The New Israel Fund’s war on Jewish life - by Jonathan S. Tobin

By creating a mechanism to fund anti-Zionist groups, it is attacking not just Israel, but also a federation system vital to maintaining Jewish institutions in America.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
JNS.org..
05 November '19..

According to the Forward, the rationale for the New Israel Fund’s push to create an alternative philanthropic system can be explained by what a Philadelphia psychologist named Roy Idelson considered to be a reasonable request. He wanted his local umbrella Jewish philanthropy—the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia—to allow him to use its foundation to donate money to an entity of his choice, IfNotNow.

A number of federations and many others operate foundations that allow their supporters to create so-called “donor-advised” philanthropic funds to funnel money to nonprofit groups of the individual’s choice. The arrangement is profitable for federations since they make money by fees earned by managing the donor’s money and hopefully increasing it by wise investment decisions.

But, to its credit, the Philadelphia federation refused Idelson’s request.

The reason was that giving money to IfNotNow was contrary to the interests of the community. IfNotNow is, contrary to the Forward’s description of its activities, not just critical of Israeli policies but avowedly neutral about Zionism. In practice, its efforts are indistinguishable from overtly anti-Zionist and often anti-Semitic groups. It also seeks to sabotage the work of organizations such as Birthright Israel that provides free trips to the Jewish state for young people.

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