Two religious Zionist NGOs are at each others' throats over money one is receiving from the New Israel Fund. Neemanei Torah VeAvodah fired back at the Raananim New Leadership Organization on Monday after Raananim held a demonstration outside its offices and demanded that it stop taking assistance from the NIF.
Raananim's campaign "shows that this is a political movement that strives to enter the Knesset and thinks all means are kosher, including the use of lies,mudslinging and dishonest behavior," said Neemanei Torah VeAvodah.
The organization's chairperson, Tehila Nahlon, insisted that the group, a neo-Orthodox movement, is completely independent and follows only the Torah. "The contributing bodies have no influence on the activity and the priorities of the movement," she said. "We were never asked by the NIF, even in a hinted manner, to change in any way the character of our activity – which never deals with the diplomatic sphere."
Nahlon said that the movement had consulted with Prof. Gerald Steinberg, founder of NGO Monitor, and learned that its activities "are in no way a 'fig leaf' for raising funds for organizations whose actions we oppose."