Becca Wertman, born in Vancouver 28 years ago, serves as managing editor and Canada liaison at NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research institute, where she is responsible for reviewing all documents published by the organization and for analyzing Canadian government funding to NGOs in the region. Becca's research found, for example, that Canada is currently providing taxpayer funds to a Palestinian group that promotes BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns against Israel. “I knew that the Canadian government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had come out a number of times against BDS, even referring to the campaigns as a 'new form of antisemitism in the world.' So I was quite surprised to find the funding to a group that promotes boycotts and antisemitic ideas. I made sure to share this information as well as details about the NGO with relevant stakeholders in Canada.” Wertman was born to a “traditional” Jewish family – “Not religious, but not secular,” she said. “We would do kiddush every Friday, and then after go out to a movie.” “After my Birthright trip I stayed to meet my mom's cousin in Jerusalem. She asked me what I wanted to do. I told her I wanted to visit the beach in Tel Aviv and Mahaneh Yehuda market in Jerusalem. At that moment I never imagined that I would one day live in the shuk. It's like living in a dream that I never had dreamed.” Her grandfather, who passed away in March at 97, and grandmother, 93, survived the Holocaust and she grew up with their stories, which led to her fighting for human rights. She studied international relations in California. During her studies she spent a summer in Geneva in order to learn about the United Nations. One of the projects was to intern at Hillel Neuer's UN Watch – a project that aims to hold the UN accountable to its founding charter. She was also active in Hillel on campus. Despite all the various activities, one thing was missing: to visit Israel. And that happened thanks to Birthright Israel. “I felt like I had to come on that trip, like something was waiting there that would change my life and yes, that is what happened,” she says. “I found there love – love for Israel. It was love at first sight.” Wertman fought anti-Israel organizations at universities, particularly during her graduate studies at Columbia, and volunteered as a staff member for Birthright, going on the trip four times. One time she was on a trip at the same time as her brother. “We were not on the same trip unfortunately, but met up at a few of the sights like Masada. It was fun to be with my brother in the place I love most in the world.” She decided to come to Israel to do an internship at NGO Monitor, researching organizations that call themselves human rights groups but are actually just promoting one-sided agendas and anti-Israel rhetoric. Some of the groups even have ties to terrorist organizations, and praise the terrorists. “These same organizations fail to promote universal human rights and instead promote hatred, BDS, and antisemitism.” The turning point in her life was 2016. She was sitting in Café Landwer in the middle of Tel Aviv's Sarona Market on June 8 when a terror attack killed four people. She understood that the trauma she witnessed at Sharona was not going to affect her decision, would not stop her dream of making aliyah. Wertman regularly speaks before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Most recently, she spoke before the Council in March about rising global antisemitism. During the debate, she called on the UN “to uphold the UN's values of combating racism and adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism to condemn the hatred of Jews that plagues our world.” “I am happy with my decision to live here,” she says proudly. “I will continue to work and research information related to Israel and human rights, which is what I love to do. This is the country of the Jewish people and our home.”
