After becoming CEO of the New Israel Fund last fall, Daniel Sokatch sought a higher profile for his left-wing organization. Last week, the former CEO of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation got some surprising PR assistance from Israel’s right wing.
Thanks to an Israeli group’s attack ad against the NIF, and its demand for a government investigation into the organization, the NIF made headlines around the world (see related story on page 16).
That right-wing group, Im Tirtzu, accused NIF of funding organizations that provided data for the United Nation’s controversial Goldstone Report, which accused Israel of war crimes during last year’s Gaza incursion. The implication was that NIF worked against Israel by supporting such organizations.
This week, however, the Knesset dismissed Im Tirtzu’s call for an investigation into the NIF. Even some staunch right-of-center politicians criticized Im Tirtzu for demanding a government inquiry.
That was music to the ears of Sokatch, a proud liberal who formerly ran the Los Angeles–based Progressive Jewish Alliance, later accepted the top job at the S.F.-based federation and who continues to live in San Francisco.
“People spoke up loudly and clearly,” Sokatch said, “even if they disagree with [the NIF]. These right-wing Knesset members rejected the notion that NIF
is anti-Israel, and that opposition voices and the right to dissent are somehow threatening to Israel. This was a wonderful example of the strength of Israeli democracy.”
Sokatch worries this attack on the NIF fits into a pattern of suppression against pluralism and democracy in Israel.
“The sad news is that these people truly believe that freedom of speech, dissent and expression are threats to Israel,” Sokatch said, “and they will continue to smear all kinds of organizations that speak out. I have no doubt this is not over, and that they will keep going and try other tactics.”
As evidence, he cites the January arrest of Anat Hoffman of the Israel Religious Action Center (a NIF grantee) for praying with a Torah scroll at the Kotel in Jerusalem. One week later, Hagai El-Ad of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (also a NIF grantee) was arrested during a peaceful demonstration in East Jerusalem.
“Far be it from me to say what that is, but many feel it is a deliberate attempt to chill freedom of speech,” Sokatch said. “When a society feels under siege — and that’s what the Goldstone Report provoked — people look for scapegoats. Israeli pluralism organizations say this cannot be an excuse to roll back democracy in Israel.”
Sokatch left the federation after 15 months on the job. His tenure was marked by the explosive controversy surrounding last summer’s screening of the documentary “Rachel” at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Detractors criticized the federation for providing funding for the film fest, and complained that the federation did not respond adequately to community outrage.
Though the NIF’s U.S. headquarters is in Washington, D.C., Sokatch says he will remain in San Francisco, a city he has grown to love.
“The NIF was wise enough to recognize that since coastal California is the third-largest Jewish community on the planet, they did not need someone in D.C.,” he said. “It was a painful decision to leave [the federation], but the opportunity to lead an organization that is one of the last best chances to engage a new generation of Jews in relationship to Israel was too much of a pull.”
Sokatch said he has no regrets about accepting the federation position, even though his tenure was brief.
“I’m in close contact with my colleagues and friends at the federation,” Sokatch said. “I got to know our community on an intense and personal level, and I am very proud to have been associated with federation.”
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