A world view from JNF and ‘Golda’s Balcony’

by Beth Gluck

The Atlanta Jewish community is abuzz in anticipation of the opening of Alliance Theater’s “Golda’s Balcony,” the Tony Award winning show portraying the life of Golda Meir, Israel’s fourth Prime Minister. The show promises to reveal the calculations, emotions and resolve that chiseled Golda’s decision making and laid a path for the modern State of Israel.  As SE Regional Director of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), I’m especially excited.

Golda’s legacy is multi-faceted, and for us in Atlanta who proudly promote our international lens, we must celebrate her foreign policy of outreach, cooperation and support, especially to the emerging nations of Africa.  Less than a decade after Israel’s independence, Golda had established relationships with countries such as Burma, Kenya and Ghana, offering strategies to increase agricultural yield and protect public health. Israel sought friends and needed votes in the UN, as Golda states in her biography, “My Life”:

“We did what we did in Africa not because it was just a policy of enlightened self interest – a matter of quid pro quo– but because it was a continuation of our own most valued traditions and an expression of our own deepest historic instincts.”

Israel faced existential struggles, yet in 1960 Golda spoke before the General Assembly of the UN stating:

“Our freedom will be complete only when we have learned to bring forth the food that we need from our own soil.  The cry that goes out from the African and Asian continents today is: Share with us not only food, but also your knowledge of how to produce it.”

And so was born the culture of aid and development that continues through Israeli government agencies and non-profits and that lies at the core of an important component of what JNF does.  Shortly after JNF’s inception, we founded a network of agricultural research stations that have kept Israeli farmers at the forefront of their field, providing them with innovative, cost efficient ways to grow produce under arid conditions and allowing them to compete in the global market.  These innovations are fed to the International Arid Lands Consortium of which JNF is a founding/ leading member.  This organization is charged with finding solutions to the problems shared by arid and semi-arid countries around the world. Its research is applied in conjunction with stellar bodies such as the USDA Forest Service, land grant universities throughout the U.S. and the governments of Egypt and Jordan.

The UN taps JNF’s expertise in preventing desertification and managing forestry in harsh, dry climates. JNF’s advancements in these areas are linked to our commitment to managing, protecting and increasing Israel’s water resources.  Eight consecutive years of drought have led to 75% less water available today than just 20 years ago.

To buck this trend, JNF has pioneered innovative solutions to stretch Israel’s water supply, leading to a 12% increase in the water economy. We have established the JNF Parsons Water Fund, a comprehensive $100 million initiative to increase the supply of high-quality water by more than 440 billion gallons by 2020. We are investing in a variety of water-related ventures, including building reservoirs, promoting water recycling, drilling for new aquifers, rehabilitating rivers and streams, and supporting educational initiatives. JNF’s experience and expertise in the environmental arena makes it an invaluable resource for arid countries thirsty for answers of how to extend the use of each drop of water and sustain crops and timber.

Golda’s Balcony is the nickname that was given to an area inside Israel’s secretive Dimona nuclear weapons facility.  But truly, Golda’s high position gave her a vision for the development of lands well beyond Israel’s young and fragile borders.  JNF’s century-long mission is to protect the land and people of Israel, but it also has a vision for empowering developing nations to skip generations of outdated technologies to employ the best solutions available.

Golda’s legacy, and JNF’s continuing dedication to maximizing its global resources, position Israel as a valuable contributor to the sustainability of agriculture and forestry in the 21st century.

Editor’s note: Beth Gluck is Director of the Southeast for Jewish National Fund.