As New Israel Fund enters 2021, our attention is both on the immediate challenges and opportunities of these tumultuous and difficult times and on the longer view that our values and mission seek to impact.

In 2021 we celebrate the 25th anniversary of New Israel Fund UK. We were established 25 years ago to champion a vision of an Israel true to our core human values of inclusiveness, equality, justice and democracy. As I am sure you will agree, this vision and values that underpin them remain as essential today as they did back in the 1990s.

To mark our 25th anniversary we are launching a special Legacy Giving Campaign. Funds raised through gifts in wills empower NIF to pursue its mission of strengthening democracy and equality in Israel by enabling us to respond to the urgent issues of the time and plan for the long term.

In short, ensuring that the vision we share becomes our legacy.

Concurrently we continue our fight for democracy in Israel and our work responding to Covid-19. The pandemic continues to expose deep vulnerabilities in society – from access to health, to income inequality, to the possibilities of building a more inclusive society. It is a ground-hog’s day contest in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will try again to retain his hold on power and deliver for himself a much-sought-after immunity from prosecution for the serious crimes of corruption he was indicted for last year. Of course, these elections will potentially shape which wider, fundamental, issues that Israel needs to address from the rule of law, to peace and security to the possibilities for Jewish-Arab partnership. Over the next few weeks we look forward to inviting you to our various events and sharing with you our expert content as we all seek to understand the elections, their likely outcomes and what the results may bring.

Looking in the other direction, I am sure many of you (like me!) we glued to your screens watching the inauguration of the new President and Vice President in Washington, D.C. last week. Now we can all see what the vision America recommitted to means for the future they we all trying to build — a future defined by equality and democracy in Israel for all of its citizens and for all who live under Israel’s control.

Wishing you and your family well.

Adam Ognall