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February 23, 2015 11:25 pm
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UJA and JCRC Leaders Are Supporting Anti-Israel Activities

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avatar by Ronn Torossian

Marchers in the Celebrate Israel parade. Photo: Celebrate Israel.

In recent days, I have written extensively urging the JCRC and UJA to ban the radical left-wing organization New Israel Fund (NIF) from marching at the annual Israel Day Parade.

The reason that NIF is allowed to participate in the parade is clear – JCRC and UJA have two leaders who are major supporters of the NIF’s radical agenda.

Alisa Robbins Doctoroff, President of the UJA-Federation of New York, is one of the most high-profile Jewish leaders in the United States. She is also a radical left-winger, who supports agendas that are well outside of the consensus of 99% of the Jewish community. Doctoroff is a donor to NIF. From funding anti-Israel reports at the United Nations to its recent advocacy for terrorists and their families who killed Jews in Jerusalem while praying, NIF is an organization about which the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Yoni Chetboun said, “The main goal of the NIF is to undermine the Israeli Army, by knowingly financing left-wing Israeli groups that try to get young Israeli soldiers prosecuted for war crimes.”

The New Israel Fund supports BDS, as one can see on their website, where they note: “NIF will thus not exclude support for organizations that discourage the purchase of goods or use of services from settlements.”

As for as Doctoroff, a recent profile said of a recent trip to Israel: “One of the most impactful expe­ri­ences on her Encounter trip was her home-stay with a Palestinian family.”

She and the family’s son talked late into the night, poring over maps and talking about non-violent activism, according to the profile. This “non-violent” Palestinian activism likely involves activities that are against the laws of Israel – and endanger soldiers in Israel.

Doctoroff – the wife of the former Deputy Mayor of New York – continues:

Seeing the common humanity speaks loudly to what needs to be done… Putting food on the table, taking kids to piano lessons, and providing for a better life are hard to do there—these are things that Palestinians in the West Bank struggle with daily and we take for granted.

The Encounters program, in which she is a partner, has an upcoming trip to Eastern Jerusalem planned – which will visit not one Jewish resident of the area, an agenda consistent with previous trips of the group, which have been described as legitimizing a one-state solution. As a participant of a trip noted: “…Jewish participants spent the entire time listening to Palestinian views… not one Palestinian, when discussing their long-term vision for the region, advocated a two-state solution, nor expressed any empathy for Jewish aspirations.” Further, one Palestinian presenter said “in the absence of a one-state solution, there is going to be a bloodbath. In response to this, most participants clapped.”

Doctoroff’s extremist involvement continues via her board member position of “The Social Venture Fund for Jewish-Arab equality & Shared Society” – an organization that details the need for “job placement and integration of Arab teachers into Jewish schools.” There are surely many issues for Israeli and American Jews to tackle, but the President of the largest Jewish organization in North America should have more important concerns than placing Arab teachers in Jewish schools. Tellingly, she has not been an advocate for landing roles for Jewish teachers in Arab schools to end the rampant anti-Israel sentiment amongst Israeli Arabs, or eliminating the books and courses that teach anti-Semitism to Palestinian children.

The other key player ensuring NIF participates in the parade is JCRC leader Karen R. Adler, who is also a donor to New Israel Fund. While she served as President of the Jewish Communal Fund, she also signed an open letter to New York’s Mayor saying that “the needs and concerns of many of your constituents-U.S. Jews like us among them-are not aligned with those of AIPAC, and that no, your job is not to do AIPAC’s bidding when they call you to do so. AIPAC speaks for Israel’s hard-line government and its right-wing supporters, and for them alone; it does not speak for us.”

Adler is also a board member of the Israel Policy Forum, a radical organization, that “…helped convince President Obama to adopt its Middle East Roadmap, basically the Saudi Initiative (Israel’s return to the 1949 Armistice lines, evacuation of all settlements, and the incorporation of Arab refugees and their descendents into Israel – in return for “normal relations).”  While time has passed and the road-map is behind us, Adler is co-opting an organization that represents Jewish interests across a broad spectrum with her personal viewpoints.

These viewpoints are well outside of the mainstream viewpoints of American Jewry. Thankfully, these radical ideas have been rejected en masse by American Jewry.

At the 2014 AIPAC conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised actress Scarlett Johansson for her decision to continue representing Israeli carbonated beverage company SodaStream, which is located across the Green line.

As Netanyahu said: “Everyone should know what the letters B-D-S really stand for: bigotry, dishonesty, and shame. And those who oppose BDS, like Scarlett Johansson, they should be applauded.”

Lenin said that people who work against their people’s own best interests in support of their enemies are “useful idiots.” There is no spin that the UJA-Federation and JCRC can provide for the fact that their leaders financially support these organizations that harm Israel. And they must be fired.

If the UJA-Federation and JCRC think Scarlett Johansson was right, if they support the Israel Defense Forces, and if they care about Israel’s security, they must reject the New Israel Fund, Alisa Doctoroff and Karen R. Adler.

Ronn Torossian is a Public Relations executive and author of “For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results with Game-Changing Public Relations.” He is a proud Jew who supports numerous charities.

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