The Israel Committee develops programs, projects, and events with the goal of maintaining the community’s relationship with Israel. In 2006-2007, the committee raised funds for two projects.

Negev Institute for Community Leadership (NICL)

Negev Institute for Community Leadership (NICL), an initiative of the Mercaz Shiluv Education Center in Be’er Sheva now in its second year of operation, aims to develop young leaders rooted in the Jewish cultural heritage and committed to pluralism, tolerance and Jewish unity. Each year NICL accepts about 20 students from Negev colleges, selected for leadership potential, into its three-year program, which supplements their full-time college studies with special seminars, study programs, and supervised experience in planning and implementing significant social action projects.

The NICL program is free, but NICL needs to provide participants with college tuition scholarships so they can devote sufficient time to NICL studies and projects. SAJ support helped to provide these scholarships.

Haifa Arab-Jewish Cooperation Model (SHATIL/NIF)

This project, under development by SHATIL, works with academics, government, and Jewish and Arab service organizations to create an environment of mutual understanding, inclusion, and equality for all of Haifa's residents.(SHATIL is a leadership development and technical assistance arm of the New Israel Fund.) The multifaceted project includes intensive interventions in workplaces with mixed Arab and Jewish staff, and roundtables critically examining activities during the recent war and doing strategic planning for the future.

The model could be replicated later in other localities and may also foster hope for a just, secure co-existence between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Our efforts assisted in raising the budgetary funds for this greatly needed, ground-breaking work for Israel's future.