Oy, I just got an e-mail from the Jewish National Fund. I forgot I was still on their list.
Bring the Joy of Chanukah into your Home with Rite Lite Chanukah Candles
Enhance your holiday celebration with beautiful hand-dipped candles and support JNF at the same time.
Share a Holiday Greeting with an All-Occasion Water Card
A folio of all-occasion greeting cards highlighting JNF's achievements in water resource management in Israel. These cards are a perfect way to send greetings to your family, friends and business associates for Chanukah or any occasion.
Send a Message of Peace with a Sderot Tulip
This unique flower is sculpted from the steel of a Kassam rocket that landed in Sderot. Limited quantities available.
On the JNF website it shows the mayor of Sderot giving one of these to Jason Alexander...
Honor Your Loved Ones with Personalized Tree Certificates for Chanukah
Learn how to save up to 50% on trees by opening an E-Z tree account today.
Support JNF's work to alleviate the water shortage in Israel. And now for a limited time, double the impact of your contribution. The Gene and Marlene Epstein Humanitarian Fund has offered to match dollar-for-dollar every gift for water.
Could they at least wait until they suck the Palestinians dry before crying about their water crisis? How about a tear-desalination plant...
Incidentally, Adam Keller posted this in his blog today:
JNF Losing the Battle for the Reputation
And a bit different, yet similar, issue: Since 1967, the JNF has made an effort to take control of Palestinian lands and properties, and was not very scrupulous about the means used in achieving this purpose. For example, the JNF had been conducting a years-long struggle to evict the Sutrin Family from their home in the village of Silwan in East Jerusalem. The state authorities declared the family house to be "absentee property" and therefore transferred ownership to the "Custodian of Absentee Property", who transferred ownership to the Jewish National Fund, which intended to remove the Palestinians from the house and hand it over to the settler association Elad, which had already taken over in similar ways many Palestinian buildings and lands in Silwan. Last week, the twelve members of the Sutrin Family were going be thrown out of their home by a court order issued at the request of the Jewish National Fund.
Had the story not burst out in the Israeli and international media, by now the settlers would have already been in possession of the house. But the publicity caused the JNF a lot of confusion and headache - especially when the Rabbis for Human Rights organized a campaign of letters of protest to both the JNF directors in Israel and their fellows in the United States, who could be expected to be more open to the arguments. The JNF people tried to assert that it was not them demanding expulsion of the Palestinian family, but only the settlers who asked the court for the eviction order. But it turned out that the request to the court to issue the eviction order was lodged by the lawyers in the name of the JNF (though, indeed, the same lawyers also happen to represent settlers). In the end, JNF announced that (at least for the time being) the eviction order would not be carried out ...
