Your Daily Phil: Embattled board chair, CEO resign from FIDF
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the resignation of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces’ beleaguered board chair and CEO in the wake of allegations of mismanagement. We examine a new Brandeis University study that punctures the perception of university faculty as monolithic, progressive ideologues, and report on a letter from the Jewish Federations of North America to lawmakers highlighting the $765 million Jews spend each year on security. We feature an opinion piece by Phil Siegel, David Bernstein, Barak Sella and Steven Windmueller identifying opportunities for agency in a time of uncertainty for American Jewry; and one by Karyn Grossman Gershon calling on funders not to abandon Ukraine in the beleaguered nation’s hour of need. Also in this issue: Debra Messing, Carole Grafstein and Idit Ohel.
What We’re Watching
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will appear today at a Federal Reserve conference in Washington to push the economic benefits of artificial intelligence.
UJA-Federation of New York is hosting a bnai mitzvah party tonight for more than three dozen Israeli teenagers who have lost a parent on or since Oct. 7, 2023. The IDF Widows and Orphans Organization facilitated the trip.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
Under mounting pressure following the leak of an internal investigation alleging internal dysfunction, inappropriate spending and a toxic work environment at the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, the group’s embattled chair and CEO have resigned, two sources connected to the organization exclusively told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross yesterday.
Since the initial leak, which found that board Chair Morey Levovitz has been serving as the de facto head of the organization instead of CEO Steve Weil, additional sources connected to the group — current and former staff and lay leaders — have come forward to eJP, accusing the organization of misleading fundraising tactics and mismanaged sexual harassment cases, among other issues.
In light of the allegations, which were first published by the Israeli news site Ynet, the FIDF national board convened last week to vote on Levovitz’s continued tenure as board chair. The vote, which would have required a supermajority, was delayed as the board sought to reach an agreement with Levovitz that would see him willingly resign, with the threat of a forced removal if that didn’t happen, sources told eJP at the time.
Levovitz will be replaced temporarily by Nily Falic, a former board chair whose family is closely connected to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Falic will serve in the role until the board meets in September to elect a new chair.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Nadav Padan, the current national director of the organization, will serve as interim CEO, pending a vote on the matter by the board shortly. Padan’s term as national director is due to end in roughly a year and a half.
“Looking ahead, we remain unwavering in our mission — and more determined than ever to provide the brave men and women of the IDF with the critical support they need. We are fully committed to building a culture of transparency, collaboration, and unity within our organization because when FIDF is strong internally, we are strongest for Israel’s soldiers,” FIDF said in an official announcement about the resignations on Monday evening.
In the statement, FIDF absolved Levovitz and Weil of official wrongdoing. “Although the investigation identified certain issues related to organizational culture and staff morale, it found no fraud, misappropriation of funds, theft or kick-backs by or to Levovitz or any other employee, National Board Member or lay leader of FIDF,” the organization said.
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Brandeis study finds university faculty more heterodox, less anti-Israel than presumed
Puncturing commonly held perceptions of academics as uniformly liberal-minded, a new study from Brandeis University reveals that most faculty members at American research universities are not politically active, including on issues related to Israel, do not endorse antisemitic statements and hold a wide array of viewpoints on controversial issues, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim. “The one-dimensional portrayal of U.S. universities as bastions of the political left filled with ‘woke’ faculty who impose their views on students is at odds with the findings of this study,” wrote the authors of the study, “Ideology in the Classroom: How Faculty at U.S. Universities Navigate Politics and Pedagogy Amid Federal Pressure Over Viewpoint Diversity and Antisemitism,” which was published on Tuesday.
‘Not responsible’: The study was conducted by researchers Graham Wright, Shahar Hecht and Leonard Saxe from Brandeis’ Steinhardt Social Research Institute and Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies. It is the third study conducted by the center analyzing the college campus environment following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel. It surveyed over 2,200 faculty from nearly 150 top research universities across the country on a variety of issues. “They’re people who are dedicated to whatever their field is. They’re not very political. They’re not political activists most of the time, and most of them are not responsible for the failure of universities to deal with the antisemitism problem on campus,” Saxe told eJP ahead of the publication.
From all sides: The study found that the vast majority of faculty (90%) were not hostile to either Jews or Israel. Asked whether they agree with six questions aimed at assessing hostility towards Jews and Israel, 3% of non-Jewish faculty were found to be hostile to Israel, while 7% were considered hostile towards Jews. Extremely liberal faculty were more likely to be hostile to Israel, while those with conservative political views were more likely to be hostile to Jews.
EXCLUSIVE
U.S. Jewry spends $765 million on security annually, JFNA tells Congress
In a letter to members of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Counterterrorism and Intelligence subcommittee, the Jewish Federations of North America highlighted the significant security costs facing the Jewish community, as advocates push for additional security assistance from the federal government at a time of heightened antisemitism. The JFNA letter states that, nationally, the Jewish community spends more than $765 million each year on security expenses, and that 14% of the annual budget of “a typical Jewish organization” is dedicated to security costs, reports Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Help us out: The letter highlights that each security guard typically costs Jewish institutions $90,000 annually, while a community security director costs $160,000. “We also know that these measures are critical for Jewish life to flourish, finding that 60% of Jews say that security precautions make them feel safer,” the letter reads. “We urge this Subcommittee to advance concrete, bipartisan solutions that address the growing threat environment and reflect the urgent needs of faith-based and vulnerable communities nationwide.” JFNA has called on lawmakers to provide $1 billion annually for the chronically underfunded Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which helps nonprofits offset security costs.
Read the full story here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
AGENCY IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY
Can we plan for an American Jewish future?
“In a recent round of ‘war games’ convened by a group of Jewish philanthropists, nonprofit execs and thought leaders, leaders and experts from across the spectrum of American Jewry explored what the next 25 years could hold for our community,” write Phil Siegel, David Bernstein, Barak Sella and Steven Windmueller in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “At the heart of the experience was one central question, one that previous generations might have found unthinkable: Can we exercise agency in shaping our own future?”
Take courage and steer true: “In a world where ideas can go viral in seconds and where online mobs form faster than thoughtful coalitions, how can any group, let alone a relatively small community like the American Jewish population, expect to shape its trajectory?… To some degree, our community has no choice but to think strategically about its future and try its best to identify the tools and resources required to sustain and grow its influence and to help shape American democracy and society. We may not be able to slow history’s pace, but we can still steer… We can educate a new generation of proud and literate Jews. We can modernize our institutions. We can build strategic alliances based on common values. We can invest in technology and harness its promise rather than only fear its perils.”
AN URGENT PLEA
Jewish funders must refocus on Ukraine before it’s too late
“In the early hours of July 16, I began to receive a flurry of WhatsApp messages from my friend and colleague, Vlada Nedak, a leading Jewish Ukrainian figure based in the southern industrial city of Kryvyi Rih. More than 30 Russian drones had just attacked civilian targets within striking distance of her home, trapping her and her daughter and prompting her to reach out with an urgent late-night request: Promise if I die you and your people will stop this. Please continue the fight for the future of Ukraine. I didn’t know what to tell her,” writes Karyn Grossman Gershon, CEO of Project Kesher, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Truthfully, I cried and haven’t stopped crying.”
Don’t abandon them: “Despite attacks on Ukraine becoming more relentless than ever — destroying homes, schools, offices and vital infrastructure; killing children at playgrounds, grandparents in their beds and even members of our staff — perceptions of the war have shifted since 2022… What’s changed is the normalization of the war across groups, including Jewish philanthropists, who are beginning to return to their prewar giving models and are narrowing their focus on Israel and antisemitism… [W]e must seek to strike a balance, not be limited to one issue or another. Prioritizing the need to counter antisemitism and support Israel such that this completely drowns out the immediacy surrounding Ukraine is a tragedy of epic proportions, especially for Jews.”
Worthy Reads
Values Revealed: In The Times of Israel, actress Debra Messing reflects on the increasingly visible antisemitism among the progressive crowd she has considered her own her entire adult life. “Progressives often speak about centering marginalized voices. About listening to the lived experiences of those who have been hurt. About micro-aggressions and how to avoid them. But when Jewish people speak about our fear, our trauma, our history, our murdered families, we are too often met with silence. Or suspicion. Or conditional solidarity… What troubles me most is not the presence of hate. Hate has always found a way to survive. What troubles me is the way it is being rationalized. Dismissed. The way it is reframed as something noble. … I still believe in the progressive vision. But I’m watching closely, because if it can’t make space for my community, then it’s not what it claims to be.” [TOI]
Mandy’s Wrong Note: In his Substack, Michael Granoff responds to actor Mandy Patinkin’s recent comments critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s war against Hamas. “Finally, Mandy, one of my favorites of your recording, is your brilliant medley of ‘Everybody Says Don’t,’ from Sondheim’s ‘Anyone Can Whistle,’ and ‘The King’s New Clothes.’ The emotion you convey at the climax of the latter number, ‘…one little boy who for some reason didn’t know what he was SUPPOSED TO SEE…’ I bet you always fancied yourself that virtuous little boy. But you know what? You are actually with ‘the Ministers, the Ambassadors, the Counts and the Dukes,’ who repeat the lie promulgated by terrorists and by institutions like the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, Al Jazeera, and more. The King’s new clothes? Those are the accusations against us — apartheid, war criminals, baby killers, genocide. Lies just as naked as the king.” [Substack]
Innovation Alone is Not Enough: In Nonprofit Quarterly, Abdullahi Lawal emphasizes that the development of technology to address climate change needs to be paired with the right policies and better accountability to actually make a meaningful positive difference. “Tech executives tout ‘disruptive’ inventions — AI-driven carbon markets, blockchain-verified offsets, lithium-powered gadgets — while frontline communities in the Global South, Indigenous territories, and polluted urban neighborhoods are offered pilot programs, token consultation, or vague promises of equity ‘someday.’ The gap between those designing these technologies and those living with their consequences remains vast and unaddressed.” [NonprofitQuarterly]
Word on the Street
Research conducted in April by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy found that 1 in 12 foundations from Candid’s Foundation 1000 list had recently changed language on their websites, apparently to adhere to a Trump administration demand that civil society refrain from prompting “diversity, equity and inclusion in the social sector”…
Two Israelis visiting Belgium for a music festival were detained after an anti-Israel activist group made complaints to local prosecutors alleging that the pair had committed war crimes while serving in the Israeli military; they were later released…
Jewish Insider spotlights the struggles facing Jewish Democratic staffers on Capitol Hill, who describe feeling increasingly isolated and alienated amid growing anti-Israel sentiment in the party…
The Knesset passed a bill to provide compensation to businesses affected by last month’s war with Iran, getting the legislation through just before the parliament goes on its summer recess…
The Times of Israel profiles Zarta Studio, an architecture firm that is based in the Gaza border region and focused on reconstruction projects in the area, including on many of the hardest hit kibbutzim and moshavim in the Oct. 7 terror attacks…
Former Brigham Young University quarterback Jake Retzlaff is transferring to Tulane, following a seven-game suspension for violating BYU’s honor code…
Carole Grafstein, a Canada-based philanthropist who served on the boards of many charitable organizations, died on July 11 at 85…
Former University of Baltimore Law School dean and president of the Charles Crane Family Foundation, Larry Katz, died yesterday at 85…
Real estate mogul Don Soffer, a key driver behind the establishment and development of Aventura, Fla., died on Sunday at 92…
Transitions
Benni Gur was hired as the executive director of the Israel-based Be A Mensch Foundation…
Darren Walker, the outgoing president of the Ford Foundation, joined the board of the Obama Foundation…
Rabbi Shalom Yona Weis joined the rabbinical board of the Bereishis Foundation, which provides needy families with funding for therapy…
Pic of the Day
Idit Ohel, the mother of 22-year-old hostage Alon Ohel, speaks to members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations yesterday in the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, as the organization visits Israel in a solidarity mission this week. Alon, a pianist, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, and has been held in captivity for 655 days.
“When we say we need you — we mean it. What is Israel without you being there for us, hoping and praying and doing all you’ve been doing from Oct. 7 until today?” Ohel said to the American Jewish leaders, alongside her husband, Kobi, and younger daughter, Inbar. “[Alon] was kidnapped from a bomb shelter and injured. He is blind in one eye, with the other also damaged. He has shrapnel all over his body. He is malnourished, starved, and chained by the legs. We don’t know much, but we know he’s alive — and we know this because of returning hostages. Please continue hoping and praying for us, for all the hostages to return.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed hope that the current round of negotiations between Israel and Hamas would bear fruit. “These moments are extremely sensitive. There is a large Israeli negotiating team currently in Qatar. We see a major effort from all partners concerned,” Herzog said. “We want to see Alon here, playing the piano.”
Birthdays
Milken Community School-educated actor, his career started when he was 10-years old, he played Jimmy Olson in the 2025 version of “Superman,” Skyler Gisondo…
Actress, prominent in Israeli theatre, television and film, Gila Almagor… British Conservative Party member of Parliament for 36 years until 2010, a leading figure in the fight against human trafficking in the UK and worldwide, Anthony Steen CBE… Historian, author and professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Judith Walzer Leavitt… British biochemist and professor at the University of Dundee in Scotland, Sir Philip Cohen… Actor, director and comedian, Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein)… Past president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Detroit, owner of Nodel Parks (operator of 37 manufactured home parks in nine states), Richard Martin Nodel… One of only 21 EGOT winners, including eight Academy Awards and eleven Grammy awards, pianist and composer of many Disney movie musical scores, Alan Menken… Owner of Baltimore’s Seven Mile Market, Hershel Boehm… Managing director of a German public affairs firm, he works to ensure that the Holocaust and its many victims are not forgotten, Terry Swartzberg… Publisher of The 5 Towns Jewish Times, Larry Gordon… Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 2011 (senior status since May 2023), Judge Amy Berman Jackson… Canadian sports journalist, radio host and mental health advocate, Michael Elliott Landsberg… Member of the board of governors of the American Jewish Committee, Cindy Masters… Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the first year of the Trump 45 administration, David Jonathon Shulkin… Director of government relations for the Zionist Org. of America, Dan Pollak … Federal prosecutor for 25 years, she was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama throughout the Obama administration, Joyce Alene Vance… Founding partner of the D.C.-based intellectual property law firm, Greenberg & Lieberman, Stevan Lieberman… Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates since 2018, Evan Hansen… Television journalist, David Shuster… CEO of Leviathan Productions, focused on Jewish history, folklore and literature, Ben Cosgrove… Pentagon speechwriter during the prior administration, Warren Bass… Owner of West Bloomfield, MI-based Saltsman Industries and Saltsman Financial Group, Daniel A. Saltsman… Branch chief and senior advisor for policy and readiness at the U.S. Army, Jonathan Freeman… Contemporary artist, he is the founder and director of Pioneer Works, a cultural institution in Brooklyn, Dustin Yellin… Manager of global issues for ExxonMobil, Elise Rachel Shutzer… Associate justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court, Rachel Wainer Apter… Former White House assistant press secretary, now the executive producer for news and politics at Crooked Media, Reid Cherlin… White House correspondent at The Independent, Andrew Grant Feinberg… Member of the House of Representatives (D-RI) since 2023, Seth Michael Magaziner… Executive director of the American Sephardi Federation since 2014, Jason Guberman-Pfeffer… Actor best known for his role in the Freeform series “Pretty Little Liars,” Keegan Phillip Allen… Director at the Peterson Health Technology Institute, Maor Cohen… Talia Joyce Thurm Abramson… Serial entrepreneur, software consultant and product strategist, Yoela Palkin…
