CAUSES?

~ For JFNA no issue is too far afield not to have an opinion on -- most recent example, the issues surrounding foreign workers in Israel. "We" -- deplore conditions and "we" applaud the PM making a statement against...what, exactly? Foreign workers in Israel? Discrimination against foreign workers in Israel? Yes, We have opinions on all sorts of things as long as we don't have to fund anything. Next, a strong letter will be delivered to the Office of the Prime Minister. There have been unsurprising albeit sad revelations of racist acts against Israeli Ethiopians -- something that could use the intervention of a responsible JFNA, but JFNA-Israel appears to be just "too busy" with the horribly wasteful Global Planning Table, tracking down investors in a real estate scheme gone bad and issuing "statements" then to actually get its hands dirty. Yes, let's "Complete the Journey (II)." Compare and contrast, class, with the Fact of the Week that appeared the next day -- a simple story, but a paragraph, of the JDC's work with 700,000 Israelis with disabilities. JFNA:JDC. Yes, compare and contrast. What's wrong with the JFNA's self-promotion? Nothing really...except what they choose to promote.

~ Then, to what must have been the total surprise of the many who toil at JFNA-Israel, the coalition government indicated its support for recognition of the Reform and Conservative Movements in Israel, at least partially. This was a critically important matter on the civil society agenda; even if some have characterized it as no more than a baby step.  I don't recall anything on this subject from the p.r. mavens at JFNA. So, the lights must have been on late at 25 Broadway that night: "How do we take credit for this? How do we make this about us? Can we backdate a letter to the Prime Minister? There has to be a way." Sure.

~ There have been periodic demands on JFNA to seek additional revenues over and above Dues or in lieu of some portion of Dues. Nice thought...no doubt well meant. But JFNA under any of its previous guises never figured out how to do it -- charging for community consultations, taking a slice out of consultant fees, charging for campaign assistance, etc., etc. -- federations quickly raised the question that we discussed recently: what are we getting for our Dues exactly? Even those who are pushing this now must know that no organization can raise money to support its own budget -- for programs, yes; support the most needy, of course; overhead, uh uh. Essentially, someone (or ones) has sent JFNA's CEO off on a fool's pursuit. And off he goes.

Rwexler