Meretz USA President’s Report – September 7, 2008

The past 9 months have been the beginning of a transition for Meretz USA in a variety of ways - philosophically, programmatically and in terms of how we run the organization day-to-day.

Philosophically, 2008 has been a year in which we have tried to "push the envelope" by daring to challenge the standard paradigm of American Jewish-Israel relations. Rather than accepting the paralyzing argument that Jews have no right to criticize Israel in public, we have begun to encourage American Jews who care about Israel to talk directly to Israeli decision-makers and let them know what we think about their policies.

This "new Zionist discourse", in which we direct our exhortations at Jerusalem, not the American political establishment, also repositions us within the constellation of the American Jewish organizational world so that we occupy a distinctive and important communal niche.

Our new programmatic initiatives, which I will expand on in a moment, reflect this philosophical orientation. Given proper and continued support, the new initiatives will enable us to integrate effectively in the digital age and attract a younger core of supporters.

They will also allow Meretz USA to engage its supporters interactively: Rather than merely providing information and opinion to our mailing lists, the new programs will let American Jews do something about the issues they care about. Of course, as we promote the new initiatives, we have every intention of retaining the best elements of our traditional approach.

Finally, on the administrative level, 2008 has seen us transition to a new Executive Director, Ron Skolnik, and to a new, streamlined staff setup in which fewer salaried personnel are assisted by young college and post-college interns who volunteer their time and effort.

1. New "Take Action" campaigns: Our first "Take Action" campaign was launched in August, and called on American Jews to protest the decision of Israel's Housing Minister to dramatically expand settlement construction in East Jerusalem. Initial response was encouraging, and we expect to generate about one "Take Action" campaign each month.

Working on a limited budget, we seek to spread these campaigns "virally" - through word-of-mouth and email networks, rather than through costly paid advertising. Our supporters have a critical role to play by circulating information about our "Take Action" campaigns - to friends and family, to members of the media and blogosphere, and to their contacts in the Jewish organizational world.

2. Human rights internship program: We are laying the groundwork for a program in which young American Jews, supported by Meretz USA, would travel to Israel for a period of 3 months or more in order to intern with organizations performing crucial human rights and civil rights activity.

An effective program will require four elements: a) the agreement of partnering organizations in Israel; b) budgetary resources to provide the interns with a meaningful stipend; c) the participants themselves; and d) an on-the-ground liaison in Israel who would help with local logistics and troubleshoot. Here is a progress report:

a) Israeli partners: Over the last few months, we have secured the agreement in principle of at least two organizations in Israel to work with us on this program. We are in the process of dialoguing with several others.

b) Budget: We are making efforts to secure foundation grants in order to fund this program.

c) Participants: We have already received positive reactions from many young people. We are confident that through such avenues as Idealist, Facebook and our own mailing list, we would receive an abundance of applications from young, progressive American Jews once we have a program, including funding, in place.

d) Israel liaison: We are in contact with the World Union of Meretz, which has agreed to cooperate with us on this venture.

 

3. Israel Symposium: Our January 2008 Israel Symposium was our strongest trip yet, and included scintillating lectures and some powerful experiences, such as a tour of Hebron with Breaking the Silence, a trip to Ramallah, where we met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, and a meeting with Israeli West Bank settlers.

Thanks to our partnership with Brit Tzedek, we were able to bring 27 participants on the trip, which gave us enough "bulk" to afford access to such leading Israeli politicians as Ehud Olmert, Binyamin Netanyahu and Yuli Tamir.

Our next Israel Symposium, scheduled for January 17-24, 2009, is being planned in cooperation with our friends in Ameinu and, with the help of the World Union of Meretz, we look forward to a trip that is just as enriching as the one we just enjoyed.

4. Publications

a. Israel Horizons: Under the professional stewardship of editor Ralph Seliger, Israel Horizons continues to be a product that we can proudly send to our supporters and present to anyone who wishes to know more about the organization.

Two years ago, we considered the idea of turning Israel Horizons into a publication that would be online only. However, due to the feedback of our readers, we have continued to publish the magazine in hard copy, four issues per year.

But this does not mean that magazine will remain static: We will need to oversee such suggestions as publishing Israel Horizons with recycled newsprint (both a cheaper and more environmentally friendly option), opening the magazine to outside advertising (print and/or electronic), and modernizing its graphic presentation.

b. Meretz USA blog: The tireless Ralph Seliger has formed the backbone of our blog, posting new pieces several times a week over the past year. Thanks to his, and staff's, efforts, blog traffic has seen a steady increase over the last 2½ years - but not enough.

For the Meretz USA blog to be a more vibrant aspect of our organization's outreach efforts, it needs to be embraced by our supporters. I recommend that everyone put the blog (at www.meretzusa.blogspot.com) on their reading list - not out of obligation, but because you can find there some fascinating commentary and debate. To expand the blog's readership, I also encourage you tell friends and family about it, and send them a link to the blog by email.

Of course, those of our supporters who have something to say would make a major contribution by writing for the blog - regularly or just on occasion. Adding more writers would not only help spread the "workload" around - it would help turn the blog into a more powerful vehicle of communication.

c. Biweekly e-newsletters: We continue to produce our biweekly electronic newsletters on a consistent basis, and this year has seen them develop an even sharper format and more engaging visual presentation. The newsletter consists of an opening commentary, updates on upcoming Meretz USA events and on the Meretz USA blog, and a spotlight on recent developments pertaining to the Meretz party in Israel.

The quality of our work is high, but our circulation needs to be expanded. Therefore, as with the blog, our supporters can help not only by reading the newsletter, but by passing it on by email and encouraging others to join our mailing list, so that we can continue to grow our readership.

5. Events and Outreach: As in the past, we have continued to host conference calls, as well as events at our Beit Shalom headquarters and elsewhere, showcasing both prominent figures from the Meretz party and other cutting-edge personalities in Israel. Since the peace demonstration at Annapolis in November 2007, we have also been steadily increasing the degree of our collaboration with other organizations whose interest areas overlap ours.

Since the end of our January 2008 Israel Symposium, we have sponsored and co-sponsored the following:

• Abu Vilan - Briefing at Beit Shalom on February 28
• Breaking the Silence's Dotan Greenvald - talk and slideshow presentation at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn on March 9 (co-sponsored with Americans for Peace Now and Brit Tzedek's NY chapter)
• Breaking the Silence travelling exhibition - Philadelphia (February 9-24) and Boston (March 1-16) (co-sponsored with UPZ, Hashomer Hatzair, Brit Tzedek and Americans for Peace Now)
• Gershon Baskin and Hanna Siniora of IPCRI - Two talks in New York City (Congregation Shaare Zedek, The Community Church of New York City) on March 23 and 24 (co-sponsored with Brit Tzedek and Ameinu)
• Academic Conference - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Pathways to Peace at Central Connecticut State University on March 28-29 (details below)
• Naomi Chazan - Briefing at Beit Shalom on the civil rights situation in Israel, on March 30
• Chaim Oron ("Jumes") - national conference call with the Meretz party's new chairman, on April 14
• Bustan Director, Raed Al-Mickawi - Discussion at Beit Shalom on the plight of the Negev Bedouin, on April 28 (co-sponsored with Hashomer Hatzair and Ameinu)
• Abu Vilan - Briefing at Beit Shalom on May 5
• Israel @ 60 celebration: One of dozens of co-sponsors of New York City event on May 7, celebrating Israel's 60th birthday
• Gavri Bar-Gil - Lecture on the state of the kibbutz movement at Beit Shalom, on May 19 (co-sponsored with Ameinu, Hashomer Hatzair, and Givat Haviva)
• Executive Director, Ron Skolnik - interviewed on Al-Jazeera English TV regarding the AIPAC conference in Washington DC; June 2
• Abu Vilan - Briefing at Beit Shalom on July 10
• Executive Director, Ron Skolnik - appeared on a panel on Shalom TV's "Jewish News Roundtable" to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; mid-July

After a summer hiatus, we have just launched our fall programming, hosting journalist Danny Rubinstein on September 9 and Abu Vilan on September 17. And we are gearing up for two events with Hanna Barag of Machsom Watch, one in Boston (tentatively set for October 16) and one in New York on October 28.

In order to improve our outreach to areas outside the New York metropolitan region, we have also begun to enable supporters to listen in on our Beit Shalom briefings via conference call, and we are now examining the technical aspects of making such events available via video-streaming on our website.

Los Angeles activity: We are reenergizing our activity in the Los Angeles area, and, to kick off this effort, have scheduled a gathering for our West Coast board members and other interested parties, set to take place on October 6th.

 

6. JANIP: The Jewish Academic Network for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, a project of Meretz USA, achieved a major success in late March, when it served as main sponsor of an academic conference at Central Connecticut State University. (Lending their support as co-sponsors were the American Task Force on Palestine and the Geneva Initiative-North America.) Entitled Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Pathways to Peace, the conference featured 36 academic presentations and attracted over 100 participants, and included seven high-caliber keynote speakers: Herbert Kelman, Naomi Chazan, Stephen P. Cohen, Sami Adwan, Daniel Levy, Gaith al Omari, and Saliba Sarsar.

The JANIP Executive Committee is now planning a smaller, more consolidated JANIP "activists conference", tentatively scheduled for December 7 in New York. The JANIP Executive Committee will use this conference to expand the number of academics directly involved in the project and to define its ongoing programmatic activities.

 

7. UPZ: The Union of Progressive Zionists, sponsored by Meretz USA, has continued to spread its message on college campuses across North America. During the 2007-08 academic year, UPZ worked with groups at dozens of universities.

Over the last few months, the UPZ Board has also taken steps designed to give the organization greater reach. These efforts include securing a sizeable foundation grant, improving UPZ's independent fundraising capacity and expanding the ranks of its board to individuals not associated with its four founding organizations (Hashomer Hatzair, HaBonim-Dror, Ameinu and Meretz USA).

8. Website and Facebook: We recently completed an upgrade to our website, which will make our web capabilities compatible with the demands of our new "Take Action" campaigns. As a result, those frequenting our website can now generate emails to addressees in Israel from within our site. A few aesthetic/design elements have been enhanced as well.

The upgrade also gives us the tools to enlarge our email list, and thus expand the number of people with whom we maintain contact electronically. This is an area in need of improvement, as our initial contact database was put together before the age of email, a fact that has left us without the email addresses of a not-inconsequential segment of our supporters.

Facebook: Over the summer, we took our first small steps into the "brave new world" of Web 2.0 and social networking. Thanks to our younger staff, Meretz USA now has a Facebook "page", which will hopefully serve as an additional access point through which young (and less young) people can learn about our activities and positions.

9. Administrative: Over the last half-year, we have succeeded in making a transition to a reduced staff setup, allowing us to save over 35% in salary costs. Instead of our previous 3-person staff, we are now operating with 2 employees, who have recruited a series of college and post-college interns as additional help. We appreciate the efforts of staff in making this transition seamless and painless, and not only maintaining our level of activity, but expanding it.

At the end of our Symposium in late January, we bid a fond farewell to former Executive Director, Charney Bromberg, and welcomed Ron Skolnik into his new position. In May, our Program and Communications Coordinator, Amy Kapit, left to pursue an advanced degree, and before leaving trained her successor, Rachel Jones, whose positive contributions are already being felt.

10. Fundraising and Finances: December 2007 was a highpoint for the organization, as we combined a joyful celebration of Honorary Life President Harold Shapiro's 80th birthday with a very successful fundraising event. And the videotaped birthday greetings for Harold, produced by Meretz MK Abu Vilan, were a treasure - with "happy birthday ‘erold" being offered by such diverse figures as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Bibi Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Shulamit Aloni and Avigdor Lieberman. We expect to hold an additional benefit in March 2009.

Planned Giving: We are actively exploring options for planned giving, and hope soon to be able to receive donations as Gift Annuities or Annuity Trusts - in addition to the option of bequests, donations of stock, etc.

 

On behalf of Meretz USA I would like to wish everyone a sweet and happy new year as we look forwarwd to a new year filled with expanded activity for peace and civil rights in Israel.

 

 

 

Lawrence Lerner
President