Saturday, May 08, 2010

How to Accuse IDF of War Crimes

Dan Illouz

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Would you like to help accuse Israeli soldiers, officers, and leaders of war crimes? It's easy as writing a check.

Did you ever wish you could be part of the international movement for the delegitimization of the Jewish state? Did you always want to be part of the struggle against Zionism? Did you ever want to assist those who are accusing Israeli soldiers of War crimes and getting international warrants issued against Israeli military and political officials?

Well, now you can! A recently published research paper from Im Tirtzu, a student organization whose goal is to re-engage Israeli society with Zionism, showed that the New Israel Fund is playing a central role in providing support for organizations which have issued arrest warrants against Israeli officers and politicians for war crimes.

Do you want Tzipi Livni to cancel her next diplomatic visit to England out of fear of arrest? No problem! Support the New Israel Fund! Do you want to stop Major General Doron Almog from leaving the country? No problem! Support
the New Israel Fund!

The greatest part is that you don’t even need to openly oppose Zionism! The New Israel Fund has been created in such a masterfully misleading way that if you support it, people will actually think you are supporting Israel. In other words, you can support anti-Zionism and anti-Israel sentiment while claiming you are actually partnering to make Israel a better place!

How did the New Israel Fund manage to pull off such a great maneuver?

Well, within the long list of programs supported by the New Israel Fund, actual programs for positive social change have been included. By this means, if anyone ever accuses you of supporting an anti-Israel organization, you can simply point to those programs and tell them those are the real reason for your support. Now don’t worry: the NIF will spend your money wisely and Israel will be attacked on the diplomatic and legal fronts, but the NIF will not look like an extremist organization and its actions will be more effective.

One important note needs to be added: as you know, Im Tirtzu has recently started blowing the cover of the NIF by publishing some well researched reports. These reports show the great amount influence the NIF has on all the fronts on which Israel is currently being attacked internationally.

The best way for NIF to deal with this is by simply accusing Im Tirtzu of McCarthyism. McCarthyism is a political strategy through which one makes accusations of disloyalty or treason without proper evidence in order to silence opponents. Now, the NIF knows that the reports published by Im Tirtzu are well researched and that they have enough evidence to back their claims. The NIF also knows that accusations of McCarthyism towards Im Tirtzu can themselves qualify as McCarthyism. After all, the NIF is made of smart people coming from the elite strata of society. They know that Im Tirtzu is simply adding new layers to the public discourse by giving more information and transparency to the public.

However, the NIF also knows that dealing with the actual arguments Im Tirtzu has levelled against it will surely result in their loss because, after all, Im Tirtzu has discovered the truth. This is why a recent email sent by the leadership of the New Israel Fund clearly instructed its supporters to engage in the delegitimization of Im Tirtzu and that is also why the NIF is publicly characterizing Im Tirtzu as “a radical right wing movement”. The NIF knows that Im Tirtzu has members who identify with Labor, Kadima, Likud. They also know that this issue has affected Tzipi Livni’s last trip to England and no one would characterize her as a radical right winger.

Still, if NIF does not delegitimize Im Tirtzu, the facts will be exposed, and all the NIF’s strategies and campaigns against Zionism will be useless. The great majority of the public will agree with Im Tirtzu when it characterizes the accusations of War crimes as being affronts to Zionism and the NIF’s cover will be blown. Therefore, the NIF cannot let this truth come out!

Everyone can take part in the struggle against the State of Israel! Just write a check to the New Israel Fund and they will use your money in the struggle against Zionism. Your 'dream' has now true: you too can be part of this movement!

Im Tirtzu recently published a report clearly proving the relationship between the New Israel Fund and the organizations which have advocated (sometimes successfully) the issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli officials for War crimes. As a response, the New Israel Fund has engaged in a vast campaign delegitimizing Im Tirtzu without ever addressing the findings of the report.

Just like the previous time Im Tirtzu managed to uncover the NIF’s actions, the NIF is using a strategy of McCarthyism in order not to have to answer to the well researched report published by Im Tirtzu. Im Tirtzu stands behinds its report and continues to believe that the NIF has become a serious diplomatic and legal threat to Israel.

Im Tirtzu says: While we do not advocate any type of thought policing, we do advocate transparency and we will therefore continue publishing reports on the NIF which makes public information they would rather keep private. By bringing the whole story to the public, we believe that the public will know how much value to give to NIF actions and arguments. We also believe that this information is critical to donors who are often tricked into supporting the NIF through its portrayal as a pro-Israel organization. It is time to remove the mask from the NIF’s face and to make clear to everyone their true intentions!

Iyar 20, 5770 / 04 May 10

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