THE NEW ISRAEL FUND

The New Israel Fund (NIF) is a United States-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) and philanthropic fund established in 1979. It is widely recognised as the largest foreign donor to progressive, left-of-centre civil society and social change causes in Israel.

The organisation operates internationally, raising funds in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia to distribute as grants to Israeli non-profit organisations.

Core Mission & Ideology

The NIF explicitly anchors its mission in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, advocating for a vision of Israel as both a Jewish homeland and a democracy that ensures complete social and political equality for all inhabitants.

The fund focuses its grant making on six primary areas:

• Human and Civil Rights: Protecting freedom of speech, defending minority rights, and combating police brutality.

• Shared Society and Anti-Racism: Fostering cooperation, shared community initiatives, and equality between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel.

• Social and Economic Justice: Advocating for reforms to reduce wealth inequality, improve housing accessibility, and support marginalised communities.

• Religious Freedom: Championing pluralism, supporting various expressions of Judaism, and opposing the Orthodox monopoly over religious life.

• Palestinian Rights: Funding legal and human rights organisations operating in the Israeli-occupied territories.

Operations and Grantees

Since its founding, the NIF has distributed over $300 million to more than 900 progressive Israeli organisations. Some of its most prominent, well-known grantees include:

• The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI): The country's oldest and largest civil liberties organisation.

• B'Tselem: A prominent human rights organisation that documents violations in the occupied territories.

• Breaking the Silence: An organisation of veteran Israeli soldiers who collect testimonies about military service in the West Bank and Gaza.

• Adalah: A legal centre focusing on Arab minority rights in Israel.

In addition to funding, the NIF operates Shatil, its own capacity-building and training arm that provides organisational consulting, mentoring, and strategic guidance to emerging social leaders and NGOs in Israel.

Political Positioning & Controversy

Because of its progressive stance and the nature of the organisations it funds, the NIF occupies a highly polarized position within Israeli politics:

• Supporters view the NIF as a crucial vanguard for defending democratic institutions, safeguarding civil rights, and amplifying the voices of marginalised or vulnerable populations in Israeli society.

• Critics, particularly from the Israeli right wing and conservative advocacy groups, accuse the NIF of funding organisations that delegitimise or harm the State of Israel internationally. Right-wing politicians, including former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have occasionally singled out the NIF for criticizing government policies or for its grantees' human rights advocacy work on the global stage.

To manage this friction, the NIF maintains strict funding guidelines. Its grantees must respect the democratic nature of Israel, cannot advocate for violence or the destruction of the state, and cannot engage in partisan election campaigns. In the past, the NIF has cut funding to specific groups that crossed into supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.