For much of American Jewry, local Jewish federations remain important umbrella organizations that direct funds to a variety of Jewish philanthropies. But the New Israel Fund (NIF)—founded in 1979 to support left-wing organizations in the Jewish state—has recently taken the step of trying to compete with the federations in distributing monies, particularly through donor-advised funds. NIF’s supposed advantage is that it is happy to direct donations to anti-Israel groups such as IfNotNow, deemed off-limits by federations. Jonathan Tobin writes:
By taking money away from the federation’s charitable funds in this manner, [NIF] will drastically reduce already diminishing resources in an era of shrinking Jewish demographics and donations. What’s worse, . . . it’s an effort to destroy the links between American Jews and Israel.
The worst thing federations could do in response to the NIF’s efforts would be to seek to compete with them by opening themselves up to donors who want to direct money to anti-Israel groups.
[I]nclusion cannot be the primary goal of any Jewish community. A community that funds Jewish and Zionist philanthropies while also giving donors an option to back anti-Zionist . . . efforts that seek to hurt Israel is one that isn’t so much inclusive as one that stands for nothing. And communities that stand for nothing have no purpose or chance of survival.
The best response to this challenge is for federations to stand firm against this disreputable effort not only to damage Israel but to impact the ability of these philanthropies to fund the infrastructure of Jewish life—namely, schools, camps, adult-education and vocational assistance, services to the elderly and poor, and aid to overseas Jewish causes. . . . This is a moment when those who care about Israel—no matter where you stand on the ideological spectrum—must draw a line and demand that Jewish philanthropies continue to say “no” to anti-Zionist groups.
Read more on JNS: https://www.jns.org/opinion/new-israel-funds-war-on-jewish-life/