With gloriously ironic braggadocio, the JNF UK camera sweeps across the land of Palestine, proclaiming its achievements: People, Community, Recreation, Research, Agriculture, LAND (in appropriately big letters) Water, Forestry and Security. Not a Palestinian in sight, no homeless Bedouin or Jerusalemites facing eviction, no reference to the destroyed villages of the Nakba, screened by JNF parks and forests, with their trees alien to the area, no links to the IDF – that discredited collection of knee-capping sharp-shooters and checkpoint warriors.
And not a word to underscore that this UK charity does not feel obliged to obey the Equality Laws of the UK (remember, Israel hasn’t got a Basic Law on Equality). The JNF has stated that its loyalty “is given to the Jewish people and only to them is the JNF obligated. The JNF, as the owner of the JNF land, does not have a duty to practice equality towards all citizens of the state.”
And if you watch the publicity video to the very end, you’ll see that JNF UK implicates us in the UK in its toxic project! Look out for the closing frames where cities across the UK are plastered onto the map of “Israel” – with the strap line “JNF UK is 100% Israel.” (It’s less than 3 minutes: you can do it!)
Is your city made an accessory to crime by this map? Does your City Council know how its name has been appropriated in yet another metaphorical land grab by JNF UK?
