Since October 7th, NIF’s media teams in the US and Israel have been working closely with several major media outlets on their coverage of the news and analysis. From the New York Times to NPR to the Guardian to the Forward, NIF is playing a role in shaping coverage—whether or not NIF is mentioned.
Here are some of those pieces:
We know peace is the only way to make everyone safe.
If you read one piece, please choose this one. NIF in Israel Executive Director Mickey Gitzin is quoted extensively in this New York Times opinion piece by Roger Cohen, as are several NIF partners. Mickey argues that the right wing’s strategy of “managing the conflict”—supporting Hamas over the Palestinian Authority and allowing occasional flare-ups of violence—is a recipe for only more violence. He says there is a unique opportunity now for Israelis and Palestinians to push hard for a more permanent solution.
We are all trying to hold so much pain, grief, and anxiety at once.
We are simultaneously worried about the safe return of the hostages, deeply grieving for those who were murdered by Hamas militants, and profoundly worried about people in Gaza. We’ve seen two exceptional pieces that grapple with these feelings. The first, ‘Do not use our pain to bring death’: plea to Israel from peace activists’ grieving families in the Guardian is a report on how many relatives of Hamas’s victims argue against revenge, even as they grieve. The second is a column in Haaretz by human rights attorney Michael Sfard. He warns that, when it comes to Gaza, Israeli officials are speaking, acting, and planning in ways that erase the humanity of the people living in Gaza. He reminds us that being humane is hard work, but that it is absolutely imperative
NIF had a hand in helping NPR develop a series of radio stories on the ground in Israel. Here are some of them:
- Peace Activists in Israel Speak About Their Hopes for the End of War: Alon Lee Green and Sally Abed of the joint Arab-Jewish group Standing Together speak about the need for leadership in Israel that does not perpetuate war.
- What a Rabbi Hopes to Offer the Wounded and Grieving in Israel: Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, who spent the last week in Israel counseling survivors of the October 7 Hamas attack, explains that he feels the only way to get through this war is with humanity.
- His Call for Empathy Made this Jewish Studies Professor Feel Isolated: NIF’s immediate past president David N. Myers speaks from the heart about what it’s like to stand in the moral place that both clearly and unequivocally condemns the massacre of October 7 and attends to the extraordinary suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
- Thousands of FakeReporter Volunteers Sort Through Disinformation on Social Media: Achiya Shatz, who runs NIFC project partner FakeReporter explains how his team has been working overtime to catch and debunk fake news and videos on social media.
Read the account of incredible Israeli comedian Noam Shuster.
In this personal and honest piece, Noam writes about what it’s like to be her—an Arabic-speaking Jew who is deep in her grief for the lives lost on October 7 and those since. She writes, she says, on behalf of those who can—and must—mourn for both Israelis and Palestinians at the same time. Read the piece in +972 Magazine; it’s called Picking up the Pieces of Our Grief.