The Israeli who raised £415,000 for the Palestinian victims of settler violence in Huwara has told the JC he received so many threatening calls that he couldn’t use his phone for days.

Yair (Yaya) Fink, previously the chief of staff to former Labour party leader Shelly Yachimovich, and a prominent advocate for a softer nationalist stance within his religious-Zionist community, says he and his family has been the target of a flood of hateful messages since the fundraiser was set up on February 27.

Mr Fink told the JC: “For several days after the fundraiser I could not use my phone because I was getting thousands of threatening calls and messages from unknown numbers.”

Despite the threats, which came in the hundreds via Whatsapp, Facebook, phone calls and text messages and are too explicit to publish, Mr Fink said: “I’m committed to the cause because I’m a believer and a fighter and I’m not afraid of them.”

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An internet meme with fake photos of Fink handing out money to Palestinians

His phone number was also circulated online so that he was inundated with pornographic imagery and links, as well as dozens of cold calls from Indian call centres, he said.

“My life has changed in that I now look to see that nobody is waiting for me outside the door, and I am concerned, of course, for my family,” he said.

“This is a battle that we cannot lose because we only have one Jewish country to fight for. If this battle is lost, there is a danger that our beloved Israel will turn into an extremist country, and I don’t want to become similar to our enemies.”

The threats have so far been confined to rhetoric, but those willing to burn the homes of the innocent, Mr Fink says, “in the end are capable of anything”.

Israeli police were informed of the threats and are currently investigating, according to Mr Fink’s team.

Mr Fink’s original fundraising target, which was surpassed in a few hours, was NIS 100,000 (£23,500).

The fundraiser, having gone viral and been covered by the international press, shot past its next few goals and is at the time of publication sitting at just under NIS 1.8 million (£415,000) raised from nearly 12,000 individual donations, making it one of the most successful online fundraisers in Israel’s history. Mr Fink, who was born and raised in Jerusalem, served as a paratroop officer in the IDF and continues to serve in the reserves.

Palestinians walk past torched cars at a scrapyard in the occupied West Bank town of Huwara on February 27, 2023. - Two Israelis living in a West Bank settlement were killed on February 26 in a

Palestinians walk past torched cars at a scrapyard in the occupied West Bank town of Huwara after the recent riots there (Getty Images)

“I have seen and fought against a lot of Palestinian terror during my military and reserve service, I am very familiar with it.

“But we know how to fight against our enemies, we are very efficient at that. Our main immediate obstacle now lies in confronting this internal, domestic extremism we are experiencing.

“While I am proud to fight against terror in my military service, I also believe I have a duty to perform a civic service for my country.

“I am a religious Jew, and when I see religious people do bad stuff under the cover of their religion I feel shame, blame, and responsibility. In my view, these Jewish extremists hijacked my Judaism, but this is not my Judaism or the Judaism of the vast majority.

“When I started the fundraiser, I never expected to receive so much hate. But I am encouraged by so many messages of support from Jewish people in Israel and in the diaspora.

“We must remember that most Israelis and most Palestinians just want to live in peace, and we need to build bridges amongst the moderates.

“In Judaism we say that in darkness, even a small light can stand out.”

This was not the first time Mr Fink has crowdfunded for victims of Jewish settler violence.

His first attempt was in 2015 following what became known as the Duma arson attack, when the home of the Dawabsheh family was firebombed by a 21-year-old Jewish extremist, killing the Palestinian family of three, including an 18-month-old.

The perpetrator was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2020.

Since then, Mr Fink has arranged for dozens of crowdfunding efforts, but has never had the level of response he received following Huwara.

A scene from near Huwara on Sunday.

Scenes from near Huwara after the rioting

It is hoped the Huwara victims will receive the crowdfunded money directly or, if that proves unfeasible in some cases, the organisers will “find other positive things to do in that area”.

February’s settler violence in Huwara, in which approximately 400 settlers set cars and homes ablaze, was in response to the murder of Jewish brothers Hillel and Yagel Yaniv by a Palestinian terrorist as they sat in their car in the nearby town Har Brakha. One Palestinian man was killed.

The man said to have murdered the Yaniv brothers was killed by IDF forces during an anti-terrorist operation in Jenin this week in which four other men died.

Three days after the events of Huwara, Israel’s Minister of Finance and far-right leader of the Religious Zionist Party, Bezalel Smotrich, said he wished to see the Israeli military “wipe out” the town. He walked back the comments on Twitter a day later, claiming that he meant the military should act in a targeted manner against terrorists.

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Bezalel Smotrich

“I don’t believe Smotrich when he said his words were misinterpreted,” Mr Fink said. “He and Ben-Gvir (Israel’s controversial Minister of National Security) support these Jewish terrorists.

"They condemn them only after a day or two. Smotrich only tried to lie about what he said after receiving criticism from the international community, not because he doesn’t believe it.”

Despite heightened tensions within Israel since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious coalition came to power, Mr Fink remains hopeful for the future of the Jewish State.

“People I talk to are worried but also hopeful. We are now experiencing one of the largest demonstrations in Israel ever — hundreds of thousands of people on the street each and every week demonstrating and exercising their democratic rights.

“There’s a sort of cultural battle under way between the moderates and extremists, but we are optimistic that there are many strong democratic forces and institutions within Israel on our side.

“It is important to say to the Jewish diaspora: we need you. This is a battle not just for Israelis but for all Jewish people. Together we need to fight for the values that are important to us.

“In Judaism, the holiness of life is far more important than the holiness of land.”