New Israel Fund calls on UN to investigate Israel

From Arutz Sheva, 17 May 2018:

The NIF's actions vis a vis the recent riots at the Gaza fence prove it is hostile to the State of Israel so that anyone who donates to that organization is damaging the Jewish State.

...The Hamas Facebook page infamously instructed "demonstrators" to take knives and guns with them to breach the fence and to kill Israelis once they have stormed across. Of the 60 Gazan rioters killed, over 50 have been proven to be Hamas terrorists.

Against this backdrop, Nicky Haley, The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations stated at the UN Security Council on Tuesday that “no country would act with greater restraint than Israel” – adding that Hamas is responsible for the deaths and injuries. 

Addressing the delegates, she said: “Let’s remember that the Hamas terrorist organization has been inciting violence for years, long before the United States decided to move our embassy.” She added: “This is what is endangering the people of Gaza. Make no mistake, Hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday.”

While reports from Gaza falsely suggested the majority of protesters were unarmed, Ms. Haley called attention to the tactics employed, which included the use of Molotov cocktails attached to kites.

The Trump administration noted Monday that the deaths of protesters along the border are “tragic” but ultimately the responsibility of Hamas, not the IDF.  “We believe that Hamas as an organization is engaged in cynical action that is leading to these deaths,” White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters. “The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas.” Israel has a right to defend itself and its borders, he said.

So where is the New Israel Fund (NIF) when it comes to these Palestinian Hamas terrorists? 

A press release this week from seventeen “human rights” organizations largely funded by the NIF, including Adalah, B’Tselem, Hamoked, Machsom Watch and others called on “Israel to immediately refrain from the use of lethal force against unarmed civilians,” while blaming Israel.

Their press release claims: 

“The Israeli government has described the events as an assault on Israel's sovereignty, while failing to address the reality that has led to the mass protest – 50 years of occupation and over 10 years of closure. Daily life for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip is unbearable: Basic infrastructure is in ruins, the economy is stunted, unemployment has reached an all-time high, and health services are in danger of collapse. For years, residents of Gaza have lived on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.
Children in Gaza, who make up the majority of the population, are still struggling with the trauma of previous rounds of violence and war, terrified of another attack and more death and destruction. Time and again reality demonstrates that there is no military solution to the conflict between Israel and Gaza. Instead, Israel must stop the shooting and killing and immediately lift the closure, thereby safeguarding the lives and human rights of the people of Gaza and the region as a whole.”

According to the logic of the New Israel Fund, violence and attacks are justified. It is of no consequence that Hamas attempts to import weapons by sea is the reason for the blockade and that Israel allows far more than sufficient goods into Gaza by convoy, knowing that the cement for rebuilding homes and schools is being used to dig terror tunnels. And that the people of  Gaza voted  Hamas into power.

Further, New Israel Fund backed organizations sent an urgent letter to the United Nations Security Council decrying the “ongoing and imminent escalation of violence across the occupied Palestinian territory, and in the Gaza Strip specifically”, where organizations including Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel emphasize that “[o]ver the past seven weeks, Israeli occupying forces have excessively used force to suppress the Great Return March in the Gaza Strip, willfully targeting and killing protected persons. Since the mass protests began, the Israeli military has fired live ammunition from snipers, used plastic-coated steel bullets, and launched tear gas grenades from drones.”

The organizations called upon the United Nations Security Council member states “to take immediate and concrete action to protect civilians and bring Israel’s unlawful closure of Gaza to an end. Specifically, we ask you to:

"Convene an emergency Security Council session to address the urgent situation in the Gaza Strip and the unlawful conduct of the Israeli occupying forces;
"Demand that Israel take concrete action to immediately lift its unlawful closure and blockade of the Gaza Strip, and cease all forms of collective punishment imposed on the Palestinian population therein;
"Implement all options to protect Palestinian civilians and ensure that Israel refrains from resorting to force, including lethal force, against unarmed civilian protesters;
"Establish an independent and transparent investigation into the Israeli occupying forces’ use of live fire and snipers and the resulting killings and injuries of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since 30 March 2018.”

The ...organizations further emphasized that the “Security Council has failed to take concrete steps to lift the unlawful closure and protect the Palestinian population in Gaza” and that this ”lack of meaningful international action has pushed Gaza to the brink of collapse and has given Israel a green light to further breach international law, including the commission of war crimes, with full impunity.”

The letter concluded by calling upon the United Nations Security Council as“Palestinians mark 70 years since the Nakba…  to act on its responsibility by ensuring Palestinians’ demands are finally heard and their rights realized, holding perpetrators accountable, and delivering victims their rights and effective remedy.” In a time of war what would one call these activities?

There’s a bill pending in the Knesset which calls for all governmental cooperation with the New Israel Fund to end. It must pass – as must all American donors who stand with Israel stop giving money to the NIF.

As Education Minister Naftali Bennett has said, The New Israel Fund must be boycotted – as Birthright Israel boycotts NIF – noting that he would “boycott whoever persecutes Israeli soldiers,” and “not apologize for it.”

Bennett went on: 

“Members of the New Israel Fund, listen carefully: Whoever harms, slanders and persecutes Israeli soldiers are not my brothers. The NIF works methodically and consistently to attack our Israeli soldiers, accuse them of war crimes, of torturing Palestinians and intentionally attacking women and children. They turn to the UN and to the committees that are most hostile to Israel and try their best to convince them that Israel is a war criminal.”

Shame on The New Israel Fund. They continue to openly support a boycott of the State of Israel and are hostile towards the Jewish State as it is faced with violent terrorist hordes who vow to destroy it.