New coalition of youth organizations blasts Jewish Agency for ignoring teens

The Jewish Agency has come under fire this week from officials operating short-term Israel programs for Diaspora teenagers who criticized the agency for "omitting a crucial element from its plan to bolster Israel programs by purposefully ignoring teenagers." Gideon Shavit, co-chairman of Lapid - a new coalition for 24 organizations that bring Jewish high school pupils to Israel from the U.S., South America and Europe - said, "The issue of Israel programs for high school students has been intentionally kept off the agenda by the Jewish Agency to allow it to push its own programs," said A Jewish Agency spokesperson responded that its chairman, Natan Sharansky, "is fully supportive of bringing teenagers here on Israel programs, believes that this is the best time in a Jew's life to see Israel and is studying ways to cooperate with Lapid."

Shavit was referring to the Jewish Agency's partnership in two high-profile Israel program ventures: Taglit Birthright-Israel, which brings college-age students to Israel on free 10-day trips, and MASA, which provides scholarships to students on semester or year-long Israel programs. Founded in 2000 and funded equally by philanthropists, the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government, Taglit has brought over 200,000 Jews ages 18 to 30 to Israel. MASA was founded in 2004 with the support of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Many of the organizations in Lapid, founded in 2008, run programs for Taglit or supported by MASA financially and promotionally, and are now seeking institutional funding for short-term programs participants, who usually stay for three to six weeks and pay anywhere from $1,000 to $1,750 per week. While praising the Jewish Agency for its work in bringing hundreds of thousands of young Jewish adults to Israel over the past decade, Shavit said he was "very disappointed" when the agency's chairman, Natan Sharansky, speaking at the General Assembly in Washington, D.C. last month, failed to mention Lapid as a partner when he announced his plan to promote Israel programs.

"Sharansky held a special meeting [at the GA], in which he only mentioned Taglit Birthright-Israel and MASA," Shavit said. Shavit added he thought Sharansky omitted Lapid because the Jewish Agency does not have the financial resources to start funding Lapid.

But a Jewish Agency source said Sharansky did not name Lapid in his address about the need to invest more in Israel programs because "Lapid is the new kid on the block and it can't be expected to receive equal footing as Birthright and MASA, which have proven themselves by bringing over 300,000 people here."

According to Shavit, Lapid does have a proven track record, though not under its current name. "Lapid is made up of some heavyweight organizations like Young Judaea, Maccabi World Union and Bnei Akiva, and the Reform Movement's national youth group, NFTY. For years these organizations have been bringing 15,000 teenagers annually, but received no recognition. This is precisely why we united."

A senior Lapid official with an extensive knowledge of the Jewish world added: "Let us not be naive. The reason for this failure to recognize Lapid and its programs is that the Jewish Agency wants to advance its own programs first. But it can't work like that because the three programs [Lapid, Birthright and MASA] are part of a strategic triangle. This is why we will not be sidelined anymore."

The Jewish Agency source said: "We are shocked by the line Lapid has taken of attacking the Jewish Agency precisely at a time when the Agency is working out how to cooperate with Lapid in the future." Shavit said that in a meeting with Sharansky before the GA conference, "we understood Sharansky supports our initiative and we also understood the Jewish Agency doesn't have the money to fund us at the moment. But we at least expected to be recognized as a player in the field," he said.

"Why are they ashamed of us? So there's no money," he said. "Never mind, we will work out a model for cooperation in the future. We don't expect Sharansky to write out a check tomorrow. Focusing only on Birthright is like investing only in one child in a family of three siblings."

Because their program deals with a younger crowd, "it creates the attachment to Israel and Judaism at a formative period, when it will have more impact," said Shavit, who also noted that Lapid programs are longer in duration than Birthright.

"High school age is when political ideas are examined for the first time, when dating habits are formed," observed Shavit, a former employee of what he called "an organization which operates under the Prime Minister's Office." He added: "When our participants encounter the virulent anti-Israel propaganda that we see today in campuses, they already know it and they know how to counter it."