Judean National Front splits from Jewish National Front

According to The Jewish Chronicle (subscription only), Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) has finally and completely split from its British founding partner the Jewish National Fund.

The JNF was established in April 1907 in England as an instrument of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) to acquire and colonize land. With the enactment of the Israeli JNF Law (1953), which states in clause 6 that it is permitted to set up an incorporated body in Israel for the continuation of the activities of the existing company that was founded and incorporated in Europe, JNF was registered as an Israeli company and the English company's assets were transferred to it. JNF is held by the state of Israel as a central tool of Judaization.

The spat has been going on for over five years, in the first instance because the UK based JNF feared that too close an association with the Israeli branch could jeopardise its charitable status.

A little known fact about the Jewish National Fund in the UK is that three of its honorary patrons are Tony Blair, Charles Kennedy and Michael Howard. I wonder how any of these could play the role of any kind of honest broker in the Middle East when they are card carrying associates of an organisation that has instigated and benefited from the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Scottish Palestine Solidarity has some useful resources on the racist nature of the JNF, in both its UK and Israeli manisfestations.