The head of a Jewish Federations of North America communications project advised young leaders to avoid using the word “Zionism” to message effectively about Israel.
Matthew Berger, executive director of the Federation’s “Project Halo,” made the recommendation during the group’s annual youth leadership retreat in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
One of his slides about “effective messages about Israel” advised to “avoid ‘Zionism,’” according to an image of the slide that an audience member shared with JNS. Berger used a Star of David to illuminate the point.
His other recommendations included “showcase diversity” and “focus on the common enemy.”
“My jaw kind of hit the floor for a second,” said the attendee, who spoke to JNS anonymously.
“Where does it end if we’re not even using ‘Zionism’ in our conversations?” the attendee said. “Should we stop using the word ‘antisemitism?’ Should we stop using the word ‘Jewish?’
The Federation told JNS that it is not disavowing Zionism.
“Jewish Federations of North America are proudly Zionist, and unapologetically shout our Zionist views and the incredible work we do to support Israel from the rooftops every single day,” said Niv Elis, the Federation’s associate vice president for external communications.
“This slide was part of a discussion about what data shows to be effective messaging in today’s polarized political environment and should not be taken to imply anything else,” Elis told JNS.
The invite-only “cabinet retreat” for the Federation’s National Young Leadership Cabinet cost $5,000 to attend, the source told JNS. The group’s website describes it as its “premier five-year leadership program for volunteer leaders aged 30-45.” (The umbrella group told JNS that attendance “requires a $5,000 giving level to the local Federation.”)
At the time of the event, Berger, the presenter, was the executive director of Project Halo at the Federation and is also president and CEO of Mashber Strategies, which lists some of the largest Jewish groups in the United States, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and Hillel International, as current and former clients.
Berger was previously executive director of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, and his website’s biography states that he led the “Blue Square emoji” campaign to adopt a blue square “as the national symbol for addressing antisemitism.”
After JNS reported on Berger’s presentation, the Federation said that it was ending its relationship with him and his firm.
“The presentation at our National Young Leadership Cabinet Retreat was not prepared by Jewish Federations of North America, but by a Project Halo consultant, and does not represent our approach to Zionism,” Elis told JNS.
“At this time, we will be ending our engagement with that consultant and thank them for their work helping launch Project Halo,” he said.
In a recent job listing, the Federation described Project Halo as a “strategic communications hub, built for the Jewish community” that “provides messaging, content and research analysis to execute, guide and coordinate efforts to counter antisemitism and anti-Zionism.”
The Federation previously published polling data in February suggesting that a diminishing share of American Jews identify as “Zionist.”
Only 37% of poll respondents described themselves as “Zionist,” even as large majorities of American Jews said that they support Israel’s right to exist, feel an emotional attachment to Israel and said that Israel makes them proud to be Jewish.
Some 1,500 people attended the cabinet retreat in Minneapolis, of which about 70 attended the breakout session with Berger, the attendee told JNS.
“It made me very sad,” the source said. “The better way of approaching it would have been equipping us with facts and stories and how to handle people with aggression, as opposed to just being the empathetic people.”
“That’s constantly the narrative that we’re told,” the source said. “We’re not able to stick up for ourselves and what we believe in, because we constantly need to be making sure everyone’s not getting angry at us.”
