New Israel Fund decries extremism

By Daniel Sokatch

Daniel Sokatch
Daniel Sokatch

NEW YORK — I know you are worried about what’s going on in Israel. I am too.

Israel buried three teenagers who were kidnapped and murdered. It was a devastating act perpetuated by extremists determined to shed innocent blood and to provoke further conflict.

Even while the funeral was going on Tuesday, July 1, riots broke out in Jerusalem in which Knesset Members calling for “revenge” took advantage of a national moment of pain to incite violence. Mobs chanted “Death to Arabs” and roamed the streets of Jerusalem looking for Arabs to attack.

Israeli police acted to prevent revenge attacks, but it appears they could not stop them all. Wednesday morning, July 2, we awoke to reports of a potential revenge killing. An Arab teenager — Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir — was reportedly kidnapped from Jerusalem and murdered. We are still waiting for police to confirm the press accounts.

Most Israelis are horrified by these breaking developments.

Yishai Fraenkel, the uncle of one of the three murdered Israeli teenagers, said it plainly: “Murder is murder. Whatever the nationality or age are, there is no justification. There is no forgiveness or penance for any murder.”

He could not be more right.

Sadly, expressions of empathy for Palestinian suffering were rare in the mainstream Israeli media before news broke of the dead Palestinian teenager. Too few of Israel’s leaders were speaking out.  Too much of the public discourse was — and still is — dominated by extremists.

NIF is committed to amplifying the voices of Israelis committed to equality and to democracy, of Israelis willing to confront those who preach hatred, exclusion, and violence — of Israelis who work toward a vision of a better Israel.

On Wednesday a large rally was held in Jerusalem to give expression to the voices of sanity. Israelis gathered under the banner: “We mourn. We don’t avenge.” Thousands attended.

It was an important moment in which Israeli citizens gathered to make clear that the extremists don’t speak for them. The rally was organized by the Tag Meir coalition, which was seed-funded by NIF.

Much is uncertain right now. I’m bombarded by breaking reports of more confrontations, more hate-filled rallies, more rockets, and more air strikes. All of us hope the worst is over; all of us fear for the future.

What I do know — and what I believe you know too — is that there are many Israelis working toward a vision of an Israel in which every voice and every life is respected.

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Sokatch is CEO of the New Israel Fund.

1 thought on “New Israel Fund decries extremism”

  1. As usual, Sokatch lives in a parallel reality where the world is filled with nice Palestinians with whom living in peace would be so easy were it not for the hate-mongering “extremists”, i.e. anyone who doesn’t share his rosy views of the situation. Denial of the hate-filled airwaves in Hamas and Fatah lands is what causes the repeated killings and the outbursts of aggrieved anger that predictably follow in response. As usual, he is blaming the wrong side, and as usual, he should not be surprised to see that nothing will change as a result. Trying to find solutions to get the Palestinians to abandon their vengeful culture of death and hate would be a much more useful and productive way to use NIF funds. Funding eternal haters only pushes back further any prospect of genuine peace and coexistence. Playing both sugar daddy and enabler to people who never show any willingness to make compromises puts the NIF squarely into the camp of Israel’s enemies. No wonder Sokatch was a panelist at the J Street Annual Symposium a few weeks ago: he belongs to the same … fringe who insists on building the reality they dream of while ignoring the reality that is. It won’t work and his protégés can be counted on to betraying his efforts every step of the way. Will he ever learn? Probably not.

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