New Israel Fund Should Be Shunned for Siding With PLO terrorists in NY Trial

[Dan193]

http://observer.com/2015/02/new-israel-fund-should-be-shunned-for-siding-with-terrorists-in-new-york-trial/
New Israel Fund Should Be Shunned for Siding With Terrorists in New York Trial
The NIF has crossed an uncrossable line. It is time for all donors and supporters to abandon a group that cannot credibly claim to be pro-Israel.
By Hank Sheinkopf
02/24/15

Yesterday, a Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) were responsible for encouraging and inciting terror attacks during the Second Intifada. After weeks of trial, a New York jury found that both organizations supported international terrorism and as a result, 10 American families who had their loved ones murdered and maimed were awarded $655.5 million. This jury, comprised entirely of African-Americans, rightfully decided that Jewish blood is not cheap.

Those guilty of murdering Americans and Israelis have been brought to justice. Civilized people the world over echo the words of the heroic lawyer, Nitsana Darshan Leitner, who brought this case forward and proclaimed outside of the courthouse, “This historic verdict against the defendants will not bring back these families’ loved ones nor heal the physical and psychological wounds inflicted upon them but it truly is an important measure of justice and closure for them after their long years of tragic suffering and pain.”

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, called on the international community to follow the court’s example and punish those who support terrorism. Just as the PA and PLO were brought to justice yesterday, I believe the New Israel Fund must be punished for their support of terrorist activities.

A bewildering—and infuriating—tidbit that will be missed by the mainstream media is the fact that a liberal, extremist “human-rights” Israeli attorney, Michael Sfard, testified as an expert witness for the PLO during trial. Mr. Sfard—no stranger to the media—has previously provided paid testimony for the PLO. Mr. Sfard is an attorney for a number of organizations that are funded by the New Israel Fund, including Yesh Din, Breaking the Silence, and Al-Haq. He also worked on a lawsuit filed in Canada seeking a judicial declaration of Israel’s guilt in committing “war crimes” and deeming the security barrier illegal. As the lawyer who won the case, Ms. Darshan-Leitner said of Mr. Sfard, “In a state of conflict, you can’t give both sides equal rights. Sometimes it comes to a situation of either them or us. If he comes to defend them, he certainly hurts us.”

The New Israel Fund has long believed in using the legal process to harm Israel—as made evident by Mr. Sfard assisting the PLO in court during this historic trial. Additionally, The NIF contributed to the infamous Goldstone Report, which accused Israel of “war crimes” during its 2009 war in Gaza and recommended indicting it in the International Criminal Court.

While my colleague and friend Ronn Torossian recently wrote in the Observer about the New Israel Fund’s support for Jewish groups that are against the Jewish state, I want to emphasize that the hatred of this organization for Israel seemingly has no boundaries. As Naftali Balanson, Managing Editor of NGO Monitor, an Israeli non-profit noted, Mr. Sfard “is at the center of the NGO industry that exploits the rhetoric of human rights in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

An all-black jury in New York found the PLO guilty of terror—and a New Israel Fund lawyer testified for the PLO. An A-list star, Scarlett Johannson, fights against the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement—and Jewish leaders from the UJA support the New Israel Fund as the JCRC lets them march in the Israel Day parade.

Those who stand with New Israel Fund are standing against Israel. To suggest otherwise is a lie. I urge anyone affiliated with the NIF to stop supporting this organization financially.

The New Israel Fund must be ostracized by the Jewish community. An ideal starting point? Do not allow NIF to march with its banner at the annual Israel Day Parade. Don’t allow the parade to be maligned by traitors whose activities prove they stand against Israel.

If you care for Israel, walk away from the New Israel Fund. There is no other choice.

Hank Sheinkopf is CEO of Sheinkopf Communications and a leading Democratic strategist. His clients have included former President Bill Clinton, former NY Mayor Bloomberg and many others.

[Dan193]

http://pamelageller.com/2015/02/the-new-israel-fund-are-extremists-and-anti-israel-read-our-reply-to-their-statement-ujafedny.html/
The New Israel Fund Are Extremists – Read Our Reply To Their Statement
David Hochberg, Sally Gottesman, And Edith Everett Join UJA-Federation President Alisa Doctoroff In Harming Israel
2/25/2015

The New Israel Fund issued a statement today which validated everything that the critics of the New Israel Fund (NIF) have been saying. While they refuted no facts, they simply smeared and called us names – showing that everything we said was accurate. Let us restate the facts: New Israel Fund – and their allies, including Alisa Doctoroff of UJA – support and endorse BDS, harass the Israel Defense Forces, and harm the Jewish State.  They are a blight unto our community.

As Democratic political strategist Hank Sheinkopf noted in The Observer, “Those who stand with New Israel Fund are standing against Israel. To suggest otherwise is a lie. I urge anyone affiliated with the NIF to stop supporting this organization financially. The New Israel Fund must be ostracized by the Jewish community.”

As can be seen on the NIF website, Michael Sfard issued a statement a few hours ago saying that he “…was asked for a professional opinion regarding the Israeli justice system, on which he is expert, and to explain to the jury how Israeli law defines ‘security offences’ and ‘security prisoners.’ He provided that opinion, without in any way suggesting that there was or is any justification, legally or morally, for attacks on Israeli civilians. In fact, Mr. Sfard, when asked if suicide bombings were war crimes, said he thinks they are worse than war crimes and can be classified as crimes against humanity.” Wow – The New Israel Fund thinks suicide bombings are bad.

How about throwing rocks? How about shooting rockets? Notice, Sfard did not deny testifying for the PLO – nor did the New Israel Fund  deny that they support BDS, or that they collaborate with Palestinian enemies of Israel at the United Nations and worldwide. Clearly, this campaign to shame donors and expose the New Israel Fund must continue. Sfard’s friends at the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority were held liable for real acts of terror this week.

And we will continue to shame NIF donors. When most American Jews think of Jewish agencies, they think of social services, senior care, childcare, food and educational programs, or they think of support groups for various Israel causes. The New Israel Fund is none of that.

And what enables them is donors, and that is what makes the knowledge of UJA’s president’s ideologies so difficult to accept. Alisa Doctoroff heads UJA, perhaps the largest Jewish philanthropy organization in the world, representing the broadest spectrum of Jews from the Ultra Orthodox and Hasidic communities in Brooklyn to the marginally attached Jews living throughout New York. Yet Doctoroff is a big donor and major backer of the harmful agenda of the New Israel Fund. She also supports other extremist left-wing causes. Alisa Doctoroff uses her position at UJA to promote the NIF agenda and that is very wrong. WHY HAS THE UJA NOT FIRED THEIR PRESIDENT FOR SUPPORTING BDS?

Then there is Karen Adler, a board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC-NY) in New York, and she is also a major funder of NIF. Karen R. Adler is also head of the Jewish Communal Fund. Doctoroff and Adler have been pushing JCRC, the presenter of the annual Celebrate Israel Parade, to permit the NIF to march up Fifth Avenue and laugh in the faces of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who come to cheer for Israel.

To be sure, the New Israel Fund supports some very virulently anti-Israel programs — Doctoroff and Adler are not alone.

Dr. Gabor T. Herman, is a pioneer in the field of computed tomography, an important medical diagnostic procedure. He is also an author of books on digital geometry and digital topology, 3D rendering in medicine and discrete tomography. He has written well over 100 research articles in various fields of science, medicine and engineering.

David Hochberg is another donor that may have had his good intentions twisted. This foundation has made many donations to various charities over the years, including to the independent film industry. The two largest grants that this foundation has given out are to the American Association of Implant Dentistry (AAID) and the New Israel Fund (NIF).

Then there is Sally Gottesman, who describes herself as a “committed Jew,” supporting some Jewish groups and NIF. Gottesman founded and is the current president of The Eleemosynary Group, which consults various nonprofit organizations in New York City. Her true dedication to Israel has come into question because of her involvement with NIF, having previously served as the director of its New York branch, she continues back it today.

NIF granted almost $30 million to progressive NGOs and left-wing organizations in Israel. Most of that money was used to destabilize Israel.  One organization, the Coalition of Women for Peace, received NIF money and then boycotted everything that had to do with Israel. Two other organizations provide support for alleged terrorist activity; Breaking the Silence accuses Israel of war crimes, and B’Tselem provides cameras to groups harassing Israeli soldiers.

NIF supports of the Human Rights Defenders Fund (HRDF), which has supported the abolishment of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. The HRDF’s executive director, Alma Biblesh, has spoken out against Israel as a Jewish homeland. The New Israel Fund has authorized grants of over $300,000 to this organization, in a curious reversal of their own stated goals. Is this the group that UJA’s president Doctoroff and JCRC’s Adler should be allowing to plow hateful agendas?

We continue on to expose the hate of The New Israel Fund. Those who help fund Israel’s enemies must be exposed.

[Dan193]

I'm hoping Chaim can comment on this.

[muman613]

I think the name of the organization is:

The No Israel Fund (NIF)... It's goals are the complete destruction of the Jewish state.

Once again leftists have gone Orwellian, using double-speak to confuse the masses into believing it is a pro-Israel group when it's goals are diametrically opposed to Israel’s existence.

[Dan193]

Gerald Steinberg exposes NIF Director Rachel Liel for the liar and PRO BDS person she is.

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/views_of_nif_head_mask_bitter_reality_
LETTER TO RACHEL LIEL (NIF EXEC DIR) IN RESPONSE TO THE INTERVIEW IN THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
Gerald Steinberg
June 04, 2010

Dear Rachel,

I read your interview in the JC (May 21 2010) with interest and sadness. While the statements about Israeli democracy are noble, they mask the bitter realities evident in grants provided by the New Israel Fund for groups that promote the antithesis of these principles. In parallel, NIF’s crude and personalized attacks against me and NGO Monitor’s systematic research also reflect a disdain for informed debate and free speech.

Israel is under unprecedented attack using false charges of “war crimes” and “apartheid”, led by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that exploit the language of morality. Such allegations are used to justify BDS – boycotts, divestment, and sanctions – aimed at isolating and then eliminating Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

Your claims in the JC interview not withstanding, the evidence clearly shows that NIF-funded groups provide the underpinning for many of these campaigns, including Goldstone’s indictment. NGO Monitor’s fully referenced research provides the evidence, including listing of hundreds of footnotes in the Goldstone report citing statements by NIF-funded NGOs. Officials from these NGOs also presented highly tendentious anti-Israel testimony, and 8 NIF grantees (a combined $2.2 million in 2008) submitted a joint statement to Goldstone alleging “human rights violations for which Israel must be held accountable.” In addition, B’Tselem, Adalah, ACRI, Gisha, PHR-I, and Yesh Din continue to lobby governments to legitimize the report’s extreme biases and endorse its recommendations.

The damage from NIF grants to such groups is amplified by the additional and much greater funds provided by European governments. When asked to explain why they support NGOs involved in anti-Israel demonization, many European officials cite the NIF as the source of legitimacy. The processes by which the European Union allocates these funds are also entirely secret, violating the essential democratic principle of transparency and the EU’s own regulations.

This hypocrisy from Europe is the reason for the Knesset legislation to reinforce transparency requirements to end the secret funding provided by foreign governments.  But instead of supporting the public’s right to know, the NIF and its NGO allies have undemocratically boycotted the discussions. The NIF/NGO coalition has also grossly misrepresented this legislation, including the false allegation in your JC interview that this would “make it much harder for human rights organisations to operate in Israel and receive foreign funding”.

You and other NIF officials also claim to oppose BDS and other forms of the Durban Strategy of political warfare against Israel, but NIF grantees continue to lead these campaigns. For example, an official from the Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) participated in a May 12 anti-Israel divestment rally in Brussels, targeting a bank with an Israeli subsidiary. One rally leader drank fake blood out of a wine glass – an apparent reference to the libel of Jews drinking Christian blood as wine – to highlight Israel’s alleged brutality. NIF funding for CWP and its BDS projects cannot be justified under the banner of pluralism and the right to dissent.

The destructive impact of these and similar events is exacerbated by NIF’s use of crude and personalized attacks on perceived “enemies” – precisely the type of campaigning that you and Naomi Chazan claim to abhor. I have no doubt that you are sincere, but many officials that speak for NIF are trench fighters out to destroy opponents, and with no real commitment to free and fair debate.

NIF’s advertisement in the Jerusalem Post is the latest example. While imitating NGO Monitor’s style and “compare and contrast” approach, the NIF text consists of hysterical allegations with no references. In contrast to the NGO Monitor text, NIF’s response is cheap political agit-prop, and avoids the substantive issues. Perhaps you quickly approved this embarrassment, or were not even consulted. Either way, an apology is in order.

At the close of the JC interview, you acknowledge the need to “examine ourselves and think a lot more about how we reach a wider public that we have failed so far.” Here, we agree. No country is perfect, including Israel, and the combination of continued conflict, occupation and terror present difficult challenges. But Jewish moral principles, including human rights norms, have been cheapened to the point of becoming meaningless by the Goldstone process and the wider NGO-based bombardment of false allegations of “war crimes”.  NIF can restore its tarnished reputation and commitment to democracy by ending support for this destructive process.

I look forward to your response,

Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
President, www.ngo-monitor.org

Edited version, as published in Jewish Chronicle, June 4, 2010

I read your interview with Rachel Liel, executive director of the New Israel Fund (JC, May 21) with sadness. Her noble statements about Israeli democracy mask the bitter realities evident in grants provided by the NIF to groups that promote the antithesis of these principles. In parallel, NIF’s crude, personalised attacks against me and NGO Monitor’s systematic research also reflect a disdain for informed debate and free speech.

Israel is facing false charges of “war crimes” and “apartheid”, led by nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), allegations used to justify BDS: boycotts, divestment, and sanctions.

NIF-funded groups provide the underpinning for many such campaigns, including Goldstone’s indictment. NGO Monitor’s fully referenced research includes hundreds of footnotes in the Goldstone report citing statements by NIF-funded NGOs. Officials from these NGOs also presented highly tendentious anti-Israel testimony, and eight NIF grantees (a combined $2.2 million in 2008) submitted a statement to Goldstone alleging “human rights violations for which Israel must be held accountable.”

When asked to explain why they support NGOs involved in anti-Israel demonisation, many European officials cite the NIF as the source of legitimacy. This hypocrisy from Europe is the reason for the Knesset legislation to reinforce transparency requirements to end the secret funding provided by foreign governments. But instead of supporting the public’s right to know, the NIF and its NGO allies have boycotted the discussions.

On May 12, an official from the Coalition of Women for Peace, which receives NIF funding, participated in an anti-Israel divestment rally in Brussels. One rally leader drank fake blood from a wine glass — evoking the libel of Jews drinking Christian blood — to highlight Israel’s alleged brutality.

At the close of the JC interview, Rachel Liel acknowledges the need to “examine ourselves and think a lot more about how we reach a wider public that we have failed so far.” Here, we agree. No country is perfect, including Israel, and the combination of continued conflict, occupation and terror present difficult challenges. But Jewish moral principles have been cheapened by the Goldstone process and the wider NGO-based bombardment of false allegations of “war crimes”.

(Professor) Gerald Steinberg
President, NGO Monitor, Jerusalem and
Bar Ilan University

[Debbie Shafer]

Definately, and also Aipac!

[muman613]

Definately, and also Aipac!

You are right on this Debbie. Originally I was going to defend AIPAC, but when I discovered they have turned their backs on Israel and Netanyahu, I realize AIPAC has no use to the Jewish people. I am going to call my rabbi about this because we sent a community member to represent us to the upcoming AIPAC meeting... I am sorely disappointed with the liberal leftists taking control of AIPAC while the Jew haters consider it a right-wing conspiracy... What a sham...

http://www.timesofisrael.com/aipac-reportedly-opposed-to-netanyahus-congress-address/