The Arab vote and the US dollars - Miri Eden and Eli Leon

by Miri Eden and Eli Leon

U.S.-based NGO Ameinu may be involved in effort to increase turnout among "young secular Israelis, non-wealthy secular Jews and the Arab community," internal memo shows • Ameinu: Efforts aren't aimed at helping any specific party; we parted ways with V15.

An internal Ameinu memo shows alleged efforts to increase Arab turnout in Israel | Photo credit: The Washington Beacon

A coalition of "progressive" organizations, bankrolled by U.S. dollars, is actively involved in a get-out-the-vote effort in Israel, focusing on constituents who are most likely to vote against Netanyahu, The Washington Free Beacon's Alana Goodman reported last month. 

The U.S.-based media outlet based its report on a confidential strategy memo that it had obtained. 

The memo is in the form of a fund-raising proposal sent to donors on Dec. 17, 2014. "The $3 million initiative is described in the document as 'a massive, nonpartisan Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign targeting selected demographic and geographic segments of Israeli society,'" the online newspaper reported. 

The memo specifically cites "young secular Israelis, non-wealthy secular Jews and the Arab community" as the target audience. Goodman explains that these demographics are more likely to vote against the incumbent Likud party. According Goodman, the 2015 elections will see an surge in Arab turnout because of the new election rules that forced the Arab parties to run on a joint ticket. This, Goodman says, "could make it easier for the left-leaning Labor Party to form a government." 

Goodman was also behind the story scrutinizing OneVoice, an nongovernmental organization that had received two State Department grants for ostensibly apolitical activity in Israel despite its alleged ties to V15, which is actively calling for the ouster of Netanyahu. 

"We've formed a partnership with [V15], but it's important to know we're absolutely nonpartisan," OneVoice development and grants officer Christina Taler was quoted in the Washington Free Beacon. "Our biggest emphasis and focus right now is just getting people out to vote."

"We are already in touch with a highly talented combination of knowledgeable Israeli professionals and American experts with experience in similar recent operations, including the Obama presidential campaign," says the confidential memo, which cites Givat Haviva, an educational institution in northern Israel that puts an emphasis on Arab-Israeli coexistence in its curriculum, as the organization that would lead the campaign's groundgame in the Arab community. "Their [Givat Haviva's] Public Engagement programmatic unit provides a perfect platform to quickly establish the GOTV effort and their management team is fully committed to the effort, so Givat Haviva has been chosen to carry out the Arab community GOTV initiative," the memo states. 

Ameinu President Kenneth Bob told Goodman that the memo was just one of several drafts and denied that his organization was campaigning for any specific party. He even noted that the get-out-the-vote efforts was not designed to help any particular candidate. "I'm sure you know that in the Arab sector, the Likud also gets votes, they have strong pockets of support," Bob told Goodman. "I'm very comfortable with this as a nonpartisan effort."

Goodman noted that his voter-turnout efforts were run independently of V15, although he conceded that the two organizations did have ties in the past. "Bob initially told the Free Beacon that the initiative outlined in the memo had no connection to the V15 campaign or former Obama aide Jeremy Bird," Goodman wrote. "He later said that V15 and Bird's consulting group 270 Strategies were involved in the discussions early on, but have since parted ways with Ameinu." 

According to a report on the Channel 1's nightly news from February 11, 2015, the heads of several Arab municipalities and other Arab politicos travelled to the United states where they were provided training aimed at increasing Arab turnout. They told the Channel 1 crew about the new tools they had received and said they the workshops provided them more insight. They said the trip was funded by "various NGOs and organizations," including Ameinu. 

Mohammad Darawshe, the co-executive director of the Givat Haviva Institute, participated in the U.S. visit. Darawshe, a founder of OneVoice's Israel branch, served as the director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives. According to Goodman, Darawshe was the "main organizer" of the visit, and he made sure the other members of the delegation would get their U.S. visas by means of a fast-track process. Givat Haviva received State Department funding in 2011, 2012 and 2013, Goodman reported.

Miri Eden and Eli Leon

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=24107

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.