NIF’s Executive Director in Israel, Mickey Gitzin, is featured in the popular Haaretz series “Facial Issues.” In this weekend magazine series, there is a full-page head shot of different prominent Israeli figures, who discuss how their lives have affected their physical features.

See the full feature in Hebrew

Mickey says about his hair, “My hair has begun to grow grey since I assumed my job at NIF. It wasn’t like this a year ago and my father didn’t start to go grey until he was much older. This has been the most tumultuous and thrilling year of my life during which I’ve met amazing people from all communities in Israel that are creating the biggest changes in our society. And not only activists. In the five days following the latest attack on us by the prime minister, 3,500 Israelis donated over NIS 1 million to us.”

He says about his ear, “Recently many public figures have told me on the telephone how important NIF is to Israeli society and that we must not give up and they apologize that they cannot express their opinion publicly. People are scared to speak. They are scared to pay a price for their opinions.”

By his forehead, Gitzin tells us what he thinks about, “The persecution of NIF has elements of antisemitism. Detractors talk about ‘Jewish money’ and ‘world forces pulling the strings.’ So it is important for me to remind the political right that nothing lasts forever, that the history here in Israel, and elsewhere, shows that the pendulum will swing. The more smug they become, the more hubris they show, the harder they will fall.”

Next to his mouth, he talks about what he eats, “My partner comes from an Orthodox family and so we keep kosher at home. We keep full separation between milk and meat and even two sets of dishes because we want his parents and his family to feel welcome as guests in our home.”