On May 15, 2018, numerous organizations, including Adalah, a grantee of the New Israel Fund (NIF), submitted a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanding that the State Department investigate Israel’s use of lethal force against Palestinians in Gaza. The letter also demanded that the US halt any further assistance to Israeli military units that were involved in the shootings.

Is this a grantee of the same New Israel Fund that gets so offended when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that it is anti-Israel? Is it the same New Israel Fund that also files complaints against Israel at the United Nations and supports groups that call for a boycott of the Jewish state?

The Adalah press release states:

Highlighting documentation by advocates that Israeli military units are likely using US-made Remington M24 sniper rifles to fire on Palestinian protesters, the coalition of groups reminded Secretary Pompeo that U.S. assistance for foreign military units responsible for gross human rights abuses violates US law.

It continues:

In the letter to Secretary Pompeo the coalition noted that both the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) and the Arms Export Control Act prohibit the US from providing aid to military units responsible for gross human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings. The FAA further bars security assistance to any government that engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. In 2017, Israel was the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, receiving more than $3 billion.

Nadia Ben-Youssef, director of the Adalah Justice Project, said: “The massacre that Israel committed yesterday in Gaza was inevitable. International condemnation has come from some states, the UN, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and human rights advocates everywhere. However, in the absence of accountability and a change in US policy, Israel will continue its unlawful and calculated killings of Palestinians.”

According to NGO Monitor, from 2008-2016 the NIF authorized grants worth $2,043,697 to Adalah.

American Jews who support the New Israel Fund are supporting demands that America abandon the IDF. Shame on their donors, including David Myers of the Center for Jewish History, the Leichtag Foundation, the Lopatin Family Foundation, and others. Any country would and must defend her borders.

Ronn Torossian is one of the most well respected public relations professionals in America.