WhatsApp billionaire Jan Koum donates $200 million to Jerusalem hospital Shaare Zedek
The gift will fund a major expansion project and become the largest donation in Israeli healthcare history.
Jan Koum, the co-founder of WhatsApp, is donating $200 million to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in a move expected to significantly expand the hospital’s capacity in Jerusalem.
The donation, made through the Koum Family Foundation, will finance the construction of a new hospital tower that will also include housing for medical staff. According to sources in Israel’s healthcare system, planning for the project is advancing rapidly through the city’s planning authorities.
Shaare Zedek currently operates around 1,000 beds, and the expansion is expected to dramatically increase the hospital’s capacity.
The contribution is considered the largest donation in the history of Israel’s healthcare system, surpassing the $180 million donation made in 2025 by Anat Harlap and Shmuel Harlap to Beilinson Hospital.
The two donations reflect a broader trend in Israel’s healthcare sector: increasing reliance on private philanthropy, particularly from American-Jewish donors, to fund large-scale hospital infrastructure projects that the state has not financed at a similar level.
As an independent hospital that is not affiliated with one of Israel’s health funds, Shaare Zedek relies heavily on philanthropic support for expansion and development. The scale of Koum’s donation also highlights a widening gap between institutions capable of attracting major private capital and hospitals that remain dependent primarily on government budgets.
Shaare Zedek declined to comment.
