{"id":5296,"date":"2020-05-10T10:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-10T10:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/?p=5296"},"modified":"2020-07-07T11:20:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T11:20:14","slug":"63-jewish-people-make-complaint-over-charity-funding-activities-in-contravention-of-international-humanitarian-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/?p=5296","title":{"rendered":"63 Jewish people make complaint over charity funding \u2018activities in contravention of international humanitarian laws\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Eliza Egret<\/a>\uf0e0<\/a><\/em>10th May 2020 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

63 Jewish people, including comedian and writer Alexei Sayle, have lodged a formal complaint against a charity. They argue that the Jewish National Fund UK (JNF UK) has funded activities that violate international humanitarian laws, including the 2014 military assault on Gaza. The signatories state that the charity misleads the public in its fundraising material and breaches fundraising codes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Kalmanovitz is one of the signatories. He is part of the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network UK<\/a>, an organisation which co-founded a campaign called Stop The JNF<\/a>. He told The Canary<\/em>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jewish National Fund (JNF), founded in<\/em>1901<\/a>, is now key to Israeli apartheid. Through the Israel Land Authority, the JNF controls<\/em>93%<\/a>of state land exclusively for persons of \u201c<\/em>Jewish nationality<\/a>\u201c, \u201c<\/em>in perpetuity<\/a>\u201c, in other words, permanently excluding Palestinian people from land that has been either bought under false pretences or stolen from them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting trees to cover ethnic cleansing<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JNF UK claims to be \u201cBritain\u2019s oldest Israel charity<\/a>\u201c, and \u201cevery penny raised by JNF UK is sent to a project in Israel.\u201d The charity gives people an \u201cexciting opportunity<\/a>\u201d to plants trees in Israel to mark<\/a> special occasions, such as births. This is ironic given the JNF actively plants forests over the remains of ethnically cleansed<\/a> Palestinian villages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalmanovitz said: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Th JNF\u2019s forests and parks, including the<\/i> British Park<\/a>, have been planted and built on the ruins of<\/em> hundreds<\/a> of destroyed and depopulated Palestinian villages, in an attempt to (literally) cover up all traces of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Notoriously, in 1967 after the \u2018<\/em>six-day war<\/a>\u2018 the JNF boasted, \u201cthe JNF tractor follows in the wake of the army tank\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forcibly displacing Bedouin communities<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JNF UK\u2019s current focus is to pour money into projects in the \u201cimpoverished<\/a>\u201d Negev region, which makes up 60% of Israel\u2019s land. The JNF\u2019s Blueprint Negev<\/a> has a goal of relocating 500,000 people to the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their complaint to the Fundraising Regulator, the 63 Jewish campaigners argue that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JNF UK\u2019s involvement in the Negev is political and aimed at forcibly displacing its Bedouin population, one of the most neglected and poorest communities in the region.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Negev\u2019s Bedouin population has inhabited the region for thousands<\/a> of years. But when the Zionist state of Israel was established in 1948, most Bedouin people were forced off their land<\/a>, and many became refugees<\/a> in Jordan, the Sinai, Gaza, and the West Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite JNF UK\u2019s claim that the Negev is now \u201clargely unpopulated<\/a>\u201c, there are currently around 230,000<\/a> Palestinian Bedouin people living in the region. Around 150,000<\/a> of this population live in 37 villages which aren\u2019t recognised by the Israeli state. Residents have few rights<\/a> and aren\u2019t even provided with sewage systems, electricity, or water. The Israeli state continually<\/a> attempts to displace people by demolishing their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Negev community of al-Araqib was first displaced<\/a> in 1951. Residents returned to their land in 1998, fearing that the JNF was going to plant a forest<\/a> over the land and erase the community off the map for good. The residents continue to remain steadfast. Their village has been destroyed by the Israeli state 176 times<\/a>. Each time, the villagers rebuild. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Complicity in war crimes<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JNF UK also funds<\/a> Derech Eretz, an organisation which provides pre and military preparation programmes<\/a> to young Israeli people in the Negev, ensuring that they will \u201cexcel<\/a> in the military\u201d. Derech Eretz also provides duty support<\/a> and mentorship for their graduates serving in the military, as well as post-military<\/a> programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, JNF UK\u2019s 2015 accounts reveal that the charity spent \u00a3114,000<\/a> on the 2014 \u201cGaza war effort.\u201d. This is the same \u201cwar effort\u201d in which Israel committed<\/a> war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The signatories of the complaint comment that the:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charity Commission apparently considers contributing to the Israeli army\u2019s actions in Gaza, to come within the framework of a charitable act that serves the public good. We make this point on the assumption that the JNF UK\u2019s annual accounts have been audited by the Charity Commission as part of its regulatory responsibility.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cApartheid is not a charity\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The signatories are requesting that the Fundraising Regulator investigates JNF UK. Kalmanovitz stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activists are campaigning in a number of countries to de-register the JNF as a charity: apartheid is not a charity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canary<\/em> contacted both JNF UK and the Fundraising Regulator for comment. JNF did not reply at the time of writing, the Fundraising Regulator said: \u201cWe are unable to comment on individual cases while they are open.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured image via<\/em> B\u2019TSelem<\/a>\/<\/em>Wikimedia Commons<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eliza Egret\uf0e010th May 2020 63 Jewish people, including comedian and writer Alexei Sayle, have lodged a formal complaint against a charity. They argue that the Jewish National Fund UK (JNF UK) has funded activities that violate international humanitarian laws, including the 2014 military assault on Gaza. The signatories state that the charity misleads the public …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5296"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5308,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296\/revisions\/5308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}