Five years at New Israel Fund have taught me that empathy cannot be rationed
It is possible – indeed essential – to hold deep commitment to Israelis alongside urgent compassion for Palestinians
Spending seven weeks in Tel Aviv earlier this year, mostly during the war, gave me a glimpse of the trauma Israelis have endured for far too long. It also sharpened my sense of the violence Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and across the region have lived with for generations.
Reflecting on five years as chief executive of New Israel Fund UK, that experience is the most visceral of many that have deepened my connection with the people and place we serve.
Compassion for Israelis traumatised by 7 October, for former hostages and their families, for murdered loved ones, uprooted communities and all living under fire. Compassion too for Palestinians in Gaza facing bereavement, devastation and displacement, and in the West Bank living with occupation, dispossession and extremist violence.
People watching from afar sometimes treat empathy as though it must be rationed. I work with Israelis and Palestinians demonstrating the opposite: even amid war, the suffering of one people never justifies the dehumanisation of another.
When I joined NIF UK five years ago, we were emerging from a previous escalation in Gaza and violence between Jewish and Arab communities inside Israel. The warning was clear: Israel’s future could not be secured by force alone. A society divided by inequality, occupation, and discrimination needed investment in people willing to build a shared future.
In 2023, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to defend democracy and the rule of law against the government’s so-called judicial overhaul. It was not a perfect movement; too many were late to understand that democracy cannot stop at the Green Line. But it helped block attempts to weaken courts and protections for minorities.
Then 7 October tore through everything.
I remember the dread of that morning: frantic messages to family, friends and colleagues; the horror of what Hamas had done; the trauma that would reshape all our lives.
I also remember being brought to tears as colleagues mobilised within hours to house, protect and provide for thousands of Jewish and Bedouin residents across southern Israel. We were among the first supporters of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and aided citizens often neglected by their government.
One privilege of my life has been to play a small part in the £6 million NIF raised globally for emergency response and rehabilitation in the Negev. I feel the same pride that our Gaza humanitarian appeal, initiated by Palestinian and Jewish colleagues, raised £3 million. It is possible – indeed essential – to hold deep commitment to Israelis alongside urgent compassion for Palestinians.
NIF UK has grown because thousands in Britain share that conviction. We have raised £21 million in the last five years, compared with £13 million in the previous five, and over 1,600 gave since 2021 to join the 1,100+ continuing their support. Behind those figures are people choosing not to give up.
We have become a home for values-led engagement. In 2025, more than 3,000 people joined 43 events, from memorial spaces with Israeli and Palestinian speakers to screenings, exhibitions, synagogue conversations, and briefings on war, democracy and fake news.
Five years in this role have taught me that compassion for both Israelis and Palestinians resonates. Many are looking for a place where grief is not weaponised, where seeking Jewish safety and Palestinian freedom is mutually dependent, and where moral seriousness means refusing to erase anyone’s humanity.
In the ongoing trauma and pain, dedicated leaders from both communities are still striving for a more just, safe and equal future. Against impossible odds, they have saved and improved countless lives: through ceasefires and hostage-release agreements, blocking anti-democratic legislation, and securing investment for disadvantaged communities.
People closest to the conflict often have greater capacity for complexity than those shouting from thousands of miles away. The Israeli and Palestinian colleagues I work with know the pain, fear and anger more intimately than most of us can. Yet they still choose solidarity over dehumanisation.
Looking ahead five years, a better reality is possible.
The end of regular periods of war and sheltering from missile fire. Gaza rebuilt and Palestinian self-determination back on the diplomatic horizon. Israelis and Palestinians – in Jerusalem and Jenin, Kiryat Shemona and Khan Younis – living in peace, governed by people committed to democracy, not theocrats, ultranationalists and autocrats. Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel sharing a society built on dignity and the rule of law.
Extremists will not deliver that future. It will be built by people, projects and ideas that refuse to surrender to the present cruelty.
To the many more people who share our values: join us. Sign up to our newsletter. Come to our events. Follow and amplify our work online. If you can, consider a contribution.
These five years have deepened rather than weakened my determination to uphold Israel’s founding vision: a safe Jewish homeland that treats all its inhabitants equally.
In these dark days, that vision may feel distant. I have the honour of working with the people still striving to realise it. They are not giving up. We must continue to stand alongside them.
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