In the midst of vicious attacks along Israel’s border led by terrorists, the IDF has valiantly protected the State of Israel.

Against this backdrop, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley stated that “no country would act with greater restraint than Israel,” adding that Hamas is responsible for the deaths and injuries.

She said, “Let’s remember that the Hamas terrorist organization has been inciting violence for years, long before the United States decided to move our embassy.” She added, “Hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday.”

While reports from Gaza suggested that the majority of protesters were unarmed, Ms. Haley called attention to the tactics employed by some, which included the use of Molotov cocktails and other weapons.

The Trump administration noted Monday that the deaths of protesters along the border were “tragic,” but ultimately the responsibility of Hamas, not the IDF. “We believe that Hamas as an organization is engaged in cynical action that is leading to these deaths,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters.

But where is the New Israel Fund (NIF) when it comes to these Palestinian terrorists?

A press release this week from 17 “human rights” organizations funded by the NIF, including Adalah, B’Tselem, Hamoked, Machsom Watch, and others called on “Israel to immediately refrain from the use of lethal force against unarmed civilians” while blaming Israel for the violence.

Their press release claims,

The Israeli government has described the events as an assault on Israel’s sovereignty, while failing to address the reality that has led to the mass protest — 50 years of occupation and over 10 years of closure. Daily life for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip is unbearable. …

Children in Gaza, who make up the majority of the population, are still struggling with the trauma of previous rounds of violence and war, terrified of another attack and more death and destruction. Time and again reality demonstrates that there is no military solution to the conflict between Israel and Gaza. Instead, Israel must stop the shooting and killing and immediately lift the closure, thereby safeguarding the lives and human rights of the people of Gaza and the region as a whole.

According to this logic, Palestinian violence is justified.

Further, New Israel Fund-backed organizations sent an urgent letter to the United Nations Security Council decrying the “ongoing and imminent escalation of violence across the occupied Palestinian territory, and in the Gaza Strip specifically.”

Organizations including Adalah-The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel emphasized that “over the past seven weeks, Israeli occupying forces have excessively used force to suppress the Great Return March in the Gaza Strip, willfully targeting and killing protected persons. Since the mass protests began, the Israeli military has fired live ammunition from snipers, used plastic-coated steel bullets, and launched tear gas grenades from drones.” The organizations called upon the United Nations Security Council members,

To take immediate and concrete action to protect civilians and bring Israel’s unlawful closure of Gaza to an end. Specifically, we ask you to:

Convene an emergency Security Council session to address the urgent situation in the Gaza Strip and the unlawful conduct of the Israeli occupying forces;

Demand that Israel take concrete action to immediately lift its unlawful closure and blockade of the Gaza Strip, and cease all forms of collective punishment imposed on the Palestinian population therein;

Implement all options to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure that Israel refrains from resorting to force, including lethal force, against unarmed civilian protesters;

Establish an independent and transparent investigation into the Israeli occupying forces’ use of live fire and snipers and the resulting killings and injuries of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since 30 March 2018.

The letter concluded by calling upon the UNSC “as Palestinians mark 70 years since the Nakba … to act on its responsibility by ensuring Palestinians’ demands are finally heard and their rights realized, holding perpetrators accountable, and delivering victims their rights and effective remedy.”

In a time of war, what would one call these activities? There’s a bill pending in the Knesset that calls for all governmental cooperation with the New Israel Fund to end. It must pass. And all American donors who stand with Israel must stop funding the NIF.

Shame on the New Israel Fund.

Ronn Torossian is a PR executive.

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