Im Tirtzu demonstrators dress as Arabs
Im Tirtzu demonstrators dress as ArabsIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Im Tirtzu, a growing grassroots movement which calls itself “the second Zionist revolution,” pretended to be Hamas terrorists during a demonstration outside the home of New Israel Fund (NIF) Chairwoman, former Meretz (extreme left wing)MK Naomi Chazan Saturday evening. The protesters donned Arab headdresses and imitated terrorists who thank Chazan for the NIF's support following IDF counter-terrorist operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

The protest marks the launch of a public campaign against the New Israel Fund and was timed to coincide with the upcoming publication of an IDF report on the campaign of lies and defamation that it faced during and after Cast Lead.

Im Tirtzu conducted its own study of the allegations in the infamous “Goldstone Report” on Cast Lead, and its findings were published in Friday's Maariv Hebrew newspaper. The research found that 16 groups funded by the NIF provided 92 percent of the damning statements quoted from Israeli NGOs in the Goldstone report.



The NIF, charged Im Tirtzu, hyped up and indirectly funded the Goldstone Committee's activity and its “deadly report” against Israel. “Goldstone was besmirching, and these groups gave him the references,” the group said. It accused the NIF-supported groups of calling for the establishment of a U.N. committee of inquiry in the first place, supplying it with damning materials during its operation and with praising it and “stoking the fire” after the report's publication.

The protestors wore Arab dress, pretending to be Hamas supporters, and held tongue-in-cheek signs saying “We Love Naomi, We Hate the IDF,” “Naomi Chazan Don't Let Them Break You.” Im Tirtzu's research and materials published in the Maariv story will be debated in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in a special session requested by MK Yisrael Hasson (Kadima).

Im Tirtzu's name is taken from the expression "Im tirtzu, ein zo agada" --if you will it, it will come to be--written by the founder of political Zionism, Theodore Herzl,  in his 1902 book "Altneuland", referring to the establishment of a Jewish homeland.