Well, someone finally said what needed to be said about the world of Israel advocacy.
I am in lockstep with Tal on almost all of this.
So many of us working day and night with our Israel advocacy are just not seeing support from philanthropists, while the larger organizations and “influencers” (how I hate that word!) have been cannibalizing that support. We see many galas, and just this week, there was an event at the Knesset “awarding” 50 select Israel advocates for their work since October 7 – while the war still rages on and our hostages are still held in Gaza.
Also, since October 7, I have been told by reliable sources how many advocates and “influencers” have jacked up their speaking fees (we are talking from a few thousand to $50,000+ an engagement).
The Jewish and Israel advocacy world seems good at back-patting each other and wasting money on advocacy that – for the most part – remains in the echo chamber. But those of us who are not necessarily the big names but are actually effective at moving the needle see very little. (I should know, coming off a very underwhelming end-of-year fundraising campaign that leave the future of Israellycool very much uncertain).
And there are others like Israellycool, doing effective work, often under the radar. Some have been doing it since October 7, but some of us well before.
Where I am not 100% aligned with Tal are his comments on the representation of Mizrahi and “non-White looking” Jews. Perhaps he is correct that they tend not to be pushed to the stage or receive much funding – I simply don’t know what goes on behind the scenes with funders (although I know of at least one well-known Mizrahi advocate who seems to be doing very well funding-wise). But the problem transcends them. If I can speak selfishly as well for a bit, I am a 50-year-old White-looking Jewish male with flawless English (if you count speaking Australian English as flawless). Appearance-wise, I look like a White colonizer! But so what? Israellycool is not about David Lange. It is about using humor, painstaking research, meticulous fact-checking, and proven tactics to influence not just pro-Israel people but also those not necessarily there (yet).
I also see another phenomenon. Many times, non-Jewish supporters are almost tokenized. All of a sudden, donors and organizations clamor for them. Don’t get me wrong, we should definitely appreciate their support and elevate their voices, but it is often at the point that a non-Jewish “influencer” says nice things about Israel and big money is suddenly thrown their way because they are not Jewish. And if you think I am off the mark with this, a friend of mine who is a huge non-Jewish advocate sees this phenomenon and is very bothered by it.
Be that as it may, I hope the Jewish philanthropic world takes notice and realizes their money can be used way more effectively in the fight against antisemitism and the delegitimization of the Jewish state than it currently is.
(I have been wanting to get this off my chest for a while now, so I am thankful to Tal for his video).
