Reut Institute

The Reut Institute is an Israeli think tank based in Tel Aviv. It describes itself as an "an innovative policy group designed to provide real-time, long-term strategic decision-support to Israeli leaders and decision-makers." It was established in 2004 by first and current president Gideon Grinstein and Noa Eliasaf-Shoham "as an answer to the weakness of Israel's political system and the complex challenges Israel faces in a volatile and constantly changing environment" and describes itself as a "non-partisan Zionist organisation that provides its work to the government of Israel pro bono".

Writing in The New York Times in 2007, Thomas Friedman called the Reut Institute "Israel's premier strategy policy group".

Activities

According to its founder's biography, the vision that drives the Reut Institute is '21st Century Zionism' which focuses on "enhancing Israel's security, democracy and thriving Jewish identity". Reut says it addresses "only those issues which pose a strategic threat or opportunity to the security or the wellbeing of Israel or the Jewish world." It works for Israeli government agencies free of charge and states that its shortest project, commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lasted 60 hours from assignment to delivery.

Two key areas are national security and 'Israel 15' which calls for Israel to become one of the fifteen leading nations in terms of quality of life within fifteen years.

Reut markets itself as unique due to its "very short reaction times...essential for designing and implementing policies in real time". Staff work in what it calls "policy SWAT teams" and use an early warning system methodology known as Praxis developed by Zvi Lanir founder of the Praxis Institute.

Part of its strategy for making "a lasting impact on the security and well-being of the State of Israel and the Jewish People, is to recruit and train Israel's future strategic thinkers". It also established the Reut Policy Network to utilise the "untapped intellectual potential" of researchers around the world interested in identifying “strategic trends that jeopardize Israeli national security”.

Work on countering 'delegitimization'

From late 2009 the Reut Institute increasingly worked on countering what it called the 'delegitimisation' of Israel. It defined this as the "convergence of seemingly unrelated movements and associations into a coalition that fundamentally de-legitimizes the Jewish character of the State of Israel". Reut classes the "use of human rights discourse" to condemn alleged Israeli war crimes by "left wing European groups" in the same bracket as Holocaust denial and calls for the desctruction of Israel, viewing them as various trends within an overall delegitimization phenomenon.

In January 2010, Reut published 'Eroding Israel's legitimacy', an article highlighting activities "portrayed as protesting against Israeli policies", when "in fact they are frequently manipulated in order to blur the difference between valid criticism of Israeli policies and attempts to undermine Israel's right to exist." Examples cited included the UN Goldstone Report, attempts to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes, and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

In February 2010, the Institute produced a report entitled 'The Delegitimization Challenge: Creating a Political Firewall'. This analysed "the erosion in Israel's diplomatic status over the past few years, which reached its peak with the Goldstone report" and the "frustrating outcomes of the Second Lebanon War (07/06) and Operation Cast Lead (01/09)."

An executive summary of this report interpreted the situation in terms of two forces, a 'Resistance Network' composing Islamist and Arab nationalist opponents of Israel, and:

The Delegitimization Network, primarily comprising organizations and individuals in the West - mostly Arab and Islamic groups, so-called post-Zionist Jews and Israelis, and elements of the radical European political left - negates Israel's right to exist based on a variety of political and philosophical arguments. Both groups take their inspiration from the collapse of the Soviet Union, East Germany, and apartheid South Africa.

The summary argues that delegitimization "may develop into a comprehensive existential threat within a few years" and says "Israel must embrace a network-based logic and response by: Focusing on the hubs of delegitimization such as London, Toronto, Madrid, or the [San Francisco] Bay Area and undermining its catalysts". It also identifies the risk of "a paradigm shift from the Two-State Solution to the One-State Solution as the consensual framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and argues that Israel should "rebrand" itself and "engage its critics, while isolating the delegitimizers".

Emergence of 'anti-delegitimization' network

In the summary of a December 2011 publication '2011: The Year We Punched Back on the Assault on Israel's Legitimacy', the Reut Institute claims that in that year a "coordinated global effort to combat delegitimization emerged on every front, from international forums to university campuses" and dubs this "the successful creation of an 'anti-delegitimization network.'" Reut credits the Israeli government with making a "[c]ritical contribution" to the emergence of this network.

It lists "extracting a ‘price tag’ for acts of delegitimization" and "progress in stifling the momentum of anti-Israel boycotts" as key achievements.

Criticism of 'delegitimisation' concept and terminology

One activist criticised by the Reut Institute in 'The Delegitimization Challenge', Ali Abunimah, commented on this report:

It blames "delegitimizers" and "resisters" for frustrating the two-state solution but ignores Israel's relentless and ongoing settlement-building drive -- supported by virtually every state organ -- calculated and intended to make Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank impossible.

It never considers for a moment that the mounting criticism of Israel's actions might be justified, or that the growing ranks of people ready to commit their time and efforts to opposing Israel's actions are motivated by genuine outrage and a desire to see justice, equality and an end to bloodshed. In other words, Israel is delegitimizing itself.

Abunimah has published an early summary of the report that reccommended "Israel should sabotage network catalysts and drive a wedge between its component parts, primarily between soft critics of Israeli policy and delegitimizers of its existence." He states that the encouragement to 'sabotage' has since been removed from the version on Reut's website.

Elsewhere he has criticised Reut's description of "extracting a ‘price tag’ for acts of delegitimization" pointing out that this term is "generally associated with mosque burnings, vandalism, tree felling, killings of people and their livestock and other violent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians" and concludes that use of the term indicates that the Reut Institute "seeks to emulate on an international scale this type of intimidation".

History

Founded in Janury 2004 principally by Gideon Grinstein, in its first year Reut employed 6 staff and had a budget of $368,000. Its first client in July 2004 was Israel's National Security Council. In July 2006 Reut hosted a conference called 'From Disengagement to Convergence' at which Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni was keynote speaker.

By December 2007 Reut had 23 staff and a budget of $1.4 million.

Presence at Herzliya Conferences

Reut founder and president Gideon Grinstein has spoken at:

• The Seventh Herzliya Conference (2007) on 'Initiatives for Diplomacy and Statecraft in the Arab-Israeli Context'. Reut also gave a presentation called 'Inversion towards Occupation' on "the fundamental shift in Israeli-Palestinian relations".
• The Eighth Herzliya Conference (2008) on 'The Balance of Israel's National Security – The "Herzliya Indices" in Israel's 60th year'. Reut also gave a presentation on its 'ISRAEL 15 Vision' calling for Israel's economic development to "leapfrog" forwards.
• The Ninth Herzliya Conference (2009) on 'Weathering the Storm: Israel and the World Economic Crisis'.
• The Tenth Annual Herzliya Conference (2010) on 'Winning the Battle of the Narrative: Getting the Message Out' and 'Civil Preparedness in the Israeli Home Front: the Role of the Civil Society'. Abunimah writes that Grinstein gave a presentation calling for Israeli government intelligence agencies to engage in "attacking catalysts" of the "delegitimization network" as well as working to portray Israel as environmentally friendly.
• At the Eleventh Annual Herzliya Conference (2011) he chaired a talk entitled 'Embedding the Culture of Readiness in Homeland Defense and Civilian Crisis Management'.

Grinstein's stance on Palestinian statehood bid

On May 31 2011 founder and president Gideon Grinstein wrote in Haaretz that Obama should support the bid for statehood at the United Nation. He stated:

"...Obama is missing the opportunity under his nose; a declaration of a Palestinian state in September includes the possibility of a diplomatic breakthrough as well as significant advantages for Israel. The establishment of such a state will help anchor the principle of two states for two peoples, shape the permanent situation with Israel controlling the security assets and the new state's surroundings, and diminish the refugee problem by marginalizing UNRWA and limiting refugee status.

"Despite Obama's speeches, the diplomatic process will remain at a dead end as the moment of decision in September approaches. Then the United States will have another opportunity to do the right thing: to ensure that the establishment of a Palestinian state conforms to Israel's needs".

According to pro-Palestinian writer Ali Abunimah, Grinstein’s position was motivated by the hope of limiting the creation of a Palestinian state to a "Bantustan under overall Israeli control that will ‘solve’ Israel’s legitimacy and diplomatic problems while marginalizing Palestinian rights, especially refugee rights".

Objections to anti-boycott law

On August 2 2011 Reut CEO Roy Keidar and leading analyst Eran Shayson wrote an op-ed criticising the Knesset's plan to outlaw support for a boycott within Israel, warning that it could backfire. They argued that while delegitimization was an urgent threat, delegitimizers' "strategy...is to deliberately blur the distinction between de-legitimization, and the legitimate discourse on Israeli government policy" and therefore "legislation which attempts to restrict the actions of parts of Israeli society in their criticism of government policy, only further serves the interests of those seeking to blur the boundaries".

They say the law would not be effective because "the law is territorial in its application and yet the de-legitimization campaign is global, primarily operating beyond Israel's borders" and also argue that the controversial proposal caused harmful disunity within Israel when "collaboration across the political spectrum with the common goal of ‘de-legitimizing delegitimization'" was required.

Affiliations

In 2010 Reut published an economic development policy document in collaboration with the Jewish Agency project Partnership 2000 and the Joint Distribution Committee project ELKA.

People

President

Gideon Grinstein co-founder and president.

Board

David Alexander | Noa Eliasaf - Shoham | Michael Orenstein | Yoav Shapira | Noam Bardin

Original Steering Committee

The Reut Institute's 2004 Annual Report lists the following members:

• Pini Meidan-Shani – Foreign Policy Advisor to PM Barak (2000-01)
• Arnon Pearlman – Chief Spokesperson for PM Sharon (2001-03)
• Dalia Rabin – Deputy Minister of Defense (2001-02)
• Prof. Uriel Reichman – President of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
• Uri Shani – Chief of Staff of PM Sharon (2001-02)
• Adv. Gilead Sher – Chief of Staff and Chief Negotiator of PM Barak (1999-01)
• Baruch Spiegel – Special Advisor to Minister of Defense Mofaz, and Deputy Coordinator of Activities of the GOI in the West Bank and Gaza (1995-98)

Funding

The Reut Institute operates under the Israeli law of non-profit organisations ('Amutot') and is funded by a network of private donors. Any donation that could potentially create a conflict of interest is said to “require a formal and public discussion and decision” by the Board of Directors.

Reut's Charter states that it will “make every effort to secure funding for its activities from nongovernmental benefactors” and that it will only raise funds “from individuals or funds that support its vision”.

Reut states that it will not accept any contribution that exceeds 15% of its yearly budget, nor any donations from government agencies (Israeli or foreign).

Before it was launched in 2004 the earliest financial contributions included the first donation from Israel in July 2003 from Jewish Agency board member Avi Naor and the first from the US by Reagan Silber in September 2003.

American Friends of the Reut Institute

American Friends of the Reut Institute (AFRI) is a nonprofit organisation registered in the United States (Federal ID # 20-3585888) and based in Beverly Hills, California.

Its stated mission is to "advance a vision of a prosperous and secure Israel". AFRI is the single largest supporter of the Reut Institute, and the Reut Institute is the chief recipient of AFRI's donations.

According to Electronic Intifada, AFRI's public filings show that it sent almost $2 million to the Reut Institute in 2006 and 2007.

Other funders

Reut's one year Strategy and Leadership Training Program is supported by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

The Samuel Bronfman Foundation lists Reut as one of the initiatives it supports. According to Reut they launched a New York office at the Samuel Bronfman Foundation in February 2007.

Clients

Reut says it was "established to serve Israeli government agencies and decisionmakers...from top-ranking politicians to government professionals, who hold positions of authority, leadership or influence".

Publications

• 'The Delegitimization Challenge: Creating a Political Firewall', (February 2010).
• 'The Gaza Flotilla: The Collapse of Israel's Political Firewall', (August 2010).
• 'The Assault on Israel's Legitimacy: London as a Case Study', (December 2010).
• 'San Francisco as a Delegitimization Hub: Initial Report on the 1st Study Visit', (September 2011).
• '2011: The Year We Punched Back on the Assault on Israel's Legitimacy', (December 2011).

Contact

Address: 126 Yigal Alon St., Tel Aviv 67443, Israel

Phone: +972-(0)3-6950090

Email: office@reut-institute.org

Website: www.reut-institute.org