So Near and Yet . . .

Hedge fund manager billionaire Bill Ackman is feeling good about Israel. And Israel is certainly feeling good about Bill. Their mutual admiration was fulsomely expressed during Bills’s recent fun-filled, activity-packed visit to Israel. No red carpet was ever so long. 

Yes, Bill had a wonderful time. During his nearly week-long visit, he got to meet with heads of banks, insurance companies, and institutions, and venture capitalists. On September 9, he was extended — and accepted! — the invitation to ring the opening bell at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, of which he owns a 5% stake. Good job, Bill! 

“And,” he added modestly about his itinerary, “I had the opportunity to meet with the leadership of the country.”¹ Amazing. What would have induced the leadership of Israel to take time out from their busy launch schedule to meet with an American venture capitalist billionaire who owns 5% of TASE must be left to speculation. 

The crowning day, the height and glory of Bill’s visit, came on Sunday at the University of Haifa. In the morning, he had some work to do. His assignment: hold a “master class” lecture.² His topic: leading with purpose in a changing world. Oh, how it was changing.

Bill’s remarks during the lecture were riveting if not unexpected. “I’ve learned this from being philanthropic — that capitalism actually is a better way to solve problems than philanthropy.” That belief, Bill enlarged, led him in January 2024³ to invest $25 million of his very own money to buy a 4.99% stake in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to help Israel out.⁴ “It was sort of a bet on the future of the country,” he explained.

And, boy, did it pay off. By September 2025, the hedge fund manager was able to record a fivefold increase in his investment. However, Bill assured his listeners, he had not made that investment to make money, but to do good in the world, just as much good as ever he could. It was the same motivation that compelled him to take former Harvard president Claudine Gay to task for not paying attention to what he had to say about college curriculum or antisemitism or student protests or enhanced police presence on campus or anything. Even if that dispute turned out kind of messy,⁵ Bill’s investment with TASE paid off great — in doing good, that is.

Bill continued swiftly and safely: The worse outcome of any inconvenient inconvenience at the moment was the risk posed by Israeli regulations limiting banker salaries.

Yes, Bill unleashed a torrent of stunning but not totally unexpected thoughts during that master class lecture, the first of his career. They included: that he was “very bullish” on Israel, that Israel had “the highest ratio of IQ and IP to population,” that the last two years of war would strengthen the coming generations of Israelis. 

War? His listeners froze momentarily.

Bill continued swiftly and safely: That the worst outcome of any inconvenient inconvenience at the moment was the risk posed by Israeli regulations limiting banker salaries. 

Indeed. His listeners relaxed.

And, finally, to share an intimate insight into how his devotion to Israel spawned and burgeoned, Bill travelled back in time. “When my dad died on May 31, 2022 . . . he wrote a few letters . . . [funeral preparations,] financial stuff, [one to my] mom. But the third letter was, ‘Bill, I’m really concerned about antisemitism, and we need to do something about it.’ Those were his last words, right?” Bill confided to his audience.

It turns out that Bill’s lecture was so spectacular that the university decided to award him an honorary doctorate degree that very evening. And Bill’s wife Neri got one, too.

“A student plaza on Mount Carmel, under the pines, overlooking the boundless sea.” 

The events of that special evening were heady. Held way up high on the 30th floor of the University of Haifa’s main tower from which you cannot see for 96 miles even on a clear day,⁶ the first item on the gala agenda remained undisclosed. It involved a donation the couple made of an unknown amount to the university to be used to construct a student plaza for the university in honor of Neri’s mother, who was dead.⁷

After that undisclosed donation was accepted, the university initiated its degree conferment ceremony, during which Neri thanked the university for accepting their donation, which allowed them to commemorate her mom’s death and honor her legacy by building that student plaza “in one of my mother’s best loved places, on Mount Carmel, under the pines, overlooking the boundless sea.” 

Peace and quiet, breeze-wafted fragrances drifting down from those trees, the soughing sounds of the sea, some thoughtful moments gazing at the sky. Yes, a wonderful place for a student plaza, a wonderful place to remember the death of a loved one. Thank you, Israel, for allowing Bill Ackman and Neri Oxman to give you that money for which you agreed to build so fine an embellishment to your famous university “on Mount Carmel, under the pines, overlooking the boundless sea.” Sounds good.

Buried deep in his own words of thanks to the assembly, Bill confessed: “I have worked hard on behalf of our people,⁸ on behalf of Israel. But I haven’t taken the risks that a soldier takes when they walk into a war, into Gaza.”

The assembly froze for just a fraction of a long second for the second time that day. Gaza? 

Bill carried on rather promptly: “I want you to know that Neri and I — really, Americans generally, with a few bad exceptions — are incredibly appreciative of Israel, defending democracy, defending our values. And we’re eternally grateful.”

Besides university leaders and faculty, the wonderful event was attended by prominent Israeli philanthropists, an American-Israeli philanthropist, a social entrepreneur, and more philanthropists. University of Haifa President Gur Alroey addressed the gathering on migration and early Zionism, a popular topic among the listeners. “I often tell my students that the State of Israel is a joint venture between those who made aliyah⁹ and settled here, and the Jews of the Diaspora, particularly American Jewry. This is a formula that has proven itself time and again. We must continue to nurture and strengthen it.” 

Then, without using the word “money” once, he overflowed with praise for the American hedge fund manager and his wife: “Your partnership, Bill, as an American Jew, together with Neri, an Israeli from Haifa, embodies the unique and symbolic bond between the two largest Jewish communities in the world. Through your work for the benefit of Israel and Israel’s society, you strengthen Israel’s security, and for that, we offer our deepest gratitude.”

After the really nice awards ceremony and reception, guests were served an elegant dinner of slow-roasted beef, seared duck breast, fried fish, and local Israeli wines. 

It is presumed that on the following day, his business in Israel finished for the time being, Bill jetted back to the U.S. with his wife on his Gulfstream G550 jet to spend a few quiet days recovering in the Manhattan penthouse he calls his New York home.¹⁰

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1. https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/at-university-of-haifa-bill-ackman-gets-warm-welcome-honorary-degree-says-hes-bullish-on-israels-future/?utm_source=cio ↩︎
2. A master class lecture is for the ultra-advanced who can skip the master class. ↩︎
3. That is to say, well after Israel settlements had been assaulted by Hamas on October 7, 2023. ↩︎
4. Bill admits that during his five-minute decision-making process he heard an “amazing story from the business point of view.”  ↩︎
5. While Bill concedes that he only wants to be a “positive force” at the school, one cannot ignore the fact that Bill has donated tens of millions of dollars to the institution for which, he feels, he deserves a role of some domination in dictating Harvard’s direction, including how to respond to the virulent antisemitic protests that erupted on campus after the ruckus in Gaza began. Gay was foolish to ignore Bill’s clout. “It would have been smart for her to listen, or to at least pick up the phone,” Bill griped. So Bill made a ruckus himself, hinting Gay might have landed the position because she was . . . not white or . . . not male. Once again Bill was able to do as much good as ever he could. Gay resigned January 2, 2024. ↩︎
6. In addition to panoramic vistas of the city, port, and the surrounding coastline, the view from the 30th floor of the University of Haifa’s 100-meter-tall Sail Tower includes all of Haifa Bay, the Mediterranean Sea, and on a clear day, the city of Akko and parts of the Galilee. The view is exceptional due to the tower’s location on Mount Carmel. ↩︎
7. Neri’s mother, architect Rivka Oxman, died in March 2025. ↩︎
8. Referring to “my people” or “our people” is a danger signal. What the speaker is saying, of course, is that there are other people to be distinguished from “our people” for whatever reason and by whatever means. “God’s people” embeds within itself the same treacherous presumption. ↩︎
9. Aliyah refers to immigration to Israel, with many religious Jews considering that immigration a return to the Promised Land and the fulfillment of God’s biblical promise to the descendants of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; alternatively, aliyahcan refer to the honor of being called upon to read from the Torah. ↩︎
10. Although some people object to the use of private jets for flying a couple just anywhere, it must be admitted that such transportation does allow for greater efficiency and flexibility, enabling Bill to manage his time for business and personal commitments much more effectively, which we all are very glad Bill is able to do. Just think how much more good traveling by private jet lets him get done. ↩︎