January 15, 2008
Israel Office
SHATIL
Message From Larry Garber
Last week, two groups of Diaspora Jews visited Israel to learn more about the country. Although mainstream Jewish organizations organized these trips, the itineraries reflected a determination to expose participants to the diversity of Israeli society and to the challenges that Israel faces in fulfilling the vision of its founders. NIF Diaspora staff participated in both trips and NIF-Israel staff shared their impressions on the current situation with both groups.
Nearly seventy individuals representing Jewish federations and family foundations from North America and Europe joined a three-and-a-half day trip organized by the three-year-old Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues. I represent NIF on the seven-person Task Force Steering Committee, which also includes representatives from the Joint Distribution Committee, NY Federation, Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies and the Alfred & Hanna Fromm Fund.
NIF’s Ford Israel Fund subsidized the visit, which provided an in-depth look at the issues confronting Israel’s Arab minority and an appreciation of the importance from Israel’s short- and long-term perspectives of creating a society that treats all citizens equally. The group visited cities, towns and villages in the North and South, and met with Jewish and Arab representatives of the Government, members of the Knesset, local officials and leaders of Israel’s dynamic civil society. The amount of information presented to the group was at times overwhelming, but no one could walk away unaffected by the Third World conditions of the unrecognized villages where 35,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel reside, or by the failure of previous governments to create industrial parks and economic opportunities in Arab municipalities.
Ultimately, we will measure the trip’s success by the amount of information communicated, internalized and acted upon among the diverse Diaspora communities represented by the participants. As I have expressed in this column many times, Israel’s treatment of its Arab citizens is a matter of both self-interest and moral values. And while responsibility for ensuring equality among all citizens lies with the Government, Diaspora Jews who care about the future of Israel must not hide behind a veil of ignorance regarding the fact that 20 percent of the country’s citizens are not Jews.
Birthright was the sponsor of the second group visiting Israel last week with an NIF connection. For the first time since the Birthright concept originated, NIF (together with the Union of Progressive Zionists - UPZ) organized a bus of more than forty 18-26 year-olds. In addition to the standard Birthright experience, the NIF-UPZ itinerary included opportunities for the group to hear from social change activists about issues that they are familiar with from growing up in the United States, -- e.g., environmental degradation, discrimination against minorities and immigrants, government failure during times of crisis, -- but that are often hidden from Birthright participants.
Based on this initial experience, I am convinced that there is an untapped market among this next generation of Diaspora Jews for an Israel presented with all its complexities. Moreover, these young Jews welcome contact with those in Israel - young and old, religious and secular, Jew and Arab - who are confronting the realities of their society not through apathy and despair, but through committed social action. We, therefore, look forward to organizing future Birthright groups, to working with Birthright on follow-up programs and, ultimately, to ensuring that all those participating in the Birthright experience are exposed to the dynamics of Israeli society, in all its positive and negative aspects. |
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