By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
During opening remarks, the audience heard the familiar sound of the word “change” six times in as many minutes. Then came the dire warnings about growing economic disparity, a failing educational system, ever-increasing societal violence, and rampant government corruption that could spiral out of control if the coming election didn’t produce leaders who could successfully navigate change. But this wasn’t a stump speech for the 2008 U.S. election
It was social activist, former Israeli Knesset member, and university professor Naomi Chazan, making her first appearance in Seattle as the newly appointed president of the the New Israel Fund, and she was talking about Israel.
“To say that Israel… is enmeshed in a period of uncertainty of the highest order, on one hand, is an understatement,” Chazan told the sizeable crowd who came to hear her speak at the Museum of History and Industry on Sept. 15. “On the other hand, we all know, that if there’s not real change in Israel in the foreseeable future, the outcome is going to really be catastrophic.”
Kicking off her U.S. speaking tour a mere two days before elections in her own country, where Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won the Kadima primary, Chazan is traveling from one coast to the other promoting the NIF agenda, which closely mirrors her own record of building coalitions for social and economic justice from grassroots community organizations.
In addition to her three-term, 11-year record as a member of the Knesset in the Meretz party through 2003 — she served as deputy speaker for seven of those years — Chazan also worked on more than a dozen Knesset committees, including foreign and economic affairs, drug abuse, education and culture, and the Committee on the Status of Women.
She currently serves as head of the School of Government and Society at the Academic College of Tel Aviv–Jaffa.
Chazan’s thoughts all hinged on Livni’s strategy for when she first takes office.
“The first choice…is to try and form a new government and get the support of the 61 members of the Knesset to stay in office,” said Chazan. “There are just two problems with trying to form a new government under present political circumstances — you’re going to have to pay an exorbitant price to potential coalition partners [by making difficult compromises]. The other option is to call for new elections as soon as possible.”
But to do so, she added, means paralyzing the peace process.
“The second risk is that…anyone in the prime minister’s office for a month, two months, three months, is going to make mistakes,” she said, “and in typical Israeli civilized style, they’re waiting to pounce on you.”
Livni is going to find herself between a proverbial rock and a hard place, according to Chazan, but periods of transition also create opportunities for positive change.
“The Olmert period in Israeli society is over and I would like to suggest that the secret to success lies in a civil society,” said Chazan. “If we don’t consolidate and entrench the bedrock of a democratic society, which is organizations and people who feel empowered, then we’re going to lose it all.”
Chazan left Seattle for appearances in Los Angeles and San Francisco before heading off to New York University for a New Israel Fund Forum.
According to June Rogul, the Washington, D.C-based director of national outreach for the NIF, she invited Chazan to speak because she is concerned about a waning attention span for Israeli issues, as well as a generational preference on the part of Jewish youth to support more secular philanthropic causes.
“There’s a great lack of awareness about everyday life in Israel and I think there are a fair number of Jews that have turned off from Israel,” she said. “People only seem to focus on the failed peace process and security issues.”
According to Rogul, the NIF’s work in Israel for the last 29 years has laid the democratic foundation that will be necessary for the tough road ahead.
“There was no culture of citizens getting involved,” said Rogul. ”We started by seeding groups that would work for social change and we also promoted leadership development. We are empowering citizens to get involved in what’s happening in their communities.”
Since 1979, The New Israel Fund has granted over $200 million to more than 800 community-based and national organizations in Israel. They have also partnered in projects with the Joint Distribution Committee and the Ministry of Education in Israel.
Seattleite Lisa Orlick-Salka, an NIF board member and member since 1983, arranged the MOHAI event, which drew an audience of nearly 100.
“I wanted a different venue that would be open to the whole community and to people who were not members of a synagogue,” said Orlick-Salka. “Naomi Chazan is such an incredibly dynamic speaker. People who follow Israeli politics, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the civil rights movement, or the feminist movement in Israel know her.”
One in three children in Israel now lives below the poverty line, and the country has now become No. 1 in the industrialized world for income inequality, according to the NIF.
Israeli students’ rankings in math and science have dropped to 36th in the world.
As Israel struggles internally with economic and civil rights disparities among its diverse and multi-cultural population, Orlick-Salka said Chazan will use her experience and passion to focus on gender inequality, increasing religious pluralism, government reform and maintaining an independent judiciary.
“This is the hard, hard work of building a society that tolerates diversity,” Orlick-Salka said. “This is the work I think the NIF has mastered.”