Peace Now condemns attacks on New Israel Fund

Ma'an
Israel's Peace Now movement and Americans for Peace Now on Monday condemned attacks on the New Israel Fund, which has come under fire for funding human rights organizations whose reports appeared in South African jurist Richard Goldstone's UN report on Gaza.

In recent days, a right-wing Israeli organization, Im Tirzu, launched a campaign to discredit the fund, its chair, Naomi Chazan, and some of its grantee organizations, including attacks against Chazan in newspaper ads that show the former Knesset Member with a horn on her forehead.

The controversy apparently began after the Hebrew-language daily Maariv ran an article over the weekend accusing the US-based progressive fund of supporting human rights groups whose findings appeared in the final report of Goldstone's fact-finding mission.

Peace Now and Americans for Peace Now said in a joint statement that they "are deeply disturbed by the content of this campaign and shocked by its style,...

The groups added: "The NIF grantees that are quoted in the UN report on Operation Cast Lead were performing their duty as Israeli human rights organizations by monitoring and reporting on controversial policies of their government and their military....

.......Meanwhile, the pro-Israel group J Street said it was "gravely concerned about escalating threats to the character of Israel's democracy," according to a statement, which condemned the "new attacks on organizations defending its democratic values and on individuals exercising their basic democratic rights."

"Im Tirtzu’s political leanings are clear," J Street added. "This is a pro-settler group, with $100,000 of funding from Christians United For Israel, a conservative Christian Zionist organization run by Pastor John Hagee, who once stated that God sent Hitler to drive Jews to Israe...

"Pro-Israel Americans should stand up for Israeli democracy, not work to actively undermine it...   Full story