The main donor of controversial NGO Im Tirtzu expressed deep displeasure with
the organization on Monday over its campaigns against the New Israel Fund and
Ben-Gurion University, and signaled that it plans to discontinue its
funding.
John Hagee Ministries (JHM), named after the pro- Israel
evangelical pastor who founded it, told The Jerusalem Post it contributed funds
to Im Tirtzu in 2009 under the impression that it dealt only with Zionist
education.
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“Im Tirtzu misrepresented its focus when they told us their
mission was strictly Zionist education,” Ari Morgenstern, the spokesman for JHM,
said.
“We had no prior knowledge of Im Tirtzu’s political actions and we
never seek to involve ourselves in Israel’s internal political
debate.”
Hagee’s group is Im Tirtzu’s biggest donor, according to a tax
return from 2009. That year the NGO received $100,000 from Hagee and $34,096
from other sources.
JHM stopped short of officially announcing it would
cut the organization off, maintaining it would only announce the recipients of
its donations at its annual meeting in San Antonio. But the tone of the
statement left little doubt that it would discontinue its support.
Im
Tirtzu was in the headlines last week when it emerged that the group had
threatened to persuade Ben-Gurion University donors to withhold funding unless
BGU hired more patriotic academics. According to Im Tirtzu, the university’s
political department needed “balancing” because of what it termed its lecturers’
heavily anti-Zionist slant.
The university rejected Im Tirtzu’s demands,
saying it would not countenance any infringements on its academic
freedom.
Last year Im Tirtzu launched an ad campaign against the New
Israel Fund, accusing it of funding human rights groups it claimed helped
besmirch Israel in the Goldstone probe, which had been commissioned by the UN to
investigate alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza
Strip.
On Monday, Hagee’s organization came out strongly in support of
BGU, to which it also donated $100,000 in 2009.
“We do not believe that
the political positions of a few professors characterize an entire university,”
Morgenstern said.
“JHM is not concerned with our support for Ben-Gurion
University. We of course do not support any call for divestment in Israel in any
way. But looking at what BGU does for the people of Israel in general and the
development of the Negev in particular, we believe that the people of Israel
benefit from BGU’s success.”
Im Tirtzu issued a terse response to JHM’s
remarks on Monday night, thanking it for its help.
“We thank JHM for
their meaningful support for the movement in its early stages,” Im Tirtzu
spokesman Erez Tadmor said.
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