In my last post I addressed the sliming of J Street. I’m so sorry to report on yet another slanderous campaign against a respectable Jewish organization.
The New Israel Fund, a institution that has long supported social justice efforts in Israel is now being viciously attacked by a right-wing ultra-nationalist group called Im Tirtzu (a shadow organization that apparently has connections to Christian Zionist leader Pastor John Hagee).
The most sickening aspect of their campaign is a full-page ad run in the Israeli press attacking NIF President Naomi Chazan. (See right: the anti-Semitic overtones of this image are truly astonishing, especially coming from a group that purports to support the State of Israel.)
This issue has been well covered in the Jewish blogosphere. For more info I recommend reports by Noam Sheizaf in Promised Land and Richard Silverstein in Tikun Olam. Click here to read a response by NIF CEO Daniel Sokatch – I also encourage you to click here to support the NIF.
(Yesterday, I received an email from a congregant that read “what the hell is going on in Israel?” I’m asking the very same question…)
Shalom Rav 
If the “shadow organization” involves the American Christian right-wing people of John Hagee – that is what “the hell is going on in Israel” – somehow the Hagee “Christians” need to be told to keep their nose out of Israel’s business!
“What the hell is going on in Israel?” asks your congregant.
I am deeply saddened, heartbroken, to say that I think Israel is unraveling, going from worse to worse to still worse.
At this point, I can’t imagine the State of Israel continuing in its present configuration. I think it is untenable, somewhat like the USSR before it broke up or old South Africa before the repeal of apartheid. I don’t know when — probably years — but things simply will not continue as they are. It has truly become ארץ אוכלת יושביה. I only hope that the transition to whatever is coming next can be accomplished with a minimum of pain and suffering.
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And in Israel, we are asking “what the hell is going on in the Diaspora?”. NIF funding goes exclusively to far left-wing causes. A group I am affiliated with which deals in the media and democracy could not get funding. So the claim of supporting civic action society-empowering groups is just a cover for a definite ideological stand.
Yisrael,
Below are just a few grantees of NIF, whose funding you claim goes “exclusively to far left-wing causes.” (And these are just the orgs that begin with A-G. I encourage folks to go to the website for the full list).
With respect, do I sense a hint of sour grapes becacuse your group did not get NIF funding?
– African Refugees Development Center (Seeks to further the rights of all African refugees in Israel.)
– Al-Syndianah Association (Supports empowerment activities and leadership courses for Arab women in the Old City of Acre.)
– Association for Eternal Rest (Promotes alternatives to Orthodox burials in Israel.)
– Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (Seeks to reduce the level of sexual violence; to increase the scope and state funding for victims of sexual assault; and to improve the legal and public status of the victims.)
– Bina – Center for Jewish Identity and Hebrew Culture
(Seeks to produce young leadership committed to promoting pluralistic Jewish identity with social activism.)
– Bizchut: The Israel Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities (Promotes the rights and welfare of people with disabilities and works to change societal attitudes toward people with disabilities.)
– Fidel (Raises awareness among educators about the educational needs of Ethiopian children in order to improve their academic performance.)
– Forum for Freedom of Choice in Marriage (Works to promote freedom of marriage and divorce in Israel, with special activities for university students and the Russian-speaking population.)
– Friends in Nature – Community Empowerment (Nurtures activism among Ethiopian immigrants in Gedera that emphasizes the role of parents and the preservation of Ethiopian traditions.)
– Green Environment Fund (Seeks to protect and preserve Israel’s scarce environmental resources, promote sustainable transportation and achieve environmental justice.)
I stand corrected. NIF funding goes almost exclusively to groups that are perceived to be able to further left-wing agenda items in Israel and NIF does not shy from supporting anti-Zionist groups which forces the question: is it the Fund that is “New” or is it an Israel that is intended to be “new”, less Zionist, less Jewish?
Try this: http://writingtw.blogspot.com/2010/02/your-federation-dollars-hard-at-work.html
Sour grapes has nothing to do with it. We didn’t expect to be funded but were amused at how the NIF imaginatively excused itself from having to live up to its own “democracy” goals.
Here’s that 1986 report: http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2010/02/counterpoints-1986-nif-report.html
And note this: http://israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=3879&q=1
Wow, the whole “Jews with horns” imagery is positively sickening. And since when did working to support all kinds of vulnerable groups through a thriving civil society become “left-wing,” which is subsequently equated with “bad for the Jews?” I thought Jews were supposed to be concerned with the rights of minorities…
This is getting kind of Orwellian. Two-minute hate, anyone?
Here is the full English-language report for your perusal and study:
Click to access NIFGoldstone.pdf
And here is NGO-Monitor’s report:
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/nif_funded_ngos_goldstone_s_building_blocks
Isaiah 1:18
If the Torah is not your guide and foundation as to what “”social justice”” is and how to go about promoting it, then get in line behind all of the other failures of history, past and contemporary, who promoted their version of ”social justice”. Karl Marx wanted ”social justice”, so did Leon Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin. How did that work out? Fidel Castro and his friend Che brought ”social justice” to the Cuban people, poor suckers. Chairman Mao fought to bring ”social justice to China, and succeeded to make the biggest damn concentration camp on earth, Red China. Remember the Khemer Rouge in Cambodia. They brought their version of ”social justice”to the people of Cambodia. Unfortunately for them, over one million were slaughtered in the ”killing fields”. How about that ”social justice”in the workers paradise of North Korea. Finally, how about the Fuhrer of the German people? He had a vision of ”social justice”too, but in that vision, there was no place for us, the Jewish People.
There is no Reform, conservative, Orthodox or Reconstructionist.(What are you trying to reconsruct?)There is only the Jewish People with various levels of observance or non observance.
John Hagee is a sickening, despicable, abusive ….