The New Israel Fund is a non-profit organization which focuses on eliminating any special role for religion in either Israeli society or government. NIF grants reflect that orientation. One of the largest grants the NIF gave in the latest year for which information is available was to an organization it co-founded: the Mossawa Center.
An NIF document states that organization's belief that efforts should be expended to prevent efforts to "judaize the Galilee and Negev." In other words, there is no part of Israel the NIF thinks should be, or remain, officially "judaized." More than 33 percent of NIF grants go to programs that exclusively serve Arab Israelis, and fully 40 percent of Shatil, NIF's "empowerment center" money is used for assistance to Israel's Arab minority. Those programs actively promote the erasure of any special status for Jews in Israel.
I have absolutely no problem with the ideas of "empowering" Israeli Arabs or funding programs that focus on addressing the needs of Palestinians living in Israel or even needy Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip. As a Jew with American sensibilities, I don't even feel particularly comfortable with the notion of a "special status" for Jews in Israel. Perhaps I am hopelessly naive, but I believe that if you that if you treat people as second-class citizens they will resent you.
Admittedly, Kahane had a point when he said that you should not expect the Palestinians to hug you because they now have flush toilets. After all, even the jihadis desire all the comforts and accouterments of American life, only without the Americans and their iconoclastic social ideas. What scares them about Americans is not that they have neat gadgets and creature comforts, but that, unlike a revolving door that just spins in one direction, America's strength actually lies in pull and not push.
In any case, the fact that money sent by Jews to Israel is being shunted to anti-Israeli groups seems counterproductive to say the least. Yet, apparently even in the community where I live, the Union for Progressive Zionists is collecting money and medicine for Mustafa Barghouti - former candidate for President and running mate of Edward Said. The self-same Edward Said who invented his own Palestinian past and then amassed a personal fortune on the lecture circuit decrying Israel and the Oslo Accords.
OK, so this is guilt by assocation, and does not mean that Mr. Barghouti's organization should be boycotted. However, even a cursory reading of the Wikipedia reveals that Dr. Barghouti calls the separation fence - the one which has effectively prevented untold numbers of suicide bombers from entering Israel and blowing themselves up - the "Apartheid fence". During the last election cycle, Dr. Barghouti even campaigned in Jerusalem, even though by doing so, he courted arrest and implied that he does not recognize Israel's claim to the city. Believe me, I am not trying to gang up on Mr. Barghouti, but unfortunately, it just turns out that, try as you might, it is really not so easy to find a Palestinian to hug.
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