After Oct. 7, Israel’s border communities need long-term philanthropy - opinion

Three years after October 7, emergency philanthropic funds for Israel's border communities are ending as the country enters an election period, creating a funding gap for recovery projects that have built community trust but await government commitments. The author argues for a deliberate transition period between emergency and long-term giving.

Three years after the October 7 massacre, the extraordinary wave of Jewish philanthropic giving that funded emergency initiatives in Israel's border communities is winding down. As Israel enters an election period, government commitments that organizations relied on to carry these projects forward face uncertainty. The author, Tira-El Cohen, president of the Kedma organization, argues that communities do not recover according to philanthropic or political calendars. Projects launched during the emergency, such as a planned student village near the Gaza border, are only now reaching a point where they could become sustainable, but emergency funding is running out before protective shelters and other infrastructure are in place. Similar dynamics are at play in Menara on the Lebanese border and in Sufa and Urim in the western Negev, where programs bringing young adults and discharged soldiers into communities depend on trust built slowly over time. Cohen warns that withdrawing now tells traumatized communities that another partner has come and gone, and that trust is much harder to rebuild than funding. He calls for a deliberate transition period between emergency and long-term giving, asking philanthropists to identify which successful emergency investments are at risk of a funding gap and where one additional year of support could make the difference between a disappearing intervention and a locally sustainable institution.