Is Leichtag Foundation supporting anti- Israel groups?

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO — Controversial public relations executive Ron Torossian, a pro-Israel activist based in New York City  who was once national president of the North American branch of Betar, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, challenged the Leichtag Foundation in San Diego County to explain its contributions to the New Israel Fund, an organization that he says supports anti-Israel activities.

Jim Farley, chairman, and Charlene Seidle, executive vice president, of the Leichtag Foundation, responded that for San Diego Jewish World to print Torossian’s comments would be “irresponsible” adding that “this involves the prerogative of a private foundation making determinations on best use of its resources. We are confident that our grant to the New Israel Fund was in line with our strategies and objectives and feel the money was well-spent.”

In a memorandum sent to San Diego Jewish World, but addressed as a question to the Leichtag Foundation, Torossian wrote:

San-Diego based, The Leichtag Foundation honors the legacy of Lee and Toni Leichtag through igniting and inspiring vibrant Jewish life, advancing self-sufficiency and stimulating social entrepreneurship in coastal North San Diego County and Jerusalem. The organization gives away many millions of dollars annually to worthwhile causes. They even have a 67 acre ranch in Encinitas, which supports programs and educational activities at the Ranch inspired by ancient Jewish traditions that connect people to community, food, the land, and social justice. Clearly, this organization does so much good work.

They believe in “supporting renewal in Jerusalem and building connections between San Diego and Israel,” and this year hosted an event with Jerusalem’s Mayor. Yet, somehow in between all that good work, this high-profile San Diego Charity are 6-figure annual donors to the extremist organization New Israel Fund. The New Israel Fund (NIF) granted nearly $27 million to left-wing and progressive NGOs in Israel systematically focused upon destabilizing Israel.

Most recently, Alma Biblash, the Executive Director of the Human Rights Defenders Fund (HRDF) an organization to which the NIF authorized grants worth $332,625 from 2011-2013, has called Israel “racist,” and “murderous,” and described the country as a “temporary Jewish apartheid state.” Ms. Biblash supports Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns and promotes the Palestinian ‘right of return,’ meaning the elimination of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.

In an article on the “right of return” by Ms. Biblash published on the anti-Zionist website +972, she stated, “implementing the right of return is the just solution both in terms of historical and present justice for Palestinian refugees. Approximately six million Palestinian refugees live across the world. There will be no justice until Israel recognizes its responsibility for the Nakba (the Palestinian term meaning catastrophe, used to describe Israel’s creation in 1948), and allows the dispossessed to return to their homes.”

Another recipient of NIF money was the Coalition of Women for Peace, which demands a boycott of all things Israeli, and has established a well-oiled database called “Who Profits” that targets Israeli businesses. NIF’s financial records indicate that it granted $109,615 to Breaking the Silence, which tours campuses accusing Israel of war crimes; $255,477 to B’Tselem, which provides cameras to groups that harass Israeli soldiers hoping to videotape the reaction and harm Israel’s image worldwide; and $209,161 to Adalah, which works to get Israel prosecuted in foreign jurisdictions and erase Israel’s Jewish identity. These three groups are among many NIF grantees that operate at the front line of anti-Israel agitation.

In July 2014, 10 NIF grantees launched a campaign to convince the UN Human Rights Council that Israel must be brought to justice for war crimes and targeting of civilians. The groups – Adalah, Al Tufula Center, Aswat, Baladna, I’lam Media Center, Kayan Feminist Organization, Mada al-Carmel, Mossawa Center, The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages in the Negev – are tied closely to NIF’s giving philosophy.

Professor Gerald Steinberg, an Israeli academic said recently that “While the leaders of the New Israel Fund… claim to support Israel and human rights principles, they enable the highly destructive activities that do the opposite. By the time these funders acknowledge this failure and end their support, the damage will be done.”

The New Israel Fund is most likely be a funnel for The Leichtag Foundation to send money to a human rights issue which concerns the foundation – whether LBGT rights or womens’ issues. However, funding anything though the New Israel Fund simply endangers Israel and must immediately come to an end. Let us hope by reading this The Leichtag Foundation keeps helping people – just not via the dangerous New Israel Fund.

In transmitting Torossian’s unsolicited note to Farley, I, in my role as editor of San Diego Jewish World,  asked: “If Torossian’s allegations are correct that NIF is funding anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian organizations, it would be news to me–and I’m sure the rest of the San Diego Jewish community–if these NIF positions were also the positions of the Leichtag Foundation … or given Charlene’s new position, the positions of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego.

“So let me ask you, as friends, to please define what criteria you follow in making grants to organizations in Israel. For example, are the funds for whatever purposes they want or are they earmarked for specific purposes? If what Torossian says is true, will it in any way affect how you make grants in the future?”

Seidle, who will take over in January as chief executive officer of the Jewish Community Foundation, chose not to respond to San Diego Jewish World‘s request for clarification. Instead she wrote in an email: “I think our initial response is sufficient. I am still confused about what is newsworthy about this message?”

A Wikipedia article about Torossian gives this background on the publicist, who has represented Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party: “Torossian’s aggressive PR tactics have won him both praise and criticism. Business Week called him “loud, crass, buzz-obsessed… The Bad Boy of Buzz.” Atlantic Monthly writer Jeffrey Goldberg called him “the most disreputable flack in New York”, particularly criticizing his representation of what Goldberg called the “lunatic fringe” of right-wing Israeli politics. Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan wrote that Torossian “embodies the public’s worst ideas about what a PR person is: loud, brash, more flash than substance, dirty, manipulative, amoral, and, in the end, not particularly bright.”

On the other hand, clients have cited his “unlimited energy” and his unique approach to public relations as reasons for hiring him. Jameel Spencer, former CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment-affiliated Blue Flame Marketing and Advertising, called Torossian “one of my most trusted business counsels,” A The Jerusalem Post profile of him cited his “meteoric rise in the business world today”. Another client compared Torossian to former basketball player Dennis Rodman, whom “Everyone hated to play against. But if he was on your team, you loved him”. A Forward story said, “His aggressive style may not always be pretty, but the results speak for themselves.”

Some commentators see Torossian’s style as a sign of the times. He is “one of the New Yorkiest practitioners of this quintessentially New York profession… the consummate scrappy publicist”, wrote the New York Times.Businessweek wrote, “Torossian has anointed himself the brash new face of PR … echoes the raw, unvarnished discourse of the blogosphere… Few seem better equipped to navigate a celebrity-obsessed culture.”

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com