Americans for Peace Now criticizes Netanyahu attack on New Israel Fund
APN to Fellow US Jewish Groups: Condemn Netanyahu’s attack on the New Israel Fund
Washington, DC – Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly rejects Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s absurd accusations against the New Israel Fund and calls on fellow American Jewish organizations to stand behind the New Israel Fund and Israel’s civil society.
Netanyahu’s attacks on an organization that works to advance peace, social justice, tolerance, equality, and coexistence in Israel is an attack on the values that American Jews hold dear. It is an attack on Israeli democracy and on Israel’s character as a Jewish state.
Today, while trying to control the damage that he has done to his own credibility as a leader, after flip-flopping on a deal reached with the United Nations to resolve the crisis involving African asylum seekers, Prime Minister Netanyahu forged an absurd conspiracy theory alleging that the New Israel Fund (NIF) applied pressure on foreign governments to foil his plan to deport African asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Adding incitement to conspiracy, Netanyahu ridiculously accused the NIF of striving “to erase the Jewish character of the State of Israel” and called to establish a commission of inquiry, no less, to look into the NIF.
APN, the sister organization of Israel’s preeminent peace movement Shalom Achshav (Peace Now), calls on fellow American Jewish organizations to denounce Netanyahu’s vicious attack on the New Israel Fund, an organization that funds many dozens of Israeli non-profits working to make Israel a better place, an organization that for years has been serving as the dynamo of Israel’s civil society.
An attack on the New Israel Fund is an attack on the Jewish values that we hold dear. American Jews must not tolerate such attacks, particularly when they come from the prime minister of Israel.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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