On #GivingTuesday, meet our new Development Director

On this #GivingTuesday, we are excited to formally introduce to the Mondoweiss community our new Director of Development and Outreach, Tova Perlmutter. Tova’s responsibility is to increase Mondoweiss’s income, but also to help connect the members of our community in useful and rewarding ways. Those of you who have met Tova since she started helping us last year cannot fail to notice her warmth, high energy and boundless excitement about building the movement for justice in Palestine. We’re excited to have her join the team!

Since Tova has joined us, donations increased by more than $100,000 over the previous year; even more exciting, both our total number of supporters and the number of new donors more than doubled. The additional funds have concrete, meaningful results: they have gone directly into more correspondents on the ground in Palestine, more news, more voices heard, and more people mobilized.

Also today is“Giving Tuesday”, an effort across the nonprofit world to focus attention on supporting meaningful causes amidst the flurry of consumerism that has come to define the holiday season. While Mondoweiss will be announcing our official end of the year fundraising campaign next week (and there’s an exciting challenge involved!), your support for Mondoweiss on #GivingTuesday will help us continue to bring you in-depth reporting on the fight for Palestinian rights—on the ground, in the U.S., and around the world. 

Following are Tova’s responses to questions all our team members have tackled. Please join us in welcoming her to Mondoweiss!

Did the milieu in which you grew up shape your views about Israel/Palestine?

I grew up in Philadelphia, the third child of two professors who were—still are—secular Jewish liberals. Sometimes I’ve referred to myself as a “pink-diaper baby”; I was taught to oppose racism, think about class issues, about equality and brotherhood, and pay attention to justice in every aspect of life.

Every aspect—except Zionism. When I was eleven, my parents took a six-month sabbatical in Jerusalem, and I attended an Israeli school. Even if I hadn’t been fully aware of Zionism before we lived in Israel, I was a dyed-in-the-wool Zionist by the time we returned to the United States. (When I learned the term “Progressive Except Palestine”—PEP—a few years ago, it seemed it could have been created to describe how I was raised.)

How did you first get involved with the issue?

Maybe because I was raised to question everything, as the years went by I began to feel a nagging obligation to scrutinize Zionism. I believed that nationalism was fundamentally wrong; how could I justify an exception merely because it served the tribe that claimed me? The first intifada…the second intifada…my discomfort grew, but still I tried hard to shut my ears and close my eyes to the consequences of that exception. I allowed myself to avoid taking a moral stand by telling myself it was “complicated,” and that I couldn’t judge because I didn’t know all the facts. Meanwhile, I avoided reading or learning the facts, I think because I suspected it would require of me the courage to break with the tribe.

Finally, in 2005, I was invited to a meeting of Jews who questioned the occupation, Zionism, and the role of the U.S. in enabling Israel’s atrocities. Hearing their views gave me the strength to open my eyes, and I have been working to learn and act for change ever since.

What professional experiences have prepared you for this work?

By the time I learned about Mondoweiss, I had been running a worker rights organization for over six years. That experience helped me build valuable skills—including fundraising and organizing—and relationships with people I admire. I also gained strength to stand “against the tide,” and became more comfortable saying things that were not popular. Today, I am able—and proud—to work openly for Palestinian liberation.

What keeps you going in helping to document what goes on in Israel/Palestine?

I am deeply motivated by the sheer rage I feel when I see how Palestinians are forced to live on their ancient homeland, how those in the diaspora are forced to hide their aspirations and loyalties, and by the shame I feel in knowing that ethnic cleansing is done in my name as a Jew.

What is the best thing about being part of the Mondoweiss team–and what is the most challenging?  What hopes and dreams do you have for Palestine?

The contribution Mondoweiss makes is immense: we provide information people need to take action. We have a community poised to do so much more, and I am grateful that my skills and experience can help make that happen. I believe that Mondoweiss and its community are building something bigger than the sum of our parts. I love that our team cares so deeply about justice, and devotes every ounce of energy to building a movement that is essential for Palestinians and for oppressed people around the world.

The challenge we face is that there are so many directions in which we can grow. It is hard, sometimes, to attend to everything and figure out how to manage all the factors, yet it is that challenge that motivates me to raise more money for the movement. The more resources we have, the better we are able to meet the challenges we face.

My hope for Palestine is that the Zionist lobby will lose enough of its grip on U.S. politicians that they will begin to feel able to speak out about Palestine. I believe that must happen before any real change will take place on the ground. My dream is that people in the territory called Palestine will soon have equal rights, claims upon their ancestral lands, and honor one another’s cultures.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Two things: first, I hope that Mondoweiss readers and supporters will contact me with ideas, questions or any other thoughts about how we can build our community. You can reach me at tova@mondoweiss.net. Mondoweiss’s editorial team is fantastic, and I want to free them to focus on the issues and news while we all come together in productive ways to support their work.

Second, please consider #GivingTuesday not the end but the beginning of a month-long focus on how you can direct whatever resources you have toward making the world fairer, better and more beautiful. We know you have many commitments and we appreciate the extent to which so many of you include Mondoweiss in your personal agenda for making real change.