But this is what they see.
I see that I have a big challenge ahead of me. In this particular article, Leslie Susser--whom I look forward to meeting one day, should I get the opportunity to discuss this article with her--creates a parallel between the New Israel Fund and Im Tirtzu. Excuse me?!
Without too much negative ranting about the latter organization, which Gideon Levy so adequately criticizes in his own op-ed, it's easy to see what kind of group this is from their own description. A "centrist group" that argues that "the Oslo Accords led to the shattering of the dream of the Greater Land of Israel." Is a prolonged occupation of millions of disenfranchised Palestinians one of the examples of the "justice" that they seek to return to Israeli national identity?
And calling out the NIF, specifically their president Naomi Chazan, is outrageous. The NIF provides funding to grass-roots organizations for humanitarian purposes, and they actually don't discriminate! This is rare in Israel, that an organization will support groups that look to better the standards of living for a certain group, even if that group is not satisfied with the ruling regime. Hell, some of these groups are flat out against the State of Israel--as many of them have not had the best time under the rule of the Knesset for the past 60-some years. But the NIF supports groups with values of democracy, including freedom of speech.
Now, that photograph above shows Im Tirtzu protesters "dressed as Arabs"--who obviously all dress like that "terrorist" in the foreground--and displaying horned caricatures of Naomi Chazan, one of the most noble of Jewish footsoldiers for peace. And Leslie Susser has the nerve to ask in the headline if the NIF is "destroying democracy."
If I had clicked on that link, seen the headline, and saw the picture, without having much knowledge about the NIF, I would probably make the following conclusion: the NIF is an Israeli group that supports terror organizations and organizations that wish to subvert the state. The problem is that mainstream American Jews read these articles without a backstory, and it is very difficult to become truly educated about who the involved parties are when Leslie Susser gives an even hand to hawkish McCarthyists and non-profit heroes.
