Billionaire Igor Tulchinsky, Who Sponsored the Bayeux Tapestry’s UK Sojourn, Also Funded a Mental Health Facility in an Illegal West Bank Settlement

The historic voyage of the Bayeux Tapestry to London’s British Museum has been a popular sensation, with VIPs like the UK’s King Charles and French president Emmanuel Macron attending a reception to welcome the famed 11th-century embroidery. Tens of thousands of people vied for tickets. The fragile artwork was allowed to travel only after the French supreme court tore up a lawsuit aiming to stop the loan and a painstaking French study said it would be safe to undertake the trip.

It has now emerged that Belarus-born billionaire Igor Tulchinsky, who supported the history-making voyage, to the tune of £5 million ($6.8 million), according to Middle East Eye, also supported a yurt in a community center in Efrat, an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. The British Museum did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As reported in the Jerusalem News Syndicate (JNS), Tulchinsky is the primary sponsor of the structure, which opened November 13, 2025, as part of the Mondlak Center, meant to serve mental health needs of those living in the area. “This warm and inviting wood-lined space is designed for group therapy activities, yoga and martial arts sessions for individuals coping with mental health challenges,” per JNS. 

The UK announced sanctions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, as the BBC reported this week, “accusing Israel’s government of turning a blind eye to the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Palestinians by settlers.”

At the inauguration of the yurt, Tulchinsky dedicated the center to “Israel’s heroes,” JNS reported, calling the yurt “Israel’s inner Iron Dome,” referring to the country’s high-tech defensive system. “Just as we train our soldiers to run toward fire, we must train our citizens to run toward healing with the same courage,” he said. “Every survivor who stands back up again declares to the world: ‘You can wound us, but you will never break us!’”

Born in Belarus and now living in New York, Tulchinsky is a venture capitalist and founder of World Quant, an investment firm with $17 billion in assets under management; Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.7 billion.