There is anger in the Jewish community in New York City following a decision by the Israel Consulate to allow the radical New Israel Fund (NIF) to march in the Celebrate Israel parade in Manhattan on May 31.
"We were surprised to learn that we, in New York, have to fight the NIF while it is the Israel Consulate, which is supposed to represent the Israeli interest, that harms us and indirectly encourages a boycott of Israel or of Judea and Samaria,” Rabbi David Algaze, one of the most prominent rabbis in NYC, told Arutz Sheva.
"How can it be that we receive a slap in the face from – of all places – the Israeli Consulate, which is supposed to represent Israel proudly and uprightly, without folding before organizations that do not send a clear and consistent message against political movements that pretend to be Jewish and Zionist, but support harming the state of Israel, in Tel Aviv, Hadera, Ariel or Kfar Adumim. This takes gall,” he said.
The Vice President of Public Affairs at the New Israel Fund, Naomi Paiss, has written that the NIF sees the boycott on Judea and Samaria as legitimate and has no problem giving grants to groups that support that boycott.
The settlement enterprise “is corroding Israeli democracy, deemed 'illegitimate' by the American government and considered illegal under international law,” Paiss wrote in JTA last year.
“Boycotting goods and services coming from the settlements, although sometimes difficult to implement in practice, means putting one’s money where one’s mouth is, if one has been saying that the settlements are an impediment to the two-state solution and to peace.”
Among the groups that the NIF assists ate Breaking the Silence, which besmirches IDF soldiers worldwide, Machsom Watch, which interferes with IDF activity at checkpoints, Rabbis for Human Rights, Adalah, Mosawa and others.