Shamai Leibowitz never worked for the New Israel Fund. He was a Law Fellow in our joint program with American University school of law for a year and was asked to leave the program, which he did.

-- NaomiP
Communications Director, New Israel Fund

Thank you for the clarification, Naomi. I'm glad to hear the NIF at least has the sense to want to keep a distance from the likes of Leibowitz.

I will only support the JNF - Jewish National Fund.

I'm still waiting for Salaam Now, Bet Salaam - a grass roots Arab/Muslim Peace group to appear.

NIF is as misleading as J-Street.

Shamai Leibowitz was at American University on a full scholarship as a NIF Fellow at a time of his divestment activism in Somerville, MA. It was on NIF dime that Leibowitz traveled to Boston at that time and worked as a spokesperson for the Somerville Divestment Project.

During that period, Larry Garber, then new NIF director, had an appearance at Harvard University. During the Q&A period, he was specifically asked about Leibowitz' divestment activism in Somerville. Garber acknowledged his familiarity with Leibowitz' activities, but expressed not an iota of concern or a disagreement.

It was only much later, after the damage was already done, that NIF leadership changed its tune somewhat under the pressure from the Boston Jewish Community.

Get a load of this one, folks:

"Yes to cooperation. No to boycotts"
By SHAMAI LEIBOWITZ
Jun 19, 2006

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150355527812&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

"... AS a Jew committed to peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, I believe that BDS strategy is a grave mistake. ... INSTEAD OF boycotting and sanctioning Israel, peace-oriented groups should invest in creative ways to build bridges of confidence and trust that will eventually mature into legally-binding agreements."

Now, let's see what he wrote in that earlier e-mail to Denise Provost, Somerville's pro-divestment Alder(wo)man (see this post), "lamenting Somerville's vote against divestment" -- sorry to have to repeat this, but it will serve as an illustration, which should further rub in the point I am trying to make:

"Dear Denise,

As an Israeli, I would like to convey to you my gratitude for trying so hard to pass a selective divestment resolution. I am sorry that ... in the end, the other Aldermen capitulated under pressure. ...

I am very disappointed with the outcome, and I hope that those Aldermen that buried the resolution will come to realize what a grave mistake they made. They are using Somerville residents' money to help continue the practice of torture, home demolitions, bombing of civilians, and severe humiliation. I never knew that cities can have money invested in foreign countries, and that Somerville's money is invested in the terrible war crimes committed by the Israeli army, destroying prospects for peace for many years to come. I am so angry at them.

I hope they understand they have dealt a severe blow to peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. I also hope that the citizens of Somerville remember their cowardly and shameful behavior on election day, and show them the way out of office. ...

best regards,
Shamai Leibowitz"

Can you believe this crap? How do you spell h y p o c r i t e ?

Oh, but wait, here is his disclaimer in that JPost article:

"While at one time I thought there was some efficacy in BDS as a means of nudging the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into the processing of peace, I now see that BDS is not the magic bullet people hoped it would be. There are a number of reasons why I have altered my views."

Then he goes into some lame and fake-sounding excuses, topping them off with this gem:

"... while there is much to improve and correct in Israeli society, the idea of economic punishment of a whole society because of actions of members of that society is neither justified philosophically nor feasible practically.

Having discussed these issues with policy-makers in Washington DC, it is clear to me that Israel's strong and vibrant economy will never be seriously affected by boycotts of civil-society groups. Regardless of how many interest groups join this campaign, it will not affect political change because the US government will continue to provide Israel with $2.5 billion in annual aid.

Rather than affect political change, it is more likely the BDS campaign will alienate world Jewry, triggering a closing of the ranks and preventing any significant change."

So, just like some 'peace-minded' Palestinian Arab leaders (such as Sari Nusseibeh and Mahmoud Abbas), who decided to opt for peaceful negotiations instead of armed struggle, because not only was it not getting them anywhere , but was even doing the Arabs more harm than good, thus suggesting to change the tactics (but hardly the goal), our despicable brethren Shamai does pretty much the same thing: he now says that BDS (sadly and regrettably) didn't work, and therefore the tactics of dealing with evil Israel should be changed.

Nice job, Shamai. You learned well from your Arab handlers and devious propaganda masters, you duplicitous, treacherous and evil scumbag. Your license to practice the law in the U.S. and Israel should be permanently revoked, and you should spend the rest of your unproductive and useless life sharing a tiny room (a jail cell would be even better) with the likes of Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky -- who knows, maybe you will even devour each other after a while, thus ridding the world of much harm.

P.S. But wait, wait, that's not all -- this sensitive vermin finishes off his disgusting diatribe with this pearl of tree-hugging Kumbaya:

"BDS can actually be a wonderful idea, provided the BDS of Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions changes to the BDS of Bilateral Doubling of Support for joint peace-oriented groups."

Ugh ... Dunno 'bout you, folks, but I'm ready to vomit ...

It is sad. A father of two young children, a talented man with a constant smile on his face, who seems to have lost the way. Craving fame and attention he chose to be extreme, and now he is at the criminal zone, and not defending others, but being marked as a criminal himself. So sad.