Even though the United States has yet to begin construction on its planned new embassy in Jerusalem, the decision announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017 during his first term has already generated hundreds of millions of shekels in profits for private real estate players.
A residential complex planned for construction just north of the future U.S. Embassy compound in Jerusalem’s Arnona neighborhood was sold in July for 260 million shekels ($80.6 million). The project includes 240 apartments and its planning process has been coordinated with U.S. officials, according to people familiar with the deal. The buyers are members of the Lev family, formerly affiliated with the ultra-Orthodox Gur Hasidic movement.
The seller was a partnership known as Issermark, led by real estate investor Jonathan “Yoni” Greenwald. Issermark purchased the site in May 2017 for 116 million shekels from businessman Dovi Schiff. Only in November of this year was the construction plan formally approved, meaning that over eight years, Greenwald realized a paper profit of about 144 million shekels, a return of roughly 124%, without building or selling a single apartment.
Schiff, the previous owner, also controlled the nearby Diplomat Hotel, located south of the residential site. He sold that property to the U.S. government in June 2014 for 191 million shekels. Together, the hotel sale and the residential land transaction generated more than 300 million shekels tied to the U.S. decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem. Schiff inherited both properties from his father, Haim Schiff, who purchased them in the 1960s, meaning much of the gain is recorded as profit.
The Issermark partnership managed by Greenwald is controlled by a company whose main shareholder is Mark Silver Mendel, a U.S. citizen. Greenwald himself is also a shareholder. Silver Mendel serves as a director at Haven Drones, an Israeli drone company that raised $100 million in November at a valuation of $1 billion.
Greenwald also owns Greenstone, a company that invests in U.S. real estate and technology, with holdings that include residential complexes, assisted-living facilities, shopping centers and office buildings.
In Israel, Greenwald is known for his ties to right-wing political figures. In 2019, he donated about 27,000 shekels to the New Right party led by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, and provided the party with a loan guarantee of 1 million shekels. Two years later, he extended additional guarantees totaling 1.1 million shekels and also backed the New Hope party of Gideon Sa'ar with guarantees worth 2 million shekels. Greenwald publicly opposed the short-lived Bennett-Lapid coalition government, calling it his “worst nightmare” in an interview.
The purchasing company, Even Diplomat–Dead Sea, is managed by members of the Lev family, including Yitzhak Nahum (“Hizki”) Lev and his sister-in-law, Ruti Lev. Hizki Lev is an American citizen who has been living in Jerusalem for about two decades. Though he has distanced himself in recent years from the Gur Hasidic leadership, he continues to observe an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle.
The family owns a building on Adoniahu HaCohen Street in Jerusalem and is advancing another real estate project on Ki Tov Street in the capital.
The project purchased by the Lev family in July, on a two-acre plot on Yam HaMelach Street in Jerusalem’s Arnona neighborhood, is being planned in coordination with the United States government.
The coordination is required because Washington has strict security demands, including limitations on building height near the embassy. In this case, they have agreed to construction of up to 10 stories, on condition that they receive right of first refusal to purchase or lease the apartments facing the embassy on the top two floors.
The proximity to the embassy also led to a dispute between the developers and the U.S. government. In its early stages, the residential project was branded “American Consulate Residences,” a name the Americans opposed because they did not want their name associated with a commercial venture.
The sides ultimately agreed on the name “Diplomat Residences.” The developers accepted it courtesy of its double meaning: it refers both to the fact that the embassy will be built on the site of the former Diplomat Hotel, currently being demolished, and to the identity of the residents the developers hope to attract.
In December 2017, President Trump announced the transfer of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Since then, plans have advanced on the Diplomat Hotel site for construction of the new embassy. The hotel had been leased to the Aliyah and Integration Ministry and, since 1991, served as assisted housing for immigrants.
Upon the sale, Schiff received an advance payment of 86 million shekels from the Americans, with the balance due upon evacuation of the hotel in June 2020. The state vacated the property late, and under a mediation agreement agreed to compensate Schiff with 105 million shekels, bringing the total proceeds from the deal with the Americans to 191 million shekels.
Near the Diplomat Hotel stood a U.S. consulate building that was converted in 2018 into a small embassy facility. Even so, most U.S. government services continue to be provided from the well-known embassy building on Hayarkon Street in Tel Aviv.
Schiff is also known as the former owner of the Marina Tel Aviv Hotel, which he sold to the JTLV fund in 2021. The property is leased to the Fattal hotel chain, which operates it as the Leonardo Art Hotel. Schiff also owns one of Israel’s largest private art collections, part of which is displayed at that Tel Aviv hotel.
The Americans are currently advancing two construction plans: one on a 70-dunam site where the Diplomat Hotel once stood, approved in May 2024, and another on a 30-dunam plot along Hebron Road that previously housed Camp Allenby, approved in June 2023. The U.S. government is expected to decide in the near future which uses and services will be assigned to each of the two complexes.