A new series of videos addressed to the CEO of the New Israel Fund, Daniel Sokatch, call on him to stop funding organizations that delegitimize Israel and the IDF in the upcoming year.
The videos include personal testimonies from bereaved parents, Druze and Muslim minorities, a wounded IDF veteran and a resident of the Gaza periphery, each stating how the New Israel Fund has “harmed” them.
“The New Israel Fund harms me as well,” states Israeli-Arab Issam Ottman, whose son Youssef was murdered in a terrorist attack in September 2017.
“The NIF funds millions of dollars to ‘Machsom Watch,’ which according to testimonies of soldiers at the scene, a ‘Machsom Watch’ activist caused a disturbance at the checkpoint where the attack occurred and shouted “You’re a disgrace” at one of the soldiers, moments before the attack.”
“The New Israel Fund is fighting against us and is harming us,” continues another video featuring bereaved parents Herzl and Merav Hajaj whose daughter Shir was murdered in a January 2017 vehicle ramming attack. “It funds millions of dollars to ‘HaMoked,’ an organization that’s defending the family of the terrorist who murdered Shir, in the Supreme Court.”
Liran Baroch, a wounded IDF veteran and head of the “Wounded IDF Veterans Forum for a Secure Israel,” says in one of the videos: “While I lost the vision in my left eye because I did not want to harm innocent civilians, this organization that you fund [“Breaking the Silence”] works to call us murderers.”
Matan Peleg, CEO of the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu that produced the videos, stressed the extensive funding that the New Israel Fund provides to “anti-Israel” organizations.
“Over the past several years, the New Israel Fund has provided tens of millions of dollars to anti-Israel organizations that defend terrorists in court, defame IDF soldiers, and delegitimize Israel,” said Peleg.
“Despite the NIF’s claims to be working on behalf of Israel,” continued Peleg, “the reality is that the NIF is the largest umbrella organization of radical Israeli propaganda organizations operating against Israel and IDF soldiers.”