October 14, 2009
Faith-based reform veers into Israeli policy
by Rebecca Dube
The Forward
A task force charged with improving the White House's faith-based initiative program has waded into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, raising eyebrows and concern among Jewish leaders.
Most of the attention around the controversial Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, begun by President George W. Bush and continued by President Obama, has centered on church-state separation issues. On October 13, a White House-appointed advisory council released its first set of recommendations for addressing those issues, urging both greater emphasis on transparency and stronger prohibitions against proselytizing by religious institutions receiving federal funds.
But in the final days of drafting the recommendations, a six-member task force on addressing interfaith issues inserted language about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into its recommendations for the faith-based program -- which helps religious and community groups tap into federal funding for local projects such as drug rehabilitation, job training and soup kitchens.
The task force, one of several that were presenting recommendations, said the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships should "create a working group of multi-religious and community organizations focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to advise administration officials at the National Security Council and the State Department on a just resolution of the conflict."
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