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[Excerpt:]

"If it is to rescue its reputation, NIF urgently needs to establish red lines to determine which groups are deserving of their allocations. Funding ought to be withheld from organizations that engage in activities to advance the “Durban strategy” of isolating Israel internationally: divestment campaigns; demonization and delegitimization (including using expressions such as “apartheid” and “war crimes” and misusing international law to bludgeon Israel); “lawfare” — legal threats against Israeli officials in courts of other countries; and anti-Zionism — opposition to defining Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Such guidelines should be self-evident. Since they apparently are not, we must encourage NIF to develop such red lines through informed, civil debate, and to rethink support for groups that do not comply. NIF donors and the Israeli public have a right to expect an honest investigation and evaluation from an organization whose budget (NIF granted more than $20 million to Israeli NGOs in 2008) affords it significant leverage in the fraught environment of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Debating the issue of overseas Jewish funding of groups that use their inflated budgets and influence to level intense, inaccurate and harmful charges against Israel is entirely appropriate. Frankly, such a debate is overdue. Attempting to delegitimize this conversation before it even starts is not good for Israel. Nor is it ultimately good for the New Israel Fund."