Wednesday, December 2, 2009

ZOA Criticizes J.N.F. For Donating 3,000 Trees To Palestinian Authority


30 November 09


The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has criticized the Jewish National Fund (JNF) following reports that the organization, established by Jews and for Jews to rebuild Jewish national life in the biblical home of the Jewish people, has donated 3,000 trees to the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) of Mahmoud Abbas for a new city near Ramallah.


Benny Kashriel, the mayor of Maaleh Adumim who also is a member of the JNF board, said today that he will raise the JNF decision with the JNF board. The JNF, a time-honored symbol of Zionism, has for decades received literally billions of dollars from Jews in the Diaspora for planting trees and building the modern Jewish State. Kashriel said the contribution to the PA is a grave step that was taken without any request for approval and without advance notice and reflects a “system that has gone haywire … The country has gone crazy when it plants trees for the PA in Judea and Samaria at the same time that it forbids Jews to build. The system does not know who it is representing – us, the Palestinian Authority or the Americans?” (Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, ‘JNF Donates 3,000 Trees to Palestinian Authority,’ Israel National News, November 30, 2009).


ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We are deeply critical and indeed shocked by the decision of the JNF to donate thousands of trees, grown with money donated by Jews from around the world, to the PA. The PA is a terror-promoting entity controlled by Abbas’ Fatah, which demonstrated only in August at its Bethlehem conference that it does not accept Israel as a Jewish state, does not support a peace agreement that closes the conflict and engages in, indoctrinates for and glorifies terrorism against Jews. At this conference, Fatah honored terrorists, including Khaled Abu-Isbah and Dalal Mughrabi, responsible for the 1978 coastal road bus hijacking, in which 37 Israelis, including 12 children, were slaughtered.


“Has it really come to this, that a venerable Zionist organization with only one purpose – the up-building of a sovereign Jewish national existence, takes money from Jews and then uses these funds to make a gift of trees to Israel’s unreconstructed enemies?

“If JNF is to retain the confidence of American and world Jewry as to its dedicated purpose of building up the Jewish state of Israel, it is vital that the JNF publicly acknowledge its error and apologize for this clear misuse of funds it has raised. For the JNF to do otherwise would be to raise money from world Jewry under false pretences. It is vital that JNF never repeat this decision.”

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(For those of you who find this deeply disturbing, the following contact information should be put to good use)

Tree Certificates, Products,
Donations:

Inquiries: customerservice@jnf.org
To order: orders@jnf.org
By phone: 800-542-TREE (8733)
By mail: Jewish National Fund,
78 Randall Ave, Rockville Centre, NY 11570

Planned Giving (Bequests, Annuities, etc.):

Email: plannedgiving@jnf.org

Travel & Tours:

Email: travel@jnf.org
Phone: (877) JNF-TOUR (563-8687)

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Regional Offices:

Phone: (888) JNF-0099
Email and Address: Visit our local office pages for this information

General Inquiries:

Email: communications@jnf.org
Phone: (888) JNF-0099
Address: JNF National Headquarters
42 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10021
USA

2 comments:

  1. TY Cheryl,
    You may want to check out the next post "A new Palestinian city takes root - with JNF trees" http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-palestinian-city-takes-root-with.html#links
    While JNF had a snap answer, they are actually laying the groundwork for a hostile state in the middle of the Shomron

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  2. Cheryl M said...
    I wrote a letter of dismay to Keren Kayemet/JNF and received the following as a response:

    I hope this well help clarify. None of the trees bought by JNF-KKL donors were used for this purpose. KKL grows approximately three million saplings a year; less than one million are bought by donors worldwide.
    These saplings came from a stock that KKL utilizes for international forestry and related projects.

    KKL was appointed national foresters by the Israeli government. As such, we work with many countries together with the U.S. Forest Service in their international forestry department, the Canadian Forest Service,
    the Australian Forest Service, and many others, and we a proud member of the International Arid Lands Consortium. We have worked with Rwanda, Indonesia, E. Timor, Jordan, just to name a few countries, sharing our expertise with them and teaching them how to cultivate and care for the land. We hope to always be able to share our knowledge with the world for positive uses.

    Beyond tree planting, our priorities are focused on building new lives for Gaza evacuees, building the Negev for tomorrow's generations, and finding answers to the drought in Israel. For these and many other
    reasons, JNF is the central address for connecting to Israel.


    Regards,

    (Name deleted by request)
    Assistant Marketing Manager
    Jewish National Fund


    So there you have it. Perhaps the JNF can adopt the motto of the White Mountain National Park in New Hampshire:"LAND OF MANY USES"

    It will be interesting to see whether or not the PA "uses" their new trees to shield terrorists intent on attacking and killing Israelis.

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