An American billionaire says he’ll stop funding the think tank behind Israel’s judicial overhaul

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — An American billionaire and major donor to a Jerusalem think tank backing the Israeli government’s divisive judicial overhaul says that he will stop giving to the conservative group. The decision on Friday by Arthur Dantchik, a 65-year-old libertarian multibillionaire from New York, to cut funding to the Kohelet Policy Forum reflects the scope of the unrelenting protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to weaken the Supreme Court. The protests have raged in Israel for seven months, exposing deep-seated social tensions and thrusting the country into a crisis over the future of its democracy.