Part II
- Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) (https://spme.org/)
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3), grassroots community of scholars who have united to promote honest, fact-based and civil discourse, especially in regard to Middle East issues. They believe that ethnic, national and religious hatreds, including antisemitism and anti-Israelism, have no place in our institutions, disciplines and communities. They employ academic means to address these issues.
Their mission is to inform, motivate and encourage faculty to use their academic skills and disciplines on campus, in classrooms, and in academic publications to develop effective responses to the ideological distortions, including antisemitic and anti-Zionist slanders, that poison debate and work against peace. SPME welcomes scholars from all disciplines, faith groups and nationalities who share their desire for peace and their commitment to academic integrity and honest debate.
SPME believes there is room for negotiation. SPME is trying to counterbalance the well-documented and increasing anti-Israel and antisemitic forces that have made their way to the college campuses today, as SPME believes they do not contribute to peace for anyone affected.
- Israel Defense and Security Forum (https://idsf.org.il/en/)
A group of 16,000 reserve officers and operatives from all branches of the Israeli security forces dedicated to guiding the narrative of Israel’s national security needs and ensuring that Israel’s security in the homeland of the Jewish people is never taken for granted.
At the core of IDSF lies the belief that Israel’s security must be anchored in its ability to protect itself, by itself, while actively thwarting threats to its safety. The authoritative voices of well-known military veterans, media personalities and national security experts are key in disseminating their security strategy for the State of Israel.
The Research Division is responsible for carrying out actionable studies of a range of fields related to Israel’s national security. The purpose of the research is to provide the public and decision-makers with the necessary tools to address political and security-related developments, stemming from our multi-year professional experience as well as their values.
They provide comprehensive research papers, relevant position papers for discussions in Knesset committees and in government ministries, and in-depth security reviews for decision-makers in Israel and around the world in order to understand the complex security landscape. Making knowledge accessible on diverse spheres of influence is a predominant part of their activity, and includes webinars and conferences for decision-makers, for diplomats and defense attachés from foreign embassies and the wider public.
Their guidelines are clear: maintaining a strictly apolitical line, professionalism, values, precision, and uncompromising quality, with high-level research.
IDSF advances Zionism and Israel’s national security needs from podiums all over Israel and abroad; on mainstream and social media, on television and radio, all adapted to a variety of audiences and in every relevant language. IDSF spokespeople are able, in real time, to prevent diversion towards foreign agendas by publicizing the voice of the national-Zionist community, ensuring that Israel’s security interests remain in the public eye.
Senior IDSF members maintain close relationships with ambassadors and policy makers in Israel and abroad in order to share their extensive security experience.
- Regavim (https://www.regavim.org/)
Regavim is a public movement dedicated to the protection of Israel’s national lands and resources.
“We use the information we gather to create an overview of the problem,” explained Meir Deutsch, director general of Regavim. “We research the history and the legal issues that impact what we see out in the field, and map out the problem using every resource we can get our hands on: archival material, land deeds and official documents, historic photographs, up-to-date aerial and drone photography, state-of-the-art GIS maps, and more. When we have the facts, the next stage begins. We process and digest all of this information and build our case, file official complaints with the relevant authorities, and closely monitor enforcement activity. When necessary, we take it to the next stage: Our legal department petitions the court for an injunction or work-stop order.”
The process doesn’t end there. The follow-up often takes longer than the case-building or prosecution, and some active cases have been in the courts for a decade. In the interim, Deutsch and his colleagues use the information to piece together a larger picture of the underlying issues, and to formulate solutions.
With hard facts and incisive analysis, they take any and every procedural and legal measure necessary to compel those responsible to enforce the law. And when the law is insufficient or unclear, they focus their efforts on lobbying and participation in Knesset hearings, and have become a major contributor to important pieces of legislation that strive to fill the gaps that allowed the problems to arise in the first place.
It’s painstaking, exacting work on a shoestring budget with a small but dedicated staff. The odds seem insurmountable. Yet they have sued the United Nations for violations of Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem, forced the European Union to halt illegal construction in the Adumim region, and been instrumental in rewriting Israel’s Planning and Construction Law.
Regavim’s comprehensive plan for the Negev, presented to the Israeli government in 2017, is both a proposed resolution of existing problems and a vision for the future development of the Negev, and it has become the basis for national strategic planning and land-use policy.
- Shurat HaDin (https://israellawcenter.org/)
Shurat HaDin is at the forefront of fighting terrorism and safeguarding Jewish rights worldwide. They are dedicated to the protection of the State of Israel. From defending against lawfare suits fighting academic and economic boycotts and challenging those who seek to delegitimize the Jewish State, Shurat HaDin utilizes court systems around the world to go on the legal offensive against Israel’s enemies.
They have represented hundreds of terror victims in legal actions against terror organizations and their supporters, won billions of dollars in judgments against them, and secured hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation on behalf of the victims.
Under the motto “Bankrupting Terrorism—One Lawsuit at a Time,” they undertake civil actions against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Egypt, North Korea, UBS and the Lebanese Canadian Bank. The cases, being tried in Israeli, American, Canadian and European jurisdictions, allow the victims of terrorism to fight back.
They recently won a major legal victory against Airbnb for its decision to delist Jewish homes in the West Bank from its website, causing the hosting company to publicly reverse its policy, and thus serving a high-profile defeat to the BDS movement.
Shurat HaDin assisted in blocking the Gaza Flotilla, an attempt by our enemies to breach the sea blockade over Gaza and challenge Israel’s sovereignty.
They brought war crimes complaints against Hamas and PLO leaders in the International Criminal Court, and prosecuted multiple lawsuits against the BDS movement.
As a result of the litigation against them, banks have shut down accounts for terror organizations. No bank agrees any longer to provide financial services to designated terror organizations nor their affiliates, or to operate in terror zones like South Lebanon or Gaza.
- Lawfare Project (https://www.thelawfareproject.org/)
Lawfare is a nonprofit legal think tank based in New York City that mobilizes public officials, media, jurists and legal experts to counter the international lawfare phenomenon: the abuse of the law as a weapon of war against Western democracy.
They advance human rights by combating extremism. Their network takes legal action against individuals and organizations that provide material support to terrorist networks, while producing educational materials on the global threat posed by radicalization.
They shut down the unlawful broadcasting of Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) and Al-Manar (Hezbollah) in the United States. Both television stations are “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” entities.
The Lawfare Project produces research that educates policymakers about the threat of lawfare—the abuse of the law as a weapon of war against western democracies. Additionally, they produce videos to educate the public on critical issues, ranging from the prevailing threats to your freedom of speech to the recruitment of children towards terrorism.
They fight discrimination by providing legal counsel and services to members of the Jewish community who have been targeted and harmed based on their ethnicity, religion, citizenship or nationality.
They safeguard free speech by guaranteeing that Jewish voices are not silenced by illegal conduct on campuses and communities around the world.
Dr. Alex Grobman is the senior resident scholar at the John C. Danforth Society, a member of the Council of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and on the advisory board of the National Christian Leadership Conference of Israel (NCLCI). He has an MA and PhD in contemporary Jewish history from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
