Ari Ne'eman's mother Rina has written columns here supporting whatever position the Israeli government holds in its intransigence against a 2 state solution to Israel's conflict with Palestinians.
Ari wrote a column with a ‘both sides’ perspective making a false equivalence of left & right antisemitism by erasing power Jews have since the zionist movement created Israeli inequality, injustice and apartheid. Fierce resistance to nonzionist Judaism focuses on the IHRA antisemitism definition that combines Judaism with zionism. Part of that definition includes, as one of its 7 of 11 examples, the 3 D test (demonize to delegitimize with double standards) of Anatoly (Natan) Sharansky a former Soviet Jew refused permission to emigrate to Israel until 1986.
Ari learned the hasbara (explaining Israeli government positions in support) well from his mom.
In July 2013 Ari N. replied to disagreeably (trolled) a condolence tweet by twisting his political disagreement with a person into false allegations of prejudice against Jews. The reply was deleted. Here is a copy and paste
Ari Ne'eman
@aneeman
·
Jul 20, 2013
Replying to
@busboysandpoets
@busboysandpoets
@AlJazeera
Let's not forget anti-semite on that list of descriptions.
of what was posted.
By 2013 William Daroff, who has changed jobs since 2013 and is the current CEO of the President's Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations disclosed his personal and professional relationship with Ari Ne'eman.
Two weeks ago, I was privileged to participate as a speaker at ADVANCE: The Ruderman Jewish Disabilities Funding Conference, along with more than 100 Jewish leaders. The conference, which was co-sponsored by The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), focused on the proposition that our Jewish values propel us to welcome, embrace, and engage individuals with disabilities and their families into the mosaic that makes up the American Jewish community.
The agenda allowed attendees to focus on issues from birth to end of life, including education, employment, housing, and communal life. Each session featured experienced panelists who guided funders through conversations about developing opportunities to ensure individuals with disabilities can participate meaningfully in the Jewish community. With the help of Pascale Bercovitch, an Israeli paralympic athlete, who opened our minds to the potential of people with disabilities; Joseph Shapiro of NPR, who reminded us of the challenges the disability community faces defending its civil rights; and Rick Guidotti of Positive Exposure, who showed us the impact the visual arts can have on our perception of people with disabilities; the momentum achieved as the conference ended was palpable.
One focus of that momentum was in the realm of advocacy. I joined Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, Founder and President of Laszlo Strategies; Allan Bergman, President and CEO of High Impact Mission-Based Consulting and Training; and Ari Ne’eman, President and Co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, in a dialogue with conference attendees on the importance of advocacy on issues impacting the disability community and the critical role public charities and private foundations can play in advocating on those issues. JFNA and our partners – including advocates representing a broad range of Jewish communities, religious streams, social service providers and public policy organizations – work day in and day out with policy makers on Capitol Hill and in the Administration to further the goal of ensuring individuals with disabilities can lead healthy, independent lives. Public charities and private foundations should be engaged in these efforts as well.
Our work comes at a critical time. The unemployment rates we associate with the slow recovery from the Great Recession pale in comparison to the persistent lack of employment opportunities for the disability community.
The disincentive for individuals receiving disability benefits to work in order to maintain those benefits, and the inability for those relying on those benefits to build assets, makes upward mobility even more difficult. The growing challenge for non-profit agencies to provide home- and community-based care makes independent living for many individuals with disabilities an impossibility. The challenges are daunting, but for the Jewish community, it is an opportunity, both in the context of Jewish values and the continuity of our faith, to welcome those who have been marginalized back into our community.
As we continue to advocate for improved policies and initiatives that improve the quality of life for people with disabilities and their families, we encourage all to recognize and support these critical needs. We know that only through a happy marriage of public and private initiatives and program funding can we truly achieve success on behalf of those with disabilities and their families.
William Daroff is Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington office of the Jewish Federations of North America. Follow him on twitter at @Daroff.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Daroff is the Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington Office of The Jewish Federations of North America.
The Ruderman Foundation funded programs to improve accessibility in Jewish schools and synagogues from 2011 until 2021 in memory of Morton
According to the Ruderman Family Foundation website, Ruderman and his wife met less than two weeks before his death with more than 100 leaders of programs supported by the foundation in Israel that focus on improving the lives of those with disabilities, including eight members of Israel’s Knesset. The foundation brought Knesset members to the U.S. in the spring to learn about American Jews.
Ruderman “was a true Zionist,” said his son, Jay, of Rehovot, Israel, who remembered that his father went to Israel when the first Lebanon War broke out in 1982. “He said he would deliver mail, pick oranges or do whatever was needed to help the country. My father’s love for Israel and his frequent trips there are probably the reason I’m living and raising my family there today.”
Ruderman. The donor decisions were made by Morton's son Jay Ruderman.
Support for the inclusion of Jews with disabilities by member organizations of the President's Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations has an unpleasant history of a $100,000 discrimination settlement paid by the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in 2011 to a hearing impaired teacher. By 2013 the JFNA and indirect President's Conference member JCCGW had recovered the cost in one fundraising event. In 2017 the JCCGW honored its president Steve Rakitt, who lived with the same hearing disability the JCCGW settled with the former preschool teacher, Carol Schuman, for discrimination, when Rakitt left his job.
Two years after the Ruderman Family Foundation stopped donating to advance the issue of Jewish Disability Inclusion and Awareness the misuse of the disability inclusion issue in the American Jewish 'pro-Israel'/liberal zionist community continued in the summer of 2023 when Christina Aguilera performed a concert in Israel at Live Park in Tel Aviv.
Israeli media have reported that a former Israeli soldier, Eden Ben Zaken, will join Aguilera on stage during her concert.
Ben Zaken has lent her music and fame for military propaganda. A video for one of her hit songs features her performing alongside Israeli soldiers who have disabilities, portraying the apartheid state’s army as joyful, liberal and inclusive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM9VhkFDcpg
