Friends,
In response to the war in Israel, and to continue advancing our goals at this extraordinarily difficult time, the Social Venture Fund for Jewish-Arab Equality and Shared Society in Israel is raising an Emergency Fund. While the main flow of philanthropy in the current period is going toward meeting numerous crucial needs, the areas described below will likely be underserved philanthropically and are absolutely critical investments now.
Area 1: Prevention of incitement and inter-communal violence in Israel. There is a grave risk that the cross-border conflict between Israel and Gaza will spill into Israel resulting in inter-communal violence between Arab and Jewish citizens. In 2021, these outbreaks of violence tore apart Israeli communities. In the current environment, there are already growing tensions in workplaces, and disturbing social media messages and public statements which aim to trigger inter-communal violence. A network of more than 200 shared society, Jewish, and Arab organizations are working at local, regional, and national levels to prevent inter-communal violence in Israel. Projects include local initiatives to build trust and prevent violence particularly in mixed cities, anti-incitement media efforts on social media platforms and traditional media, advocacy to ensure GOI is working effectively to prevent incitement and violence, and more. These efforts are based on University of Haifa research that teased out lessons learned from the May 2021 conflict.
Area 2: Services to support Israeli communities outside the traditional social service and crisis safety net. Bedouin towns and villages in the south were deeply impacted by the Hamas attacks. As of this moment, at least forty Bedouin-Israelis are missing and 18 are known to have been killed. Governmnent services are non-existant or woefully inadequate and Bedouin society lacks a robust social service and crisis response infrastructure. These communities are in need of food aid, trauma services, mental health support, and online education needs, given that in-person school is canceled for the foreseeable future. Arab communities in the north of Israel are also at risk as a result of increasing bombings from Lebanon.
Area 3: As of January 2024, there is a new grant award goal entitled Supporting Economic Recovery. This newly-stated goal relates to supporting economic recovery in Arab communities and mixed cities/regions. Initially included under the humanitarian aid goal, SVF has recognized that economic recovery reflects a mid/longer-term outlook rather than immediate humanitarian aid, which characterized the emergency needs most prevalent at the outset of the war.
SVF will continue to be at the forefront of supporting shared society and equality work in Israel. Today, however, we must also pivot to the immediate needs on the ground and do what we can to prevent this war from igniting inter-communal violence in Israel, and to support Arab and Bedouin communities that are outside of the mainstream crisis safety net.
Please pledge or give now to this important campaign in addition to your regular annual SVF contribution.
In partnership,
Josh Arnow and Alan Divack
SVF Co-Chairs
—
Payment can be made by check, credit card or ACH.
*For checks, please make them out to Jewish Funders Network with SVF Emergency Fund in the memo and mail to Jewish Funders Network 150 W. 30th St. #900 NY NY 10001.
*Credit card donations can be made here. Be sure to note the purpose as “SVF Emergency Fund.”
*For ACH/Wire payments please reach out to Tzivia Schwartz Getzug for banking details – tzivia@svfisrael.org