Yesterday, besides it being Purim, was another joyous occasion.
The 23-year anniversary of Israellycool as a website.
That’s right. We have been around before many of today’s “influencers” were even in diapers.
Now, I say “joyous,” but “bittersweet” is probably a more apt descriptor. Not just because we spent a lot of the day running to our shelter and unable to congregate with a lot of people. But also because as things stand, I am perilously close to closing down Israellycool as a non-profit and returning to a career outside of Israel advocacy.
The past two and a half-years since October 7 have been devastating for all of us. I have found things particularly hard on many levels. Living in Israel, I have experienced personal losses. Living and breathing this fight against Jew-hatred and terrorism, I have exposed myself to the worst-of-the-worst day in, day out, in order to have a real impact. I have largely succeeded and – dare I say it – more than most of today’s advocates who tend to preach to the converted. But it has come at a cost.
I won’t lie that my mental health has struggled (as I am sure is the case with many of you). And there has been a huge financial cost as well. You see, when I quit my job in 2019, I had decided to pursue this full-time. I created the Israellycool non-profit instead of merely asking for people to support this work via Patreon, Paypal or the like, because I wanted to also provide the ability to offer tax deductible receipts to those of you generous enough to support the work. But creating a non-profit is an expensive exercise; there are many overhead costs associated with it. And while I have had some generous donations over these years, I have had to largely self-fund in order to keep things going. I have been blessed to be in a position to self-fund, but since I am not Bill Gates (thank goodness though, right?), these funds have now depleted and I am no longer in a position to do so.
Things have really come to a head since October 7. While you might think the increase in overt antisemitism and terror support would lead to increased funding for Israellycool and more speaking engagements, the exact opposite has occurred. The proliferation of Israel advocates – “influencers” for a want of a better term – has been a welcome development in the sense of more people joining the fight. But it has also led to some unwanted side-effects: many organizations now turn to them for their speaking engagements (even those who are not really knowledgable but rather adept at producing good and quick social media content); and many of my donors have also stopped supporting Israellycool, perhaps preferring these new, expensive shiny cars over this older, somewhat beat-up-but-reliable one!
Don’t get me wrong. There are definitely some really worthwhile advocates, and even those I don’t really rate as really moving the needle are at least wanting to make a difference. Even preaching to the choir is valuable, because especially during these dark days, providing information, laughs and entertainment have their use.
I am perhaps a bit of a victim of my own stubborness, because I have refused the “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach. I know I could use AI to write my content, or engage in performative shenanigans and clickbait, as some do. But I have preferred to doing things my way, since my 23-years of experience have produced real results beyond the echo chamber.
Some of these results include pioneering the proactive approach of going after Jew-haters and terror supporters that has since been adopted by the likes of Stop Antisemitism and Canary Mission; being one of the very first (if not the first) to platform the “Jews as indigenous to Israel” narrative by my friend Ryan Bellerose that is now ubiquitous; getting a few people to renounce their former antisemitic ways; and utilizing other techniques of psychological warfare that I won’t detail here.
Twenty-three years in. Still standing. Bruised. Tired. But not broken.
Israellycool has never been about vanity metrics, or charging five figures to tell friendly audiences what they already believe. It is about impact. It is about going on the offense without being offensive.
I’ve spent over two decades in the trenches because I believe this work matters. Now, I’m asking you to help me decide if the next chapter is still worth writing.
If Israellycool has informed you, made you laugh, armed you with arguments, exposed a fraud, defended a Jew, or even just reminded you that you’re not crazy – then this is your moment to step up.
If you believe Israellycool still matters, your support is crucial.
If just 1,000 readers gave $36, Israellycool would be secure for the next 6 months.
If 500 readers gave $100, same result.
If 100 readers stepped up at $500, we could probably make it through the year.
Websites and non-profits don’t disappear because they lose arguments.
They disappear because good people assume someone else will step up.
Please don’t assume.
Click below. Donate. Keep Israellycool alive.
