNF’s net assets amounted to approximately NIS 24.7 billion ($8.5 billion), of which around NIS 15.6 billion ($5.5 billion) was in real estate. Can you explain where the organization’s money comes from and how it’s spent?

Eyal Ostrinsky: Around 80% to 90% of our funds come from the marketing of land to developers and contractors by the Israel Lands Authority. The rest comes from donations and from renting out our buildings.

We have an operational budget of NIS 1.86 billion ($630 million). Of this, just over NIS 800 million ($270 million) is earmarked for activities, and NIS 640 million ($215 million) goes to overheads such as salaries. The remainder is transferred to national institutions such as the Jewish Agency.

The NIS 640 million is high. Five years ago, it was NIS 400 million. This year, I was asked to increase it to 690 million ($244 million). I said no, and reduced it by NIS 10 million ($3.4 million). Next year, I want to cut a further NIS 15 million to NIS 20 million ($5 to $6.8 million).

We have 1,300 paid positions, which is a lot. I won’t sack anyone, but I need to think about whether we fill all positions vacated when people retire or are promoted. We also need to reduce overseas flights, conference sponsorships and publications. My goal is to increase the percentage of the operational budget that we spend on activities.

We also have a budget for physical projects of around NIS 1 billion ($340 million) this year. Annual income from the Israel Lands Authority is down from nearly NIS 7 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2021 to NIS 2.5 billion ($850 million) last year and is likely to be the same this year. Less land was marketed, maybe because of the wars [in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran].

KKL-JNF is seen by many as sitting on vast sums of money that should be spent on public projects.

I don’t even know the up-to-date figure for the value of our assets because it’s not cash, so it’s irrelevant. Most of it is land, which we can’t sell to free up the money.

I came into the job with a surplus of roughly NIS 900 million ($310 million), which will be spent on development. That’s on top of whatever I receive this year from the Israel Lands Authority.

Please also remember that we have to transfer money to the government: NIS 2 billion ($690 million) in 2023, NIS 2 billion in 2024, and another NIS 800 million ($275 million) spread from 2025 to 2027.

What are your priorities?

Forests are at the top. I want to increase the forested area and limit forest damage, both of which are challenging. I want to revise our planting policy after consulting with many experts who say it’s better to plant more trees today. And I want to upgrade the areas that welcome the public.

How will you manage to protect the forests when there is a lack of statutory protection and huge pressure to build more?

Without legislation, the tools we have are weak. We want to pass a forestry law to increase protection, strengthen our presence on planning committees, and secure greater authority to supervise and enforce, as the Israel Nature and Parks Authority can. The parks authority [which is a state body] can close its sites at night. We can’t.

Our other priority is rehabilitating the [war-ravaged] Gaza and Lebanon border communities and settling the Galilee in the north and the Negev in the south.

What are you prepared to fund in the West Bank?

I don’t believe in settling Judea and Samaria, but I don’t live alone in the world, and there’s a board I have to respect, with people from the whole political spectrum. The acquisition of West Bank land will not happen.

But if there are parks or festivals within the settlements, there’s no reason not to support them, because a child in Gush Etzion (in the West Bank) shouldn’t get less than a child in Ra’anana (in central Israel).

What can you say to Jerusalem residents living in Talbieh, Rehavia and Nayot, whose homes stand on land the Greek Orthodox Church sold to private real estate companies? KKL-JNF can release them from limbo by agreeing to extend its current land leases, which expire in the 2050s.

We’ll talk about it when we’re close to a decision, in a few months, by the end of the year. The most important thing is giving the residents security and protecting the open space.

Are you bringing a different management style to the organization, and how do you know that the changes you institute won’t be reversed by Shai Hajaj?

Over the last five years, there has been infighting among board members and between members and the chairpeople. I’m changing that. So far, all the decisions have been reached by agreement. As the chairman, I bring initiatives to the board rather than the other way around. I want to create work plans through to 2030 in dialogue with Shai Hajaj. And anyway, I’m not going anywhere.

The relationship between KKL-JNF and its overseas partners has sometimes been fraught. American funds are not transferred through the Jerusalem offices but go directly to projects. Russell Robinson, JNF-USA’s chief executive since 1997, hasn’t visited KKL’s Jerusalem office in years, and the Americans initiate many projects without necessarily consulting the mother ship in Jerusalem — like the Zionist Youth Village, which JNF-USA wants to establish in Beersheba for $350 million, but I’m told you don’t see it as a high priority.

We’ve been working in recent years on building cooperation with the overseas branches, which are independent, and we work closely with most of them. We still have a way to go with the US branch. We do have a $50 million joint project with them to rehabilitate the Gaza border area, of which $12 million is already budgeted for Shlomit, a community settlement in the Eshkol Regional Council. It’s important for JNF-USA to understand its role as part of the world network, not as a separate entity, and to work at least in coordination with Jerusalem’s policy.

Why shouldn’t KKL-JNF’s money be paid directly into the state’s coffers?

Ask the mayors of Kibbutz Nir Oz and Kibbutz Manara [devastated by Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north, respectively], the Upper Galilee and the youth centers; then you won’t ask again.

KKL-JNF doesn’t belong to the Israeli government, but to the people of Israel. It’s bigger than Israel. And it’s the only place where conservatives and liberals have a voice.