Jewish National Fund

 Jewish National Fund the battle is on

 For nearly a year there has been a campaign to end the UK charitable status of the Jewish National fund (JNF) (1).  The JNF is a racist organisation (2).  It is complicit in ethnic cleansing (3).  It is important in that 70% of Israelis live on JNF land(4).  It is important in the maintaining of the Apartheid State of Israel.  The ethnic cleansing orchestrated by the JNF is continuing in East Jerusalem and the Negev/Naqeb (5)  The activities of the JNF in East Jerusalem has caused one Board member to resign from the JNF.

There have been successes-59 MPs have signed early day motion 1677 (6).  This includes Sheffield’s Paul Blomfield (7) and Clive Betts.  The Prime Minister has stopped being an Honorary Patron of the JNF.  This is the first time in 100 years that a British Prime Minister is not a patron of the JNF.

However there is a strong reaction from the JNF.  They claim the campaign is tarnishing the reputation of the JNF.  How can you tarnish the reputation of an organisation that is racist and complicit in ethnic cleansing?  They have written to all the signatories of the EDM 1677 in the hope that the MPs will take back their support.  No doubt that they are mobilising the Zionist lobby.

We have three tasks A.  Win the argument in the court of public opinion –get as many people as possible to look at the Utube  .  Have a look at the literature     here   get others to look at it.  Take motions to union branches and other bodies– we can provide speakers.

Task B  We have to get our MPs to sign EDM 1677.  If they have signed, congratulate them.  If they have not, write to them, ask to meet them, explain that it is astonishing that an organisation like the JNF should keep its charitable status.

Task C - As the pressure mounts the Charity Commission will take another look at the status of the JNF.  At present they are hiding behind a mass of legalese.  They say that the JNF UK is different from the JNF Israel in spite of all the evidence. There is a huge signpost  a few hundred yards from the ethnically cleansed and destroyed village of Ajjur-it says ‘The British Park is a gift of the Jewish National Fund of Great Britain’.  If we succeed in tasks A and B task C should follow.

Locally

Clive Betts has signed EDM 1677

Paul Blomfield has signed EDM 1677

David Blunkett wrote to the Charity Commission and has forwarded to us their position. They say there are separate JNF UK, JNF Israel, JNF USA etc. They are only responsible for JNF Charitable Trust UK. This is a paper thin defence given that all belong to JNF and pay for that membership. Also given that all Charities have to be demonstrably in the public interest, their position in our opinion is indefensible. We are writing a reply.

Meg Munn is a consistent right winger and a Friend of Israel. She has replied that she wants a negotiated settlement and will not sign the EDM. (This is in line with her refusal to attend a meeting about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, in spite of a 200 strong petition requesting such a meeting.)

Nick Clegg We have heard nothing.

Angela Smith We are in contact with her. She is MP for Stocksbridge and Peniston

1  Charitable status means that any donations are tax free, that is the charity get a little top up from the taxman.  More importantly charitable status gives a respectability that the JNF does not deserve.  The battle to remove charitable status of the JNF is the battle that states the ethnic cleansing that went on in 1948 and is continuing in Jerusalem and the Negev/Naqeb  is wrong.

2 ‘“The JNF is not the trustee of the general public in Israel. Its loyalty is given to the Jewish people in the Diaspora and in the state of Israel... The JNF, in relation to being an owner of land, is not a public body that works for the benefit of all citizens of the state. The loyalty of the JNF is given to the Jewish people and only to them is the JNF obligated. The JNF, as the owner of the JNF land, does not have a duty to practice equality towards all citizens of the state.”  This was submitted to an Israeli Court in 2004 by the JNF

3        “action should be taken to turn the flight of the [Palestinian] Arabs from the country and blocking their return into an established fact?". "it must be clear that there is no room in the country for both [Arab and Jewish] peoples . . . If the [Palestinian] Arabs leave it, the country will become wide and spacious for us . . . The only solution [after the end of WW II] is a Land of Israel, at least a western land of Israel [i.e. Palestine since Transjordan is the eastern portion], without [Palestinian] Arabs. There is no room here for compromises . . . There is no way but to transfer the [Palestinian] Arabs from here to the neighboring countries, to transfer all of them, save perhaps for [the Palestinian Arabs of] Bethlehem, Nazareth, and the old Jerusalem. Not one village must be left, not one [Bedouin] tribe. The transfer must be directed at Iraq, Syria, and even Transjordan [eastern portion of Eretz Yisrael]. For this goal funds will be found . . . An only after this transfer will the country be able to absorb millions of our brothers and the Jewish problem will cease to exist. There is no other solution."  This and other quotes can be found here. 

4 http://www.forward.com/articles/2854/. 

5.    http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=74&jumival=7741

6.    That this House welcomes the Stop the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Campaign launched on 30 March 2011 by the Palestinian Boycott National Committee, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others to inform the public about the JNF - Karen Kayemet L'Yisrael, its ongoing illegal expropriation of Palestinian land, concealing of destroyed Palestinian villages beneath parks and forests, and prevention of refugees from returning to their homes; notes that the JNF's constitution is explicitly discriminatory by stating that land and property will never be rented, leased or sold to non-Jews; further notes that the UN rejected the JNF USA's application for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council on the ground that it violates the principles of the UN Charter on Human Rights; regrets that the Prime Minister is a JNF honorary patron; and believes that there is just cause to consider revocation of the JNF's charitable status in the UK.

7.    Paul Blomfield is a supporter of the Palestinians.  He is setting up an organisation Labour Friends of Palestine.  If you want more information contact him at paul.blomfield.mp@parliament.uk.  Please put Labour Friends of Palestine as the subject.