birthright palestineHaaretz reports ISM activists use Birthright program to get to Israel:

Jessica, [a] recent birthright graduate who volunteers for the ISM in Az-Zawiya outside of Salfit in the West Bank … and one of the leaders of her campus’ divestment campaign, was so nervous that birthright would uncover her activist past that she applied through a Chicago office, rather than on her North Carolina campus, where her name is well-known.

Good to see Federation dollars hard at work! It’s not like I have anything against opposing viewpoints per se, but the ISM is an organization that encourages its members to lie to Israeli security officials and break Israeli law, thus endangering themselves and those around them.

How hard is it to do a Google search? Not hard at all. With the scant information provided by the Haaretz article, I did a Google search for Jessica, Duke and ISM and found out all anyone would need to know about Jessica Rutter and her background. She asked not to have her last name printed in the article, but I’m not bound by that, especially when it was so easy to find it. In another article featuring Jessica, Gidi Mark, birthright israel’s marketing director, said he knew of “only a handful of participants who fit this description, out of 70,000. At most we’re talking about one person in 10,000 … During our screening hundreds of applicants were disqualified this summer, for a variety of reasons”.

It’s called Google dude. Check it out.

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About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

13 Comments

  • Cool logo. Imagine a “Birthright Palestine” trip. Learning how to set up an armed militia. Lectures on sending aid money to a private bank in France. Building bombs. And the lucky participant gets to blow himself up at a disco in Tel Aviv.

  • Jessica Rutter is one of my best friends. She is a good person, with a good heart. Ya’ll could learn a thing or two from her, like the ideas of sacrifice and solidarity with the oppressed. It’s a little scary how much some Israeli and American zionists sound just like fundamentlist Islamists. From my perspective, what Jessica and other’s like her are doing is trying to bring reconciliation and peace to a part of the world that desperately needs it. Instead, you would just attack her as anti-Israeli. Israel needs peace. Too many people are dying there, on both “sides.” Getting over this idea of two-sides is the first step to ending the killing. Peace ya’ll.

  • Ben, the quest for peace is not for children like you (and Jessica). I have no doubt that Jessica is a good person with a good heart and really good intentions – but you know the story – Road. Hell. Paving.

    If Jessica is being attacked for being anti-Israel, it’s because she is. Her involvement with campus Israel divestment campaigns and the ISM may be borne out of good intentions but they are not the sorts of things that even progressive “friends” of Israel get involved in.

    See. I don’t disagree with the notion that Israel needs peace – that the whole region in fact needs peace. I wish nothing but the best for the Palestinian people. But a peace that requires and demands death and destruction… well, here’s another cliché for ya – charity starts at home. I don’t love the Palestinian people that much.

  • Just tell Jessica to stay far, far away from uh, bulldozers. Seriously.

  • jessica rutter is a saint, and if anyone has an issue with that, come see me and ill straighten you out

  • Dave Rutter, I don’t doubt for a moment that your (I’m assuming) relative has a great heart and yearning for peace. Maybe, like so many young college-aged Jews, she simply got duped by the ISM into thinking they believe in a Zionist state existing in peace and security next to a Palestinian one. Because that’s not the case. ISM is against the existence of Israel, not just for Palestinian rights. Check some of the archives here about the ISM that will lead you to information supporting that fact.

    And Dave, I’m not defending Jessica’s heart and intentions because I’m scared of you. I truly believe she’s a sensitive and nobel person. But please don’t think “fucked company” (like, great website, dude :roll:) and his comment (#3) represent the sentiments of most Jewlicious commenters and contributors.

  • wow this is funny to read because its true now. Come on guys why havent you reported on this yet!

  • What are you talking about? We HAVE reported on this. See? It’s a blog post referencing a Ha’aretz article. It was true then and it continues to be true now. Last time I was in Ramallah in fact, I met two lovely Jewish ladies praying at a Quaker Church. They parlayed their Birthright Israel tickets into a 3 month stint in Ramallah, attending Birthright Unplugged, learning Arabic and then going home, ready, willing and able to discuss the evils of the occupation with their fellow students in Chicago. While in Ramallah, they studiously avoided telling anyone they were Jewish. Vive la Revolution!

  • No doubt Dave Rutter is gay and when he says he’s going to strighten someone out who calls little Jessica, the Jewish whore, what she really is says he will “straighten them out” means he will give him a blowjob. Most of the ISM Jewish males are gay anyway and getting even with mommy and daddy.

    That said, the ISM are still using Birthright to ge ISM activists over there for free. Something I broke the story on in 2003. One of their attendees was just there in January 2013 from San Francisco. The little darling was bragging abou it on her blog. Then there’s Gidi Mark, the incompetent head of Birthright who will gladly enable these ISMers to use the program even if he’s alerted they are using it.
    Don’t kid yourself, Birthright is about all the money, baby, not helping Israel to survive and thrive…

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