KKL-JNF approves NIS 859 million ($284.7 million) plan to develop northern Israel

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) approved an investment plan worth approximately NIS 859 million ($284.7 million) for northern Israel, marking the most extensive initiative the organization has ever advanced for the region. The three-year plan covers communities from the Lower Galilee and the valleys through to the northern confrontation line along the Lebanese border.

The largest single allocation, NIS 362 million ($120 million), will go toward direct support for local authorities across northern Israel to advance infrastructure and public-space projects. An additional NIS 150 million ($49.7 million) will fund apartment purchases in northern communities to be rented at reduced rates to teachers and educational groups, aimed at encouraging young families to relocate to the region.

NIS 120 million ($39.8 million) will go to the "Community Builds the Homeland" program, which supports mission-driven groups establishing communities in the Galilee and north. Of that sum, NIS 30 million ($9.9 million) will go to Kiryat Shmona, NIS 30 million to communities along the northern confrontation line and Golan Heights, and NIS 60 million ($19.9 million) to the northern mountain region, to bring 1,200 new residents to the area within three years. A further NIS 100 million ($33.1 million) will expand apartment purchases in Nof HaGalil, Karmiel and Acre.

KKL-JNF will also establish four new Houses of Excellence, educational centers aimed at improving achievement and expanding opportunities for children, in Nahariya, Afula, Karmiel and Tiberias, at a cost of NIS 76 million ($25.2 million).

KKL-JNF Chairman Eyal Ostrinsky described the plan as one of the most significant decisions in the organization's history for the north, saying it reflects a national vision spanning the valleys, the Lower Galilee, the Golan Heights and the northern confrontation line as central to Zionist development.