Green Zionist Alliance: The Grassroots Campaign for a Sustainable Israel (The organization's former name is now used as a project name.[4][5]) The Green Zionist Alliance works on issues related to the
environment of
Israel and the
Middle East.
Jewcology: Home of the Jewish Environmental Movement: Jewcology.org is an online resource for information on Jewish environmentalism, and includes resources such as a job board and an interactive map of Jewish environmental initiatives.[4][6]
Jews of the Earth: Jews of the Earth organizes Jews locally and nationally for environmental action.[4]
Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth: An environmental-advocacy group that Aytzim runs in partnership with GreenFaith, Shomrei Breishit includes more than 100 Jewish clergy, including chief rabbis.[7]
Aytzim also runs an internship program; hosts an English-language compilation of educational materials, research papers, academic papers, news articles, videos and books about Israel's environment; has student chapters, including "Yovel: Aytzim at
NYU";[8] and runs occasional conferences and weekend retreats.[9]
Criticism
Aytzim has been criticized (predominately by the conservative
Hudson Institute historian
Arthur Herman) for its stance against hydrofracking,[10][11][12] with Herman labeling the GZA in the New York Post as "running against the tide of technology".[12] The organization also has been criticized for its support of environmentalism and
tikkun olam.[13] Others have been critical of Aytzim's stance against
BDS;[14] for
greenwashing Israel;[15][16][17][18][19] for participating in the
People's Climate March;[18][17][20][15][21][22] for associating with Israel and
Zionism;[18][23][24] for working with Jewish National Fund;[25] and for its participation in a process that largely favors Israel's political status quo.[16] Some individuals have criticized the GZA for its promotion of community gardens, charging that making community gardens more widely available is patronizing to the public. Others see Zionism's mission as finished with the
establishment of the modern state of Israel and they question the relevance of the entire system of legacy Zionist organizations formed by the
World Zionist Organization and its constituent agencies.[26]
History
In response to perceived negligence in environmentally stewarding the land of Israel, as philosopher
Martin Buber first observed,[27] the Green Zionist Alliance (GZA) was founded in 2001 by
Alon Tal, Eilon Schwartz and Rabbi Michael Cohen,[28][29] with a large team of other volunteers, including
Adam Werbach,[30]Devra Davis and current Aytzim leadership—although its Jews of the Earth project originally was founded by Daniel Ziskin as an independent nonprofit in 1999[31] and merged into Aytzim in 2019.
In 2002 the GZA became the first
environmental party at the
World Zionist Congress,[32][33] where it has had elected representation since and until the start of the 38th Congress. Through this process, the organization succeeded in the appointment of environmental leaders, including Tal and Schwartz, to the board of the Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael (KKL /
Jewish National Fund in Israel).[34] For more than a dozen years, Aytzim representation had included Tal and Orr Karassin.[28][35]
In 2006 the GZA incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
In late September 2014, the GZA acquired Jewcology.org from fellow Jewish-environmental group Canfei Nesharim and, in partnership with GreenFaith, launched a Jewish-clergical environmental advocacy group called Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth.[36] To better reflect the scope of the organization's work, the GZA rebranded itself as Aytzim, keeping the Green Zionist Alliance name both legally and for its Israel-focused work.[5][4]
Since its founding as the Green Zionist Alliance, Aytzim has been a factor in the greening of Israeli policy—both internally and in its interactions with other countries—although that greening has led to charges of greenwashing,
as discussed above. Still, as an all-volunteer organization, Aytzim's accomplishments include quadrupling funding for
afforestation;[28] building new
bicycle lanes in Israel;[28] developing an environmental program for villagers in
Rwanda;[28] saving the unique ecosystem of the
Samar sand dunes in the
Arava Valley from destruction;[44] and helping Israel transition from incandescent to
energy-efficient lighting.[45]
Aytzim has worked to green the activities of quasi-governmental organizations, such as legacy Zionist organizations Jewish National Fund and the
Jewish Agency, including the installation of rooftop energy-generating
solar panels and indoor energy-efficient lighting;[5][46] the planned transition of vehicles in their fleets to high fuel-efficiency and
alternative-fuel models;[46] the development of seven-year environmental plans, inspired by the
shmita sabbatical cycle, to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in Israel;[5] the inclusion of
environmental education for new
immigrants to Israel;[5][46] the development of
community gardens at immigrant-housing centers;[46] and increased support for in-country
carbon-mitigating projects and
localorganic agriculture.[5][46]
Aytzim also has been active in addressing
energy issues in Israel, including a successful effort to stop
hydrofracking of oil shale in Israel's
Elah Valley,[10][12][47][48] and to ban all fossil-fuel extraction on land owned by Jewish National Fund in Israel,[5] as well as a successful effort to increase the public share of profits from Israel's offshore
natural-gas fields.[49][50]
Additionally, Aytzim has been active in working with partners to hold events, such as the "Forward on Climate" initiative (with 160 other groups, including primary organizers the
Sierra Club,
350.org and the
Hip Hop Caucus);[73] the
Food & Water Watch-organized New Yorkers Against Fracking coalition (with musician
Natalie Merchant, actor
Mark Ruffalo and more than 200 other groups – including
MoveOn,
Friends of the Earth and the
Indigenous Environmental Network);[74] the People's Climate March in both 2014 (New York) and 2017 (
Washington) (with hundreds of other groups);[75] the March for a Clean Energy Revolution in
Philadelphia (with hundreds of other groups);[76] and the Sacred Earth project (with a dozen other faith-based environmental organizations, including
Franciscan Action Network and GreenFaith).[77]
Some of Aytzim's efforts with partners were initially successful but ultimately failed, such as its partnership with 14 other Jewish organizations—including Hazon, COEJL and the
Religious Action Center—in founding the Green Hevra, a now-dormant network of Jewish-environmental organizations,[78] and an effort to develop a now-dormant network of individuals, organizations and communities working to create a healthier and more sustainable world rooted in the values of the shmita cycle.[79]
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abWindmueller, Steven (2019). "American Jews and the Domestic Arena (April 2017 – July 2018): Politics, Religion, Israel, and Antisemitism (In American Jewish Year Book 2018, pp. 163–214)".
Springer Science+Business Media.