Birthright terminates relationship with New Israel Fund
Birthright Israel has
terminated its relationship with the Leftist
New Israel Fund, the largest and most powerful non-governmental source of support for
Israeli civil society organizations, providing funding and
organizational/political assistance. This is from the first link.
Birthright Israel, the American organization that organizes visits to
Israel for participants from 66 different countries, has terminated a
partnership with the controversial New Israel Fund (NIF,) resulting in
the cancellation of a December visit to the Jewish state assembled by
the two groups.
In an email to trip participants, Stephanie Ives, the New York
Director for the NIF, said that “we have been cut from the trip for
three reasons that have been communicated to us: (1) Birthright Israel
determined that our marketing of the trip was in violation of their
policy because our NIF logo was slightly larger than the Birthright
Israel logo; (2) Birthright Israel NEXT has determined that it can no
longer partner with NIF in any way because we seek to influence policy
in Israel, and they have a rule against partnership with organizations
that seek to influence policies in Israel or the United States; and (3)
Birthright Israel decided to cancel a number of the New York UJA trips
because of recruitment concerns.”
Ives added: “I wish this were not the case. We were truly excited to
participate and honored to have been recruited to do so by Birthright
Israel NEXT. More importantly, we think participation by progressive
Israel organizations is crucial to allow Birthright Israel to continue
having the kind of impact on the next generation America-Israel
relationship that it seeks and that we seek.”
For those who aren't familiar with the New Israel Fund (search this blog!) NGO Monitor reports:
“Allegations by NIF-funded groups are frequently used to advance
anti-Israel BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) activism – the
claims of these groups are used to justify demonization,” NGO Monitor says. “For instance, the UC Berkeley divestment campaign (April 2013) referenced B’Tselem,
Adalah, and PHR-I as documenting ‘ongoing human rights violations
systematically committed by the Israeli government.’ We also note that
previous NIF funding for radical anti-Israel groups (ICAHD, Coalition of Women for Peace, Mada al-Carmel,
Al-Qaws, etc.), which has ended, continued for years and caused
significant damage, including, for example, the decision by Dutch
pension funds to divest from Israeli banks in January 2014.”
It's about time!
Labels: Birthright, New Israel Fund
Unbelievable: Israeli government footing bill for Leftist American Jews to visit 'Palestine'
This was posted on Photobucket and it actually comes from Friday's edition of Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily.
(The full-size image is
here).
Seven and a half years ago, people who wanted to do things like this were
kicked off Birthright. Now, we're paying for it. Something is seriously wrong with our government and with our self-image.
Labels: anti-Israeli Israelis, Birthright, Leftist Jews, self-hating Jews
Your tax shekels and charitable donations at work: Birthright bringing non-Jews to Israel
According to
this report on Israel Radio's website, if you're a non-Jew living in any country in the world that was not a part of the former Soviet Union, you can fill out a form that says you're Jewish and get a free 10-day trip to Israel, at the expense of the Israeli government and charitable donors in the United States and other countries (link in Hebrew).
While Birthright officials deny the report, and claim that they check very carefully whether prospective Birthright participants are Jewish, Birthright employees here in Israel describe the phenomenon of non-Jewish participants in Birthright as not being rare.
I wonder how many of those
Occupy Birthright people were non-Jews.
On the other hand, given some of the
other causes to which American Jewish Federations donate, I suppose that we could be doing a lot worse than funding trips to Israel for non-Jews.
Labels: Birthright, Jewish Federations of North America
Three cheers for Sheldon Adelson
He deserves a lot more than three cheers, but he especially deserves applause for this one. Speaking to a Birthright group, Adelson said that Newt Gingrich, whom he
also supports, is right:
The 'Palestinians' are an invented people.
Addressing a Hanukkah celebration for hundreds of youths visiting Israel as part of the Taglit Birthright program on Sunday, Adelson said, “Read the history of those who call themselves Palestinians, and you will hear why [Newt] Gingrich said recently that the Palestinians are an invented people. There are a number of Palestinians who will recognize the truth of this statement.”
Adelson also appealed to the hundreds of Jewish youth in the audience to study history and be “goodwill ambassadors” for Israel.
“When you return to your countries of origin, speak in support of Israel – don’t let Muslim student organizations take over the campuses. Learn history, go back to the Ottoman Empire and the First World War, and know the issue under discussion, and when you return to our homes you will remember that you are goodwill ambassadors for Israel,” Adelson said.
It's about time that a pro-Israel statement to Birthright made more news than the
anti-Israel propagandizing.
Labels: Birthright, Newt Gingrich, Occupy Birthright, Palestinian people, Sheldon Adelson
The laws of supply and demand
Stephen Richer explains why the Far Left cannot have
their own Birthright trip. It's all about supply and demand.
Supply
The current Birthright trip is funded by the State of Israel, individual donors (such as the ones listed above), and Jewish communities in the United States. A Feldman-friendly trip probably couldn't marshal similar support. Start with the State of Israel. The State of Israel contributes to Birthright because Birthright yields future dividends for the Jewish state – economically, demographically, and geo-politically. A Feldman-friendly trip would not produce similar returns. At best, people of Feldman's ilk ("Feldmanites" – people who think Israel is an illiberal, racist occupier), want to reduce U.S. military aid to Israel; they want to shrink Israel to its pre-1967 size; they question the terrorist status of Hamas; etc. Israel generally doesn't see these views as salubrious – Israel even has questions about a group like J Street whose official policies are kinder to Israel than Feldmanites – and, accordingly, the State of Israel will not go out of its way to help setup such a trip.
Regarding private donors: Why haven't people like George Soros and Alan Solomnt gone out of their way to finance a trip to rival the current Birthright? It certainly isn't because of the cost – the $600 million that Birthright has spent since 1999 is only about 4.5 percent of Soros's estimated $14.5 billion net worth. Rather, Soros, Solomnt, etc., are probably less inclined to send young Jews to a country they view as morally mediocre and a bit of a nuisance than are people like Schustermann and Adelson who love Israel and hold it as a top priority. Another likely reason that Feldmanites are hesitant to host a competing trip is that they might not be able to pitch the right message. Yes, the trip could undoubtedly roundup a number of Jewish Israelis, Arab Israelis, and Palestinians to decry Israel's "war crimes," "racism," and "illiberal practices" – or whatever the usual tropes are – but what about when the participants wander off? What if they stay longer in Israel? The truth is that Israel is a thriving and free society that strongly resembles facets of the United States. Additionally, the majority of Israelis feel that the country is right to take strong measures to defend itself – that's why the Likud party is currently in power. And the average voting Israeli is not a foaming-at-the-mouth war hawk, but a fellow Jew in a liberal country – a difficult person to casually dismiss.
Demand
The demand side of the equation would undoubtedly be less problematic. After all, a free trip is a free trip. But if forced to choose between the current Birthright trip and a Feldman-trip, the majority of young American Jews are still going to choose the former. Although Feldman will perhaps claim a bias in major American polling organizations as well, the majority of reputable polls have suggested that sentiment runs along the lines of this poll commissioned by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (CAMERA):
· 78 percent of American Jews regard it as being "very to 100 percent necessary" for Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
· 77 percent of American Jews believe that Palestinian incitement against Israel – its "culture of hatred" – is a major obstacle to peace.
· 85 percent of American Jews said that Israel is "right to take threats to existence seriously," and that Israel's concerns are not irrational or overstated.
Probably not the results one would expect from half a room of Feldmanites.
Read the whole thing. These spoiled brats like Kiera Feldman (the person to whom Richer is responding) want everything, don't they? If you don't want to hear our narrative, don't come. We're paying to have you here.
Labels: Birthright, Birthright Israel alumni, Leftist Jews
Guilty as charged!
I am proud to tell you that
I have been accused of killing J Street's attempt to sponsor a Birthright trip.
According to J Street staff, 104 students signed up to receive more information about the trip during the two days following the press release. But Spitalnick, Rothman and J Street U Director Daniel May noted that something else occurred during those two days: right-wing Zionist bloggers drew attention to the J Street U press release and called on Birthright to cancel the trip.
The day after the trip was announced, Vic Rosenthal wrote a post called “Action alert: Don’t let J Street exploit Birthright” at FresnoZionism.org, a blog that calls itself, “A pro-Israel voice from California’s Central Valley.” In the post, he called J Street “anti-Zionist” and told his readers to e-mail Birthright and “ask them if they think that the anti-Zionist organization J Street U should be allowed to lead a Birthright trip.” He reposted the same post on Boston Zionist blog Solomonia.com. IsraelMatzav.blogspot.com—another right-wing blog—published a similar post criticizing Birthright for the J Street trip.
While J Street staff have not suggested that these posts alone led Birthright to cancel the trip, they do hint that it raises another possibility: that Birthright cancelled the J Street U trip as a result of political pressure. J Street’s self-labeled “progressive” positions—along with certain stances it takes that run counter to Israeli governmental policies—have led some in the pro-Israel community, like Rosenthal, to doubt J Street’s Zionist credentials.
And while Rothman—J Street U’s student president—hoped that the Birthright trip would signal J Street U’s full acceptance into the campus Zionist community, Spitalnick fears that the opposite has happened.
So Vic Rosenthal and I killed the trip, with an assist to Martin Solomon for re-publishing Vic's post. And we've made sure that J Street isn't accepted into the pro-Israel community.
My good deed for the week.
And they (apparently) haven't even read all my posts questioning J Street's 'Zionist credentials.'
Heh.
Labels: Birthright, J Street, pro-Israel pro-peace
J Street's Birthright trip canceled
Almost as quickly as it appeared on the horizon, the J Street-sponsored Birthright trip to Israel has been
canceled.
A Birthright official told Haaretz that about three months ago they were approached by “The Israel Experience”, one of the trip providers, with this idea, but said that they are not interested in trips dedicated to a specific political experience. “Since then we didn’t have any requests from them”, he said. “And then we saw to our astonishment the press release of J Street that they are “leading the trip” – there is no such thing in our practice. We had no direct contact with J Street, no formal request was submitted. If a trip organizer wants to organize a trip oriented on social justice they have to submit a proposal. And trips of political orientation are not accepted. When it happened in the past, we discontinued working with them. The idea of a “Political trip” is out of question, and you can’t sign up for a trip with an organization that is not the trip provider and the use of our logo – they didn’t ask us to use it. There is obviously some misunderstanding or miscommunication”.
With regard to the so-called AIPAC trip, “Capital to Capital”, the official said that “it’s like a political science class, to understand Israeli political structure. The trip runs for several years and is closely vetted to make sure that there is no political tilt”.
I'm pleased this trip has been canceled. I know some of you might be thinking that these people will not get to Israel otherwise, but I don't believe that. I believe going on a trip to Israel with J Street would likely make a person more pro-'Palestinian' than pro-Israel.
Labels: Birthright, J Street, pro-Israel pro-peace
Birthright, J Street style
J Street, the pro-Obama organization masquerading as supporters of Israel, is conducting a
Birthright trip to Israel this summer through its J Street U branch (where 'pro-Israel' is
officially optional). That means that the trip will likely be run by J Street U's Jerusalem coordinator
Ira Stup. This is from the first link.
J Street U is very happy to announce that we will be leading a free, ten-day Taglit-Birthright trip this summer titled, “Explore Israel: Progressive Zionism and Social Justice.”
This trip is an incredible opportunity to connect with the Israel that isn’t on the front page or in the guide books. Move beyond the headlines, and see what’s really happening on the ground. …
The trip is a chance to appreciate the vibrancy of Israel’s history, culture and landscape from a perspective that acknowledges your Jewish and progressive values.
The best way to discover the richness of Israeli society and the full contours of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to travel around Israel and meet people from the diverse groups of the region. There is simply no substitute for seeing the land and connecting with the people.
I can just imagine what a J Street birthright trip will include. Friday afternoon at Bil'in. Weekday mornings at Sheikh Jarrah. Acting as human shields along the Gaza border. Helping 'VIP's cross the Allenby Bridge. Commiserating with ISM members awaiting deportation at Ben Gurion Airport. And of course, Breakfast at
Tiffany's the Muqata.
What was
Michael Steinhardt (Birthright's major funder) thinking? (If you follow that link, you will see that it relates to George Soros too - I have no idea whether Soros pushed for J Street to run Birthright, but it's possible).
What could go wrong?
Labels: Birthright, J Street, Politics, World Politics
