Jewish Federations board approves first-ever West Bank trip

The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) for the first time has approved travel to the West Bank for an Israel trip falling under its jurisdiction.

Six months ago, the JFNA absorbed an organization called the Israel Action Network (IAN), which leads trips to Israel that include visits to the West Bank. During an Oct. 26 conference call, the JFNA board of trustees voted to alter its travel policies to allow these trips to continue.

“The JFNA Board of Trustees approved a number of appropriate and necessary protocols to support the advocacy and education trips of the IAN,” JFNA associate vice president Rebecca Dinar wrote in a statement emailed to the Journal. “This vote ensures that IAN will continue to travel to Israel and the surrounding areas not historically visited by JFNA staff.”

IAN was created in 2010 as a collaboration between JFNA and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs as a response to anti-Israel sentiment, but before this year it operated outside JFNA’s organizational structure.

Though the recent vote was called specifically to address IAN missions, it raises the question of whether other trips organized under the JFNA umbrella could soon visit the West Bank. 

The vote came immediately after two festival days — Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah — when observant Jews disconnected from their phones and emails. The urgency seems to have been due to an upcoming IAN trip that was set to depart from New York on Oct. 30. Trustees were informed about an upcoming conference call and vote the day before it took place in an email from JFNA President Jerry Silverman.

Silverman wrote in the email, “The call will center on a proposed adjustment to JFNA’s historic policy which prohibits mission travel to areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority [PA].”

The email made specific reference to the IAN’s Interfaith Partners for Peace trip, which takes non-Jewish clergy to PA areas such as Bethlehem.

After a review, Silverman wrote, JFNA staff determined “authorizing the entry of IAN missions into the PA is in the best interest of the federation system.”

But the email seemed to suggest the vote would reach further than just the IAN missions.

“The Board will also be asked to authorize the entry of JFNA missions, including federation community missions planned through JFNA, into Israeli-controlled territories beyond the Green Line (e.g., Ariel or Gush Etzion, etc.),” Silverman wrote.

Because the discussion was “deemed privileged information,” according to the email, JFNA officials wouldn’t say if the board took action on the type of broad policy change suggested by Silverman’s message. However, the issue could arise at JFNA’s upcoming General Assembly in November. 

Along with trips organized by its local affiliates like the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, JFNA leads regular trips to Israel, such as one from young leaders and another for LGBT individuals.