NIF Whistleblower Exposes NIF´s Role in Demonization

NGO Monitor
21 July '10

The New Israel Fund’s role in funding and promoting anti-Israel campaigns, as documented in NGO Monitor’s research reports, is generating increasing criticism from Israelis.

On July 16, 2010, Ma’ariv’s Ben-Dror Yemini devoted his column to “Shlomit,” a social change activist who works for an NGO providing services in the Israeli-Arab sector. In June, Shlomit attended a leadership training seminar run by Shatil (an NIF program), and sponsored by the Ford Israel Fund (a partnership between NIF and Ford Foundation). The 20 participants were all from NIF-funded organizations, including a “significant presence...from the Palestinian cause” represented by NGOs such as Mossawa, Sikkuy, Amnesty-Israel, and Neve Shalom.

In a letter to NIF CEO Daniel Sokatch (reproduced below), Shlomit wrote that some of the participants were activists “who want to annihilate the State without ruling out violent means, who believe that the State of Israel was born out of sin and who apologize for its existence, who loathe Israel and its symbols...who devote their lives and efforts towards turning Israel into a bi or multi-national country...They also equate Israel’s actions with those of Nazi Germany” (emphasis original). These radical views were expressed during the course of the seminar.

Yemini’s article describes how Shlomit expressed her concerns to NIF, but received no response until after Ma’ariv contacted NIF officials.

(The translation of Shlomit’s letter was provided by Ben-Dror Yemini. Ben-Dror Yemini’s article and NIF’s response were translated by NGO Monitor, and have not been approved by Yemini or NIF.)

Demonization: An Inside Look
Ben-Dror Yemini, Ma'ariv, July 16, 2010

“I found myself with human rights activists who reject Israel’s right to exist. Who are striving for the destruction of Israel. Do NIF donors know that their money is funding the destruction of the state?”

These are the experiences of someone who works at a non-profit organization, an NIF guarantee, who returned from a leadership seminar horrified at what she saw.

The following is difficult, almost inconceivable. This is insider testimony on what is taking place under the auspicies of the NIF. Everything that was written about it in the preceding months is insignificant compared to the reality. Yes, of course, NIF supports social organizations. It contributes to society. Because what is printed below is written by a central activist at one of the social organizations that receives support from NIF, let’s call her Shlomit. She is not a right-wing activist, just the opposite. She defines herself as “left-wing, Zionist, and religious.” She supports criticism of Israel. She works among Arabs because of her belief in equality. But it became clear to her that the story with NIF is entirely different.

About a month ago, Shlomit had a difficult experience at a conference run by Shatil (a branch of NIF). This caused her crisis. She couldn’t sleep for nights. She turned to me. I advised her to talk to the heads of NIF, to get their response. She contacted them. Long weeks went by, and no one bothered to respond. They remembered that she existed only after Ma’ariv contacted them. What is published here are Shlomit’s words. Following that, the response from NIF is provided.

Shlomit’s letter

Dear Mr. Sokatch

I am writing this letter to you in a very personal manner despite not actually knowing you personally. It is not an official letter launching a complaint, nor is it a letter of accusation or a request. Rather it is a letter expressing a pain which I have found no other way to express. I would like to apologize up front for the length but I feel it is necessary in order to explain the full succession of events without sparing any details, thus providing as full a picture as possible. I would also like to stress that I am representing myself and not any organization or specific group of people.

(Read full letter/article)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.

New Israel Fund: Supporting Israel’s Destruction, One NGO at a Time?

The New Israel Fund, now under investigation by the Israeli government, has been supporting a phalanx of groups dedicated to destroying Israel.


Abraham H. Miller
Pajamasmedia.com
15 April '10

Like every person who reads the Jewish Forward, I received an email solicitation on April 1, 2010, from Daniel Sokatch, chief executive officer of the New Israel Fund (NIF). If I want to save Israeli democracy from the threat of the ultra-orthodox and the settlers, the solicitation informs me, I should sign an email petition for Prime Minister Netanyahu.

No, it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke, and I immediately thought about who would save Israel from Daniel Sokatch and the NIF.

The NIF and the NGOs it funds are under attack in the Israeli Knesset. Sokatch wants American Jews to pressure the Israeli government to call off its investigation of the relationship between the NIF‘s NGO recipients and the infamous Goldstone Report. This is an uphill struggle for NIF, since the loudest calls for investigation are from Kadima, the Israeli centrist party.

As someone who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and has experienced firsthand the effects of Sokatch’s work here as the former CEO of the Jewish Community Federation, I strongly believe most of the members of this Jewish community would eagerly sign a petition that would encourage the Israeli government to pursue its investigation with all deliberate speed. If NIF is innocent of the accusations made against it, let it be exonerated within the democratic process it supports.

Sokatch was hired as CEO of the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation because some community leaders believed that a person with an ultra-progressive agenda could mobilize donors who shared his views. These community leaders also believed that exposure to the real world of pluralistic community politics would mature a person with well-honed leadership skills who was perceived as highly intelligent and talented, but politically naive.

None of that happened. There really aren’t a lot of George Soroses out there, even in Berkeley, and people who spend their time railing against capitalism never seem to become terribly successful businessmen. But the biggest disappointment to some was that Sokatch, despite his obvious talents, seemed stuck in his ultra-progressive ideology.

(Read full article)

Please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
.

NIF energizes donors by damaging Israel

Fresnozionism.org
13 February '10

Jacob Berkman writes a blog about Jewish philanthropy called “The Fundermentalist“. Today he tells us that for the New Israel Fund, apparently no publicity is bad publicity:

The attack on NIF may actually play right into the organization’s hands. At least that’s what [NIF CEO Daniel] Sokatch seems to think.

He told us that the recent attention proved to be a boon for NIF.

“This has not only mobilized our base, but there are people hearing about us for the fist time and saying, ‘This is what I want to support,’ ” Sokatch said. “That is the irony of this. This has put us in the limelight.”

The NIF says its number of Facebook fans has tripled, and its number of Twitter followers has jumped 50 percent over the past two weeks. And more than 50 Tweeters have put a horn on their profile pictures in a show of solidarity with [NIF President Naomi] Chazan.

…and all this because someone pointed out that NIF-funded organizations provided much of the documentation cited in the Goldstone report!

Sokatch went on to take credit for what some see as the destructive phenomenon of left-wing Israeli organizations, empowered by foreign money, which use the rhetoric of social justice and human rights to contribute t0 the demonization of Israel:

(Read full post)
.