Im Tirtzu may lose funding over boycott threat to Ben-Gurion University
U.S. based pro-Israel organization Christians United for Israel: We do not support any calls for divestment from Israel in any way.
By Natasha MozgovayaIm Tirtzu, the organization that threatened Ben-Gurion University with a donor boycott because of their "anti-Zionist" bias, has lost at lease one funding source over the highly publicized row.
The spokesman for Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a U.S. based pro-Israel organization run by Pastor John Hagee, hinted to Haaretz on Monday that they will no longer give money to Im Tirtzu. The potential funding cutoff will be a big change from the 100,000 dollars that CUFI donated to Im Tirtzu in 2009.
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An Im Tirzu protest on the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev campus after the IDF raid of a Gaza-bound flotilla in May. |
| Photo by: Archive |
"We of course do not support any calls for divestment from Israel in any way," CUFI spokesman Ari Morgenstern said. Im Tirtzu sent a threatening letter to Ben-Gurion University president Prof. Rivka Carmi last month, saying they would persuade donors in Israel and abroad to stop funding the university if the didn’t put an end to the "anti-Zionist" tilt in its politics and government department.
“We do not believe that the political positions of the few professors characterize an entire university. JHM (John Hagee Ministries) therefore is not concerned with our support for Ben-Gurion University," Morgenstern said.
CUFI defines their purpose as to provide "a national association through which every pro-Israel church, para-church organization, ministry or individual in America can speak and act with one voice in support of Israel in matters related to Biblical issues."
As a group that tries to stay out of internal Israeli politics, CUFI has been disappointed by Im Tirtzu actions earlier this year, when their campaign against New Israel Fund president, Professor Naomi Chazan, made waves in the media. The organization claimed that the majority of negative references made about the Israel Defense Forces in the Goldstone report, the United Nations commissioned report on Israel's offensive into Gaza, came from New Israel Fund sponsored organizations. The ensuing campaign they launched against NIF included posters of Chazan depicting her with a horn emerging from her forehead and labeling her Naomi Goldstone Chazan.
"Our position on “Im Tirtzu” activities was clear since this story (campaign against the NIF) first broke back in February. “Im Tirtzu” misrepresented their focus," Morgenstern said. "When they told us their mission is strictly Zionist education, we had no prior knowledge of their political actions, and we never seek to involve ourselves in Israel’s internal political debates."
The Houston Jewish Federation, which has helped the Texas based CUFI decide which organizations in Israel to fund, has also publicly renounced Im Tirtzu's most recent campaign. In a letter to the liberal "Tikun Olam" blog, Jewish Federation CEO Lee Wunsch wrote: "In light of recent events and in my discussions with Pastor Hagee, he will not continue that funding as we both believe that Im Tirtzu has morphed into a quasi-political organization and neither Pastor Hagee nor the Houston Jewish Federation will fund such groups."
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Anyone who professes to be Christian and supports so much as the existence of the illegitimate state of Israel, much less its universities, may not properly call him/herself a Christian.
The statement, "As a group that tries to stay out of internal Israeli politics," is a joke. CUFI is thoroughly involved in Israeli politics. They actively lobby the US government to unconditionally support Israel and it's far right government. They only support candidates who are pro-Israel and this directly influences US politics and Israeli politics. CUFI is dangerous to the future of Israel and to US foreign policy and her national interests,
And may G-d bless them for all that they do
To add to its impressive list of EU and Moslem financial sources.
@Binyamin: it sounds like you're trying to insinuate that the NIF gets lots of funding from sources in Europe (I don't know what a "Moslem financial source" is in the Israeli NGO world, it sounds like that charge is just your racism shining through). It seems like you don't like such funding. But you can rest assured that the amount of funding coming from Evangelical groups like Hagee's, and from JNF, AIPAC, the Hudson Institute, all the stuff supporting the likes of the Institute for Zionist Strategies, the right-wing think tanks, even (and sort of besides the point) yeshivot... and also the billions in military aid from Washington.... makes the budget of the NIF or B'Tselem look miniscule. So maybe you'd consider a donation?
Well I guess the CIA and the Ford Foundation will cut off funds to the NIF next? We all know they fund the NIF and other left wing groups.
Joe, thanx for this information. I am slightly embaressed to admit that I did not know this. Can you post proof, or links to prove this> it will help me when i discuss these things with leftists
Despite Hagee's professed "Christian Zionist" beliefs and public support for the state of Israel, Hagee has made statements that some have interpreted as antisemitic, including blaming the Holocaust on Jews, stating that Adolf Hitler carried out a divine plan to lead Jews to form the modern state of Israel, calling liberal Jews "poisoned" and "spiritually blind," and stating that the preemptive nuclear attack on Iran that he favors will lead to the deaths of most Jews in Israel.[47] In his book Jerusalem Countdown, Hagee claims that Adolf Hitler was born from a lineage of "accursed, genocidally murderous half-breed Jews."[48] On page 149 in a chapter with the ominous title 'Who Is a Jew?', Hagee writes: "It was Esau's descendants who produced the half-breed Jews of history who have persecuted and murdered the Jews beyond human comprehension ... Adolf Hitler was a distant descendant of Esau."[48]
Hagee is right about the 'half-breed' Jew, Esau. Unfortunately, Ishamel who was Esau's uncle was also a 'half-breed' Jew. Although, at that point in their history, they were more correctly known as Hebrews.
In a free democratic society that allows for electoral change and judicial prudence it is unthinkable that a Jew or an Israeli receiving gov't handouts preventing a fellow Jew from earning a living. The gov't should allow boycotters be sued by companies and individuals if there is no merit only spite, melicious or sinister intent.
You can't honestly think it should be a criminal offense to NOT spend your money in certain shops? So what are you suggesting? Fines for every month that individuals do not spend a certain minimum amount of money in every store/business in Israel?
I would like to think that justice has been done, but I am sure that there are enough rich and racist fools out there; Im Tirtzu will find the necessary blood money somewhere.
It is sad that Pastor Hagee allows himself to be blindsided by liberal American Jews regarding an institution that has become a hotbed of activity designed to destroy Israel from both within and without. Pastor Hagee and his constituents are Israel's strongest allies. If they would give Im Tirzu a fair hearing they would not only restore their funding, but double it.
If it walks like a duck, dives like a duck, flys like a duck and waddles like a duck, it's probably a duck no matter what it says about itself.
Max Blumenthal wrote a hilarious article on Im Tirtzu last week in which the group mocked Hagee and CUFI. How ironic it is that the smear campaign they waged to scare donors away has worked , just with the wrong donors.
My hat of for all Jewish nobel prize winners and great scientists, but these redneck “Im Tirtzu” -people are at the other end of the line. You reap what you sow !
He always supports Israel and even lobbies Congress and the Senate of behalf of Israel. Thank you sir.
Well, that's unusual...
to the twisted evangelical mind. hagee said the jews are responsible for the holocaust and that hitler was merely carrying out god's divine plan. he supports israel only so that (ahem!) jesus will descend to earth. but i'm sure the israelis happily take his money while laughing (rightly) up their sleeves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hagee#Judaism
His unconditional support of Israel based on false theology and misinterpretation of the scripture puts Israel's future in jeopardy. Israel assumes they can do anything they want because of the strong lobby in the USA. this is dangerous to her future. A good friend tells someone when they are wrong and Hagee never tells Israel that some of the things they do are unethical, immoral, and contrary to the very Torah they base their faith on.
Hagee, being a gentile, not a Jew is not bound by the old law. That law was long ago shown conclusively to be only a mirror that reflects a persons guilt before God so that they can see and repent for themselves. All right-thinking Christians back Israel unconditionally because they are following the age-old dictums of the Torah and to some extent the lesser Prophets. See Obadiah 1:15 a & b, 'The Lord's vengeance will soon fall on the Gentile nations. As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you." Does this not plainly say that if you give generously to Israel that the Lord will give generously to you. In my reading of this verse, there is a clear reference to the Gentile Nations, America is one, that whatever good or bad they have done to Israel will be done to them. Does it not make sense that even the Gentiles should look to their own benefit and welfare? Why should we spit in the face of God or His people and be cursed when we can reach into our pockets and give of the wealth that the same God of Israel who is our God has given to us and be rewarded for that generosity. It's really a no-brainer.
false theology? you repeat yourself
guess their racism and fascist tactics backfired. Good riddance to a lost cause.
breathtakingly immoral comments of YS make him attractive to the wrong people. YS enjoy you friends.
I will always agree with you http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=90 http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=81
I wouldn't go throwing around "Pastor" Hagee's name if I were you. He is a rabid racist, an ignorant and all around despicable human being. Any association with the dude should be a source of shame, not pride. And that's how anyone who respects themselves in the US sees it. You've been warned!
...let's take your characterization of Mr. Hagee as an accurate one. Then it would follow that his kicking Im Tirzu to the curb--is kind of like someone suggesting a little "cuddle" to a person with leprosy--and getting turned down flat.