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They work together every day, but in November staff members at Lab/Shul, a Jewish congregation and nonprofit, stood divided at dueling protests on the streets of Washington, D.C. One was a march for a ceasefire; the other, a rally for Israel.
When Lab/Shul’s employees returned to work, they agreed to hear each other out in one of many tough conversations the group’s leaders held since the Israel-Hamas War began.
“We are walking on eggshells sometimes — but there’s also a sense of respect,” said Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, co-founder of Lab/Shul, which got its start as an experimental theater troupe and now hosts “God-optional” pop-up spiritual events in New York City.
He says diversity of thought has always been core to the group’s mission, but “when push comes to shove — and we have been in push, shove, and worse these past six months — that’s a hard talk to walk.”
The Israel-Hamas War, and its unfolding devastation for Palestinians and Israelis, has ignited an ideological proxy war not just in the United States but in the American workplace. Especially at nonprofits and cultural centers like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, staff members — some with deep personal connections to the conflict — have found themselves at odds over how or if their organizations should respond. For fear of saying the wrong thing, many leaders have opted to say nothing at all — even to their own staff.
One sign of the tensions nonprofit staff members feel: Few of the over a dozen charity representatives contacted for this article were willing to go on the record about their experience.
“I’ve been accused of everything and anything so far,” said Lau-Lavie. “For not doing enough for the hostages. For not doing enough for Gaza. How dare I stand on both sides?”
Indeed, there is little leaders can say to make everyone happy. But experts say there are ways they can try to help nonprofit employees feel they are heard.
A Shifting Landscape
Most American nonprofits have not traditionally weighed in on political and cultural events outside their sphere of influence.
But after the murder of George Floyd by police in 2020, many groups issued statements, scheduled DEI training sessions, and confronted what role their organizations or benefactors had played to advance systemic racism. Then when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2021, many of those organizations again spoke out — and some developed targeted campaigns — in support of the Ukrainian people, whose struggle was often seen as a proxy for the right to self-governance and global democracy.
Yet few issues have polarized nonprofit staff, donors, and supporters as the Israel-Hamas War.
Since October 7 — when Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped over 250 in a surprise assault — the Israeli government’s invasion of Gaza has resulted in more than 33,000 Palestinian deaths, massive displacement, and an enclave on the verge of humanitarian collapse.
The devastating toll has triggered a passionate response in the United States, including widespread protests, boycotts, and competing calls for a ceasefire and the return of hostages. American pro-Palestinian protesters have broadly called for a permanent ceasefire, more humanitarian aid for Gaza, and an end to U.S. arms sales to Israel. While those who are pro-Israel typically call for the release of hostages and argue that the country is defending itself from Hamas’s initial attack.
“In the nonprofit world, it’s harder to get away with not taking a stance,” said Farah Salam-Hottle, president of Origins Consulting, which facilitates workshops and conversations related to the crisis.
The Sound of Silence
Despite mounting pressure, many nonprofits have been reluctant to take a stance — internally or externally — for fear of alienating some employees or further inflaming tensions.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found stark generational differences between how Americans view the Israel-Hamas War, with young people far more likely to criticize the Israeli government’s conduct in Gaza.
For nonprofit workers who’ve grown accustomed to seeing statements on other issues, leaders’ silence can feel like a double standard at best or, at worst, can seem deeply insensitive to employees’ beliefs and experiences, said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group.
Organizations should either “not comment on international affairs, human rights, and policy issues at all or, if they’re going to comment on those issues, they need to do so in a way that is morally consistent,” he said. “In a way that recognizes the humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians.”
While abstaining from commenting on the crisis might work in some cases, for many workplaces in which the Israel-Hamas War is a personal or polarized issue, that inaction can do more harm than good, said Melissa Weintraub, co-executive director of Resetting the Table, which facilitates tense conversations about Israel and other polarized issues.
“When differences are present and go unaddressed, they tend to become more destructive,” she said. “They chip away at relationships, distract from missions, and can cause a lot of harm.”
Several of those breakages have ultimately played out in public. The Bronx Defenders, a prominent legal services nonprofit, has made headlines for its inner turmoil, leaked emails, and angry resignations. Several board members publicly resigned from the reproductive nonprofit SisterSong over its silence on Gaza. And elite universities like Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Pennsylvania have been roiled by donor revolts and accusations of antisemitism in response to student protests.
Last month, more than 150 employees at the Metropolitan Museum of Art issued an open letter calling for the museum to condemn the bombing of cultural heritage sites in Gaza, as it did in 2022 in response to Russia’s destruction in Ukraine and in 2020 when then-President Trump threatened to target Iranian culture sites.
Over 200 grant makers, nearly 1,000 individual donors, and philanthropy professionals have signed a similar letter, as have staff members at the Museum of Modern Art.
Museums have been especially prone to protests in the wake of the Israel-Hamas War, with many caught between competing and varied viewpoints from workers, donors, and visitors.
“Museums and cultural spaces are perfect reflections of society’s diversity,” said Laura Raicovich, author of Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest. “Therefore, conflicts that exist in society will be reflected in the conflicts that we see inside our cultural space.”
In 2018, Raichovich stepped down from her position as executive director of the Queens Museum after several political disagreements occurred during her tenure, including the cancellation and later reinstatement of an event sponsored by the Israeli government. She says that the diversity of constituents museums serve make it hard for leaders to navigate difficult political questions, especially when an institution’s donors hold views that are “at odds with the way that cultural workers feel about the same issue.”
When that happens, more often than not, “leadership will be on the hook for it because they’re the ones in between.”
Navigating Differences
For Jewish institutions, where many employees are following the war closely, divisions have also broken open dramatically in recent months. More than 800 employees at Jewish nonprofits and congregations have signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire and the return of the hostages.
At Lab/Shul, employees — some of whom signed the open letter — have expressed significant disagreement, but there have been no resignations or staff dismissals. That may be because since shortly after October 7, the group has brought in professional facilitators to lead staff conversations that have helped employees understand one another’s perspectives. Modeled after their staff discussions, the group recently debuted a monthly facilitated discussion that they call “Courageous Conversations” for members of the broader Lab/Shul community.
During some conversations, Rabbi Lau-Lavie, who is Israeli American, has recused himself to allow his staff to speak more freely. “As open-hearted as I am trying to be, I still have skin in the game,” said Lau-Levie, who has been participating in a private discussion group with other spiritual leaders navigating the violence.
“We need to find a space safe enough for everybody to be honored and for this pain to be processed,” he said. “This is a terrible time, but this time is also an opportunity to ask tough questions and to forge relationships.”
