NIF Takes on ‘Religious Extremists’ Over Sexism

The New Israel Fund has taken out a full-page ad (preview here) in tomorrow’s New York Times asking for donations in the name of combating the mistreatment of immigrants, Arab citizens, and particularly women in Israel. “Israel may be changing into a place many of us would no longer recognize,” it declares. The heading asks, “What Happens When Extremism Crowds Out Equality and Democracy in Israel?” and nearly half the page is taken up by a photograph of a Jerusalem billboard whose depiction of a woman was defaced by “religious extremists.”

More provocative is the back-story to the new campaign. While the ad alludes to longtime donor Murray Koppelman, according to an email sent to NIF supporters (it was forwarded to me by someone who has donated to the group), Koppelman has pledged to match NIF donations up to $500,000. “What prompted Murray to put this much money on the line?” writes Daniel Sokatch, NIF’s CEO.

It has to do with a trip he made to Iran. Murray—a passionate supporter of Israel since his youth and a significant figure in the American Jewish community—was disturbed by the gender segregation and oppression that he saw in Iran. And he became deeply concerned about Israel when he realized that some of what he saw in Tehran was also happening in Jerusalem: gender segregated buses, the removal of women’s images from the public sphere, laws designed to limit freedom of expression.



Of course, Israel and Iran are worlds apart. But Murray told me that he returned to New York resolved to make a difference, to do something to help Israel regain its liberal democratic footing, and to push back against the anti-democratic, extremist trends in Israel.

The caveat aside, I could envision the comparison rubbing some folks the wrong way. It’s telling that it does not appear in the ad itself.

“The comparison is Murray’s, not ours,” NIF communications director Naomi Paiss said this afternoon. “We don’t think Israel is on the path to being Iran.”

Paiss explained that just before setting out for a trip to Iran, Koppelman, a New York money manager and “old-line Zionist,” in Paiss’ words, had attended an NIF dinner honoring Alice Shalvi, the grande dame of Israeli feminism. “So clearly there was a lot of talk that night about women’s rights,” Paiss said. “And Murray heard about public buses and women being asked to sit in the back. And then he thinks about it, and then goes to Tehran, and sees, in a very different set of circumstances—in a true theocracy—he also sees women going to the back on the bus, and he puts two and two together and says, ‘This is not going to stand.’” Koppelman spoke about visiting a synagogue in Isfahan, Iran, last year. “He’s an adventurous guy,” Paiss added. “For a guy in his 80s, he gets around.”

In the Islamic Republic, there are hijab laws on the books, several ethnic groups are engaged in violent separatist movements, and homosexuality is outlawed.

Of course, the profound differences between the two societies and Israel’s clearly superior record on minority rights are precisely why recent incidents—like women being forced to sit in the backs of buses (a practice that is officially outlawed); Haredim refusing to be seated next to women on El Al; and of course the tensions in January in Beit Shemesh—are so unnerving. Israel should be better than this, and most of the time is; but increasingly it is not.

The ad also cites “hardliners [who] try to silence civil rights organizations,” a reference to two bills designed to slow the infusion of foreign money into Israeli NGOs. The NIF has been a prominent critic of those bills, whose sponsors are not from the religious parties but rather Yisrael Beiteinu and Likud.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, widely seen as a strong supporter of Israel, echoed these fears in December.

Related: Poster Child [Tablet Magazine]
Clinton Warns of Israel’s Eroding Democratic Values [Haaretz]