Secret apartments, political posts: Report alleges corruption in KKL-JNF workers' union

Investigation finds dozens of apartments rented cheaply to workers and associates, and intense pressure on employees to vote Likud

By Zev Stub

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19 August 2026, 4:53 pm

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Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.

Leaders of the workers’ committee of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) regularly abuse their power, providing heavily discounted apartment rentals and other benefits to insiders and pressuring employees to vote in Likud primaries, Channel 12 reported Tuesday.

Following the investigation on the “Hamevaker” television program, KKL-JNF said its new management, which took office earlier this year, is conducting a thorough investigation of the organization’s conduct in recent years.

The KKL-JNF workers’ committee, led by Israel Goldstein, denied the reported charges, saying the allegations were “baseless and do not reflect the facts.”

The investigation found that KKL-JNF’s workers’ committee maintains a “secret reservoir” of dozens of buildings and hundreds of apartments in high-demand areas around the country, including on Zamenhof Street in Tel Aviv’s pricey city center. The properties are rented out at heavily discounted prices to insiders, including to Goldstein’s family, the report found.

The 125-year-old organization, which owns 12% of the land in the State of Israel, earns some NIS 6 billion a year from the sale and rental of land, the report said. Buttressed by this windfall, KKL-JNF’s workforce grew by 32% over five years, from 953 to 1,264 employees, largely with political appointments of associates and relatives of figures in Likud, the Histadrut, and internal JNF leadership, it charged.

These employees enjoy exceptionally high salaries, subsidized vacations, and scholarships for their children, thanks to a workers’ committee budget of some NIS 7 million a year, the report said. The terms are so good that employees don’t want to retire, and at least 22 of them are above the retirement age of 67, it added.

Yisrael Goldstein, head of the KKL-JNF national workers’ union, in 2019 (Facebook)

Meanwhile, the investigation charged, Goldstein required employees to support certain Likud figures in the party’s primary elections, promising benefits to those who comply and threatening those who do not. Goldstein delivered orders to about 600 KKL-JNF employees and their family members on how to vote as Likud members, making him a significant power broker within the party, the report said.

Goldstein has in the past called on employees to vote for Likud in national elections, saying it was “time to put our influence where decisions about KKL are being made.”

Charges of widespread corruption have plagued KKL-JNF for years, with many calling for the institution, established in 1901 to buy and develop land for Jewish settlement, to be shut down. Its new chairman, Eyal Ostrinsky, has said he will work to clean up the organization after taking its helm earlier this year.

Following the report of the investigation, KKL-JNF said its new management team “is engaged in a thorough and serious review of the organization’s conduct in recent years… in order to identify and correct deficiencies in the organization.”

The new management “is committed to the responsible and proper management of KKL and ensures that all KKL operations and the organization’s resources will be directed to the benefit of the public,” it said in a statement.

KKL Chairman Eyal Ostrinsky speaks at the dedication of the renewed Sayeret Shaked Park in the southern city of Ofakim, February 2, 2026. (Michael Houri, KKL-JNF Photo Archive)

The Workers’ Committee, meanwhile, said the allegations “do not reflect the facts.”

“The timing of the publication of the baseless allegations, precisely during a period of labor dispute, is not coincidental and originates from interested parties,” it said in a statement. “A significant portion of the questions forwarded to us deal with recycled claims that have already been examined, discussed and published in the past and have even been refuted.”

The committee added that it is “proud” of its efforts representing the workers, saying it “works day and night to represent them and protect their rights and maintain their employment security, and will continue to do so.”

The organization works to develop and strengthen Israel by advancing nationwide land development, managing forests and water infrastructure, building rural communities, and driving environmental activities. Since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, it has worked intensively to strengthen and restore communities in the north and south that were damaged in fighting, it noted.