The Kohelet Policy Forum, so it is claimed in the media and at demonstrations, formulated and leveraged the governmental upheaval. The organization slipped knockout drops to ignorant lawmakers and caused the hellacious mess we are now experiencing.
The key charge in their indictment is that rich Jews from America who, together with their progeny, do not serve in the Israeli military and will not have to bear the catastrophic consequences, are funding a governmental upheaval that will change the character and essence of the state.
To slightly broaden the perspective (which Haaretz recently, under the slogan “to defend against regime change,” moved to narrow), the following is a scintilla of what extra-parliamentary bodies that operate with foreign funding in Israel are doing. The most prominent of them, the Israel Democracy Institute, is funded by Jews (first and foremost Bernard Marcus) and foreigners, such as the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the European Union, and also by – hold on to your hats – Israel’s Mifal Hapayis national lottery. (Hey, Kohelet, what do you think about applying to Hapayis? If it turns you down, then the High Court of Justice, to which nothing is dearer than equality, will surely require it to support you as well.)
The goals of the Israel Democracy Institute: “to engage in policy planning and shaping reform in government, public administration, democratic institutions and values infrastructures.” In the 31 years since its establishment it has endeavored to realize its goals, starting with drafting a constitution for Israel (necessary, indeed) “under the leadership of Supreme Court President Aharon Barak.” We can imagine what would have happened in Israel had the president of the Supreme Court moved to write a constitution under the auspices of Kohelet or the Institute for Zionist Strategies (which did in fact draw up a draft constitution, but settled for the nation-state law because Israeli society is not yet ready for a constitution).
As part of the plan to reform the “values infrastructure,” IDI holds an annual educational conference for generals of the IDF General Staff. Each year, for two entire days, the forum reveled in the wisdom of Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer, the late Yaron Ezrahi and the other colleagues who held their consensual views. At the time of the Gaza disengagement, the IDF surpassed itself: Led by Talia Sasson (author of the government-commissioned report on outposts and currently chair of the New Israel Fund’s International Council), a joint IDI-IDF team issued a document, signed by senior officers, containing the road map – and the justification – for disengagement.
Dozens of other influence/awareness organizations, funded by American billionaires or foreign foundations and nonprofits, aspire to influence Israel’s character and way of life. To one of them, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, whose donors and leaders are affiliated with the left, the IDF sends officers for indoctrination programs that last an entire year.
The goal? To implement the plan that Prof. Jehuda Reinharz, president and CEO of Mandel Foundation Israel, outlined at the end of one of the programs: “The officers serve as agents of education for the whole of Israeli society. ... Tonight we are proud that the Mandel program is sending 22 graduates back to the ranks of the IDF to spread what they learned at Mandel.” The foundation’s director general, Moshe Vigdor: “The Mandel Foundation cherishes the opportunity to work with the IDF and aid it in building a worldview.” Just imagine what would have happened had the IDF sent its officers to Kohelet, and its president and director general had made such pronouncements.
I apologize to the Wexner Foundation, the New Israel Fund, etc., that the scope of this column did not allow us to engage with them this time. Their time will come, presumably.
All the Sins of Right-wing Israeli Think Tank Kohelet
The Kohelet Policy Forum, so it is claimed in the media and at demonstrations, formulated and leveraged the governmental upheaval. The organization slipped knockout drops to ignorant lawmakers and caused the hellacious mess we are now experiencing.
The key charge in their indictment is that rich Jews from America who, together with their progeny, do not serve in the Israeli military and will not have to bear the catastrophic consequences, are funding a governmental upheaval that will change the character and essence of the state.
To slightly broaden the perspective (which Haaretz recently, under the slogan “to defend against regime change,” moved to narrow), the following is a scintilla of what extra-parliamentary bodies that operate with foreign funding in Israel are doing. The most prominent of them, the Israel Democracy Institute, is funded by Jews (first and foremost Bernard Marcus) and foreigners, such as the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the........
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