Yitzhak Rabin. Photo: Sgt. Robert G. Clambus via Wikimedia Commons.

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then the Israeli NGO Im Tirtzu should feel flattered by the recent attempt by the New Israel Fund (NIF) to portray it as the anti-democratic rabble that was somehow complicit in the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Im Tirtzu recently posted an online video that called out four highly prominent and visible leaders of anti-Zionist Israeli NGOs funded by foreign governments and the NIF, accusing them of effectively being embedded foreign agents.

Using the same imagery in an obvious attempt to copy the original, the NIF released a similar video showing a picture of Rabin with the caption, “They’ve already dealt with this foreign agent.”

The NIF is clearly implying that Im Tirtzu somehow did Rabin in.

Now, the Left is not known for its subtlety of argument and debate. Disagree with it, and you are a fascist, Nazi or McCarthyite. But here the message is even stronger: Im Tirtzu aided and abetted murder.

The NIF’s application to the city of Jerusalem for permission to post billboards with this imagery was rejected as being inciteful and likely defamatory to Im Tirtzu.

This was something of a shock to the NIF, which immediately resorted to strong-arm tactics of threats of litigation if the decision was not reversed.

Leaving aside the legalities of the issue, the city of Jerusalem’s decision speaks volumes as to the disdain with which the NIF is increasingly regarded in Israel.

Let’s put aside the reality that Im Tirtzu was not formed until 12 years after Rabin was murdered. What the NIF video reveals is a pettiness that is unbecoming of a mature, principled organization. Rather than focus on the substance of Im Tirtzu’s claims, NIF cries foul, incitement, and then turns around and incites in turn.

Israelis are not stupid. They are waking up and seeing that they have been manipulated and played for saps. In the name of “human rights,” NIF-funded groups are doing their best to force an agenda on Israel that weakens the Jewish state.

The more the NIF tries to defame Im Tirtzu, the nastier it becomes, and the more pathetic it looks. It is no surprise, then, that in a recent independent survey, a majority of Israelis called for the banishment of the NIF from Israel.