The little blue box that sits in many Jewish homes and has done since the early 30′s has been a symbol of Jews commitment to re-growing and rebuilding the land of Israel.
We fill it up with spare coins and readily await for the collectors to knock our doors before Rosh Hashanah. We teach our children to do so as well in the spirit of chessed and support of our homeland.
The J.N.F-K.K.L has certainly over the last 100 years completed amazing projects in Israel. The list is highlighted here on their website.
What you wont find on the website is perhaps more interesting and certainly disillusioning, is in its attempt to grow the Jewish State it has gathered negative attention particularly with the dispossession of Bedouin in the Negev and Palestinians in East Jerusalem. It has done so through its association with Himnuta and subsequently EHAD
Himnuta, JNF’s shadowy subsidiary company, is part of that dark side. Established in the 1930s “mainly to circumvent legal restrictions” on the JNF’s land dealings, Himnuta has been active over the past few decades in obtaining Palestinian land over the green line, and transferring the land to the hands of Jewish settlers.
The JNF, a United Nations NGO that has a “4-star rating from Charity Navigator” and “earned the Better Business Bureau seal of approval,” does not want to be perceived as an extremist, right wing organization responsible for the expulsion of Palestinian families in the some of the most sensitive areas of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Thus, they carry out their more shady dealings through Himnuta.
Search the word “Himnuta” on the JNF’s website and you will find zero results. Search the word Himnuta on Israel’s Company Registrar, and you will find a company whose offices are located in the JNF’s Jerusalem headquarters. You will see that out of Himnuta’s 30,000,000 company shares, 30,000,000 of them are owned by the JNF. You will see that the head of Himnuta, David Lazarus, also serves as JNF-KKL’s CFO.
There are full details on JNF’s sale of land to Himnuta and then extremists settler group ELAD in Moriel Rothman’s piece here
Two weeks ago, and after repeated calls for reason, JNF board member and pillar of the Arava Institute community Seth Morrison quit their board of directors and severed all ties with the organization:
He said
My commitment to building a safe and secure Israel has not changed. My admiration for much of JNF’s environmental work has not changed. What has changed is a sense of betrayal I have at learning that JNF is a force in preventing long-term peace.
This fall, a subsidiary of the Israeli branch of JNF launched eviction proceedings against the Sumarin family, who live in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Under Israel’s controversial “Absentee Property Law,” the state may reclaim homes whose owners were not present in 1967, when Israel took control of East Jerusalem. In the case of the Sumarin family, the children of the original owner, Musa Sumarin, were declared absentees after his death even though there were other family members living in the home at the time. In 1991, the Israeli government took the step of transferring the property to the JNF subsidiary.
I have learned that the action on the Sumarin home is not an isolated case. JNF has gained ownership of other Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and, in many instances, then transferred these properties through its subsidiaries to Elad, a settler organization whose purpose is to “Judaize” East Jerusalem.
In my eyes, the expulsion of the Sumarin family is a violation of human rights. But it is also part of the systematic transfer of Palestinian property to ideological settlers who wish to put facts on the ground that hinder a lasting peace agreement.
I am sure that much of what the JNF has achieved in the past far outway their dealings via Himnuta. However perhaps it’s time we asked the questions of our dear little innocent Blue Box and make sure that that which we give of our hearts and pockets doesn’t end up conflicting with the rights of others and the radical objectives of some who see the land of Israel an exclusive enclave.
Eli,
Much of what you say may well be true, and almost anywhere else in the world would be a legal travesty as well as being a violation of human rights. However, in the Land of Israel things are not simple. International Law does not always comply with halacha and for the Jew ultimately that’s what counts.
It may seem unfair, inequitable and a beach of human rights, but in the Land of Israel the rights of a Jew vs a non-Jew wrt land is not the same. The Jew’s claim, like it or not is stronger than the non-Jew’s full stop.
Wrt to acquiring land ‘owned’ by a non-Jew, one must do all one can within the law to do so.
As to being a hindrance to lasting peace, a furfy, the ‘Settlements’ argument. It never was and is not a real obstacle to real peace should both sides sincerely seek it. Since both sides do not really seek peace (one side most certainly does not) talking about hypothetical obstacles is academic at best and an obstacle in itself, creating excuses, which the Arabs are very good at.
When I read this piece I was initially shocked and incredulous, then I thought perhaps it was Palestinian propaganda to undermine the good works and good name of the JNF. But concluded that like the rest of mankind we Jews are also flawed and suffer the same weakness as everyone else. The difference is that occasionally our consciences prevent us from following our desires.
Yes it is sad that we should resort to such tactics and I’m not trying to whitewash the issue, but we live in a harsh and tough world and though we say that the end does not justify the means, sometimes the bigger picture obscures some of the minutiae that goes on.