Anti-Israel; Anti the Environment
False allegations are once again being leveled against the Jewish National Fund -Keren Kayemet Leisrael (KKL- JNF). These on closer examination are revealed to be just the latest attempts to undermine the state of Israel, this time by targeting its largest environmental organization.

The JNF is an environmental organization that dedicates much of its work and activity towards environmental development, forestry for the benefit of all citizens of Israel. Over more than century of activity, it has planted over 247 million trees, created a network of water reservoirsas well as hundreds megawatts of renewable solar power. These projects work across all the various sectors of Israeli society and include both Jewish and non-Jewish groups. Several projects have been carried out as part of this framework, including a facility for wastewater treatment projects in rural communities in the desert region of the Negev and the establishment WadiAtir, a farm for ecological agriculture and tourism, which from which many Bedouin stakeholders are able create a sustainable livelihood.

Nobel Prize winner Al Gore has said that the by the work done by the JNF is one of the great ecological success stories of our time and could be a model developed that other countries can follow. Indeed the work of the Jewish National Fund is not just limited to Israel, it has been recognised around the world for its innovative approach to environmental problem solving. It is an accredited United Nations NGO that regularly attends international environmental conferences such as COP17 and the RIO summits. At these events it conducts workshops in sustainable forestry which are attended by countries from Africa, Asia and South America and there is even co-operation with some Arab states. A flagship JNF project in Rwanda is helped to create an Israeli style kibbutz which houses genocide survivors and trains them in agriculture.

South Africa, too, has benefited directly from the work of the JNF, inter alia through the free provision of bio control technologies that have saved millions of hectares of trees and thousands of jobs in the forestry sector. Its national education environmental education programs also reach thousands of disadvantage children annually.

None of this matters to our anti-Israel agitators, of course, since their only interest is to target Israel wherever and whenever the opportunity arises. In order to gain traction in the media, they will not hesitate to level a range of hyperbolic accusations regarding the spaces in which the JNF works. It needs to be made absolutely clear, however, that the JNF only works on land that it owns or that is owned by the state of Israel and any assertion to the contrary is bald-faced, dishonest propaganda.

These claims against JNF are unfounded. It is quite clear that they based on an acute lack of knowledge or a deliberate disinterest in the facts. JNF is working towards improving the environment and will continue doing so in order to insure the creation of a better and more sustainable future for all.

Isla Feldman
National Executive Director
Jewish National Fund of South Africa