New Israel Fund group eyes Lower Mainland
Group which supports Israeli social causes is seen by some as having left-wing agenda.
ROBERTA STALEY STAFF REPORTER
Afundraising group seeking to advance social justice and civil rights in Israel wants to form a chapter in Vancouver.
The formation of a New Israel Fund of Camada chapter is being backed by Or Shalom Rabbi David Mivasair, who lauded the group's aims. "It's providing critically needed support to grass-roots organizations of Israelis working to improve the conditions of life in Israel for everyone who lives there."
New Israel Fund (NIF) spokesman Maurice Green was in Vancouver this month meeting members of Vancouver's Jewish community with the purpose of forming a local committee. "The group does all the right things," said Mr. Green, a labor lawyer from Toronto. "It has nothing to do with politics — the left or the right."
NIF, which raises about $600,000 a year in Canada, has members from Israel, North America and Europe. It works to safeguard civil and human rights, promote Jewish-Arab coexistence, advance the status of women, foster religious pluralism, decrease the gap between rich and poor and protect the environment.
It annually raises about $13 million US from three main donor countries: the United States, Canada and Switzerland, said Mr. Green. All the money goes to groups in Israel.
The group takes credit for suc-cessftiUy pushing the creation of Israeli legislation making child abuse a criminal offence, as well as a government commission probing child sex abuse. It has also successfully lobbied for the right of residents of occupied territories to appeal orders for the demolition of their homes.
Organizers have been accused of fiinding left-wing groups, Mr. Green admitted. "Some detractors have said: 'Oh, you're from the lefty organization.' I really boil when I hear that because issues of rape-crisis centres, homes
Or Shalom Rabbi David Mivasair supports the formation of a chapter of the New Israel Fund of Canada, a group working to advance social justice In Israel.
for battered women and children should not be, quote, a left-right issue."
Groups recently awarded grants include the Givat Haviva Jewish-Arab Centre for Peace, which received $20,000 US. The Crisis Centre for Religious Women, which gives counselling and support to sufferers of sexual and domestic violence, also received $20,000. And the Association for Civil Rights in Israel received $500,000 in its aim to protect human rights.
Vancouver's Jews for a Just Peace spokesman Dr. Gabor Mate also supports the creation of an NIF chapter in the Lower Mainland.
'There's all sorts of problems in Israeli society and the New Israel Fund recognizes and puts their money behind solutions," said Dr. Mate, whose 100-mem-ber group advocates economic and political equality between Jews and Palestinians.
"We welcome any group doing anything — fundraising, consciousness-raising, hell-raising —which creates an atmosphere where people can contribute in a positive way to change a situation which is tragically wrong," remarked Dr. Mate. □
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