In November, Israeli-Arab umbrella group Ittijah called for a boycott of a Jewish-Arab conference scheduled to take place in Sakhnin. The conference, organized by Shatil-NIF and the Inter Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues (IATF), discussed cooperation between Jews and Arabs in the Galilee. According to Ittijah, “We call on [Arabs] not to cooperate with the global Zionist movement … . We object to the existence of a Jewish-Zionist state.”

The conference was sponsored, in part, by Shatil, a branch of New Israel Fund (NIF). Ittijah’s members include NIF grantees such as Adalah, Galilee Society, Ilam, and Al-Ahali.

When Ittijah initiated a similar boycott in January 2008, the organization was condemned by Israeli-Arab leaders.