Contact: Ariel Vered • JNF Communications Manager • avered@jnf.org • 212-879-9305 ext. 227
March 29, 2011 -- New York, NY -- Jewish National Fund (JNF), like many other Jewish and Zionist organizations, has withstood its share of attacks by anti-Israel organizations and individuals. The attacks are vicious and slanted, especially when an entire day is designated to the attempted destruction of our 109-year-old organization together with the land and people of Israel.
We will not hide inside our Blue Boxes or under our trees. We are proud of Israel and proud of our work. We will not stay silent. We will use this day of attack to make clear the stark comparison between them and us. Simply put: They Destroy, We Build.
They destroy by promoting divestment.
We build by investing in the land of Israel and enhancing the quality of life for all its people – Jews, Arab, Bedouin and Druze alike – through building parks and recreational facilities, preserving historical sites, planting 250 million trees, and developing the Negev Desert for generations to come. We invest in technologies like drip irrigation which has brought significant changes to arid countries, put food on tables and helped nations feed their people.
They destroy by creating divisions between Israeli Jews, Arabs, Bedouin and Druze with their falsehoods and innuendos.
We build by funding organizations like the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies which epitomizes international cooperation, partnership and coexistence; attracts Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, American, and European students; and encourages regional collaboration to deal with environmental challenges that know no borders. We fund projects that will improve the lives of tens of thousands of Bedouin men, women, and children because to us every Israeli resident is important.
They destroy the principles of democracy by claiming that legal disputes in Israel (which are then settled in courts of law) are tantamount to the uprisings now taking place in the Arab world.
We build by creating youth leadership programs with Green Horizons which empower the next generation and emphasize the importance of social participation, tolerance, and personal responsibility, using group dynamics to help adolescents acquire essential values and skills.
They destroy the college campuses with their Anti-Israel Apartheid week (now a two-week long event) which foments hatred and intolerance in a place that should be sacrosanct to respecting diversity.
We build by bringing speakers who represent a wide spectrum of political, philosophical and cultural thought from Israel to college campuses throughout the United States. This initiative drives campus dialogue on the Middle East and discusses the shared values of freedom and democracy that connect Israel and the United States, as well as the challenges Israel faces as the only democracy in the Middle East.
They have called for March 30, 2011 to be a BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) day against Israel and against Jewish National Fund. They destroy.
We build by adding 9.5 million gallons of new water a day into Israel’s water economy, planting millions of trees that create a green lung in the region, making parks inclusive for people with disabilities, and bringing quality of life to all of Israel’s residents.
Visit www.jnf.org. Help us build now.
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Jewish National Fund (JNF) began in 1901 collecting coins in blue boxes to purchase land and return the Jewish people to their homeland. In over 109 years, JNF has evolved into a global environmental leader and become the central address for partnering with the land and people of Israel. JNF has planted 250 million trees; built over 1,000 parks and recreational areas; constructed security roads; educated students around the world about Israel; created new communities so that Jews from around the world would have a place to call home; discovered new means of growing plants under arid conditions, bringing green to the desert; and built over 200 reservoirs and water recycling centers, increasing Israel’s water supply by 10%. Today, JNF is supporting Israel’s newest generation of pioneers by bringing life to the Negev Desert, Israel’s last frontier.
A United Nations NGO, JNF sponsors international conferences on desertification, shares afforestation techniques, and funds research on arid land management. JNF is a registered 501(c)(3) organization and continuously earns top ratings from charity overseers. For more information on JNF, call 888-JNF-0099 or visit www.jnf.org.
