NATHAN CHERNY

FROM here in Israel I am disturbed and distressed by Zionist Council of Victoria president Dr Danny Lamm’s criticism of the New Israel Fund (NIF).

Based in Washington and Jerusalem, the New Israel Fund has a 30-year record of supporting non-profit organizations committed to building a more just and democratic Israeli society, the kind of Jewish society that I want for my children.

Of the various funding organizations active in Israel, it is probably the most important supporting this vital agenda.

As a son of the community, whose aliya was predicated on the values I learned growing up in the Melbourne Jewish community, I believe that the issues that the NIF has championed are exactly the kind of things that this community holds dear; an Israel that is just, that promotes equality and the right of its citizens and residents to live in dignity.

As much as I love Israel, and despite its many achievements, I recognize that Israel is a troubled country with a litany of issues that need urgent redress: corruption, inequality, disenfranchised minority groups and a fragile democracy.

It is easy to criticize, but because I am a Zionist I am here to make a difference and to be a part of the many people to want to see a better Israel.

I cannot believe that the Jewish community of Australia (where I was born and where my father , brother and so many friends live) would not be interested in bridging social and economic gaps (now the second highest among all Western countries), in promoting equal rights for Arab citizens, in advancing the status of women, in fostering tolerance and freedom of religious expression, in increasing government accountability and the rule of law, in strengthening efforts to protect the environment and public health, in promoting peace with the Palestinians, and so much more.  These are the agenda of the NIF!

Without the non-profit organizations supported by the NIF, many “invisible Israelis” would have no voice: from Ethiopians, to the impoverished Bedouin citizens of the Negev and the neglected development towns, the NIF believes that Israel has a special responsibility to uphold its founders’ vision and traditional Jewish values of fairness and equity. Is this beyond the interest of the community?

The NIF has championed equal access to education for all in Israel -– whether for Sephardi girls segregated from their Ashkenazi classmates in Ultra Orthodox schools, the Bedouin children who must walk to school on dangerous unpaved roads, or the Ethiopian immigrant pupils denied entrance to public schools in Petach Tikva. Is this what Lamm calls “unacceptable”?

Without the non-profit organizations supported by the NIF there would not be a vibrant civil rights movement in Israel. In the past 30 years, nearly every judicial decision in Israel in the area of civil and human rights was achieved either by an NIF-supported organization or by attorneys whose careers and skills were shaped by their experience and training sponsored by the NIF.

These have been big issues ranging from the prohibition of torture in civilian interrogations to changes in the route of the separation fence in order to respect humanitarian concerns, the rights of people with disabilities, women’s rights, minority rights, gay rights and the rights of Israeli-born children of foreign workers.

The NIF is the major promoter of the many moves to release Israelis from the Ultra Orthodox stranglehold on religious life that causes so much distress and hardship here in Israel.

NIF is the largest funder of moderate Orthodox organizations that are courageously advocating for solutions for the thousands of agunot and women whose husbands refuse to grant them a get, protesting the degrading sex-segregated public bus lines in Jerusalem, and speaking out against gross expressions of religious racism (such as the recent publication of “Torah of the King” which argued that religious law permits the killing of any non-Jew who poses a theoretical threat, including children and babies).

The NIF maintains an ongoing struggle to allow true freedom of religious expression in Israel to allow all Jews to express and celebrate their Jewishness in a way that is meaningful and appropriate for them.

I cannot believe that these things do not resonate with communities like Melbourne and Sydney that have cultivated such rich diversity of Jewish life and religious expression?

I believe in “Zedek, Zedek tirdof” the imperative of actively pursuing justice as a core Jewish principle. Even in war, I want to be able to take pride in the justice of my country.

If, and when, my country or its agencies stray through faulty decision making or command, I want a system that is ready to honestly investigate the claims and to candidly address them.

This has been the approach of NIF supported non profit Israeli organizations (such as B’tzelem) calling for Israel to launch fair and independent investigation into some of the accusations arising out of the events Operation Cast Lead.  Believe me, I want this, not out of any self hatred, but out of a profound sense of patriotism and love of my country.

That the New Israel Fund has come under attack from all sorts of extremist, right wing, anti democratic, and anti-pluralist persons and interest groups is not new. Among its most severe critics are the sorts of people who attack Israel’s judiciary, who defend a rigid orthodox hegemony over Jewish life, promote Israeli annexation of the West Bank and the expulsion of the Palestinian community; elements that represent the “dark side” of the national discourse.

The recent attacks by the right wing organization “Im-Tirtzu” (which prompted Lamm’s commentary on the NIF) is only the latest of attempt to silence the voice of civil society in Israel.

Paradoxically, when people attack Israel unfairly, the issues championed by the NIF are preiscely the sorts of things cited by Israel’s defenders when they rebut the claims of Israel’s enemies and praise the vibrancy of Israeli democracy and the justice inherent in Israeli law!

While I recognize that trees, dams, parks and urban renewal (the sorts of things traditionally supported by the JNF, UIA and Keren hayesod) are important, the promotion of civil society and social justice in Israel are even more so.

Because I believe that these things are close to the hearts of the Jewish communities of Australia, I believe that the New Israel Fund should become an important part of the philanthropic agenda of the Australian Jewish community as it is in the United States and in Europe.

When Lamm claims that the agenda of the NIF is unpatriotic or anti-Zionist, he not only attacks the organization, but supporters like me and my wife Nancy and the sort of Zionism to which we have committed our lives and the lives of our family.

For more information on the New Israel Fund, visit www.NIF.org

Nathan Cherny is an Australian-born oncologist and palliative medicine specialist at the Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem where he holds the Norman Levan Chair in Humanistic Medicine. His wife Nancy is the senior grant writer for the New Israel Fund in Jerusalem. They have four children and live in Maccabim, Israel.