My Letter in Friday's JPost Magazine

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, in writing of the "power and influence" of the New Israel Fund ("War, human rights and democracy", Jan. 23), recalled to me an incident that occured in 1986. As a co-editor of Counterpoint, together with Rahel Katsman, we opened our pages to a response by Rafael Medoff on the NIF, the initial publication of which had been refused by Midstream magazine. In the May 1986 issue of Midstream, Medoff had exposed the problematic aspect of NIF in supporting groups of hardcore political progressive left-wing ideology while avoiding informing the NIF contributors of the full ramifications of the activities of the groups receiving their donations. A NIF response had been published in the August-September issue but not only was Medoff refused his rebuttal to correct falsehoods, but Joel Carmichael, Midstream's editor, was ousted. That very undemocratic and non-pluralistic development should have alerted many, 22 years ago, to the nature of NIF but perhaps it was also too daunting for others.