Jerusalem Judge Orders ACRI Head and Other Activists Released Without Charges
January 20, 2010
Hagai El-Ad, Executive Director of flagship NIF grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), and 16 other human rights activists were arrested and held for 36 hours after participating in a peaceful protest in East Jerusalem on Friday. The activists were finally released without charges on Sunday morning. The regular protests, held every Friday morning, oppose the recent eviction of Arabs in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah from properties that were handed over to Jewish settlers. Read>
New Ad Campaign for Hotline on Gender Segregated Buses
January 20, 2010
While Minister of Transportation Israel Katz continues to delay his decision on whether publicly-funded gender segregated bus lines can continue to operate, NIF is funding and organizing an ad campaign on those same segregated buses, together with a coalition of grantees including Kolech – Religious Women's Forum. The ads advertise the new hotline to which Orthodox women can anonymously report instances of abuse and discrimination. Read>
Reality Show Contestant Who Supports Palestinian Rights Draws Hatred and Threats
January 20, 2010
Edna Kanti, a volunteer with NIF grantee Machsom Watch, is participating in the latest cast of Israel's most popular reality TV show, "Big Brother". Kanti chose to appear on the program and was selected by the producers to promote her experiences watching the hardships suffered by Palestinians at West Bank Israeli Defense Force checkpoints – an issue rarely discussed on prime time TV. Read>
SHATIL Launches High Profile Negev Leadership Initiative
January 20, 2010
In an effort to focus Negev leaders on the development of this severely neglected region in Israel, SHATIL last week launched the Negev Forum for Multi-sector Leadership. More than 40 of the region's most influential community leaders gathered in Be'er Sheva to kick off the initiative. Forum members will form 'think-and-do tanks' involving cross-collaboration on specific issues such as the development of affordable housing, promotion of employment and career opportunities, effective absorption of immigrants and promotion of Bedouin rights. And while this Forum will become a valuable network unto itself, each individual brings his/her own networks, adding further value to the project. Read>
Knesset Tackles Environmental Catastrophe in Beit Hakerem Valley
January 20, 2010
On January 12, 2010 the Knesset Committee for Health and the Environment held a discussion on the looming environmental catastrophe in the Beit Hakerem Valley in the Central Galilee. The Committee, headed by Knesset Member Dov Khenin, demanded that the environmental ministry present an intra-governmental emergency plan to the committee within three months that would propose a comprehensive solution to the environmental troubles afflicting the region. Read>
Ending Segregation on the West Bank’s Roads
January 6, 2010
brahim Samara’s business repairing window blinds was dealt a devastating blow in 2002 when the Israeli army decided to prohibit West Bank Palestinians from using Route 443 between Jerusalem and the growing city of Modiin. The 42 year-old resident of the village Beit Ur Al Fauqa, which is adjacent to the highway he cannot use, is one of 55,000 Palestinians living in villages near the highway whose lives have been blighted by the ban. Read>
Ending Gender Segregation on Israel's Buses
January 6, 2010
Last week a leading rabbi asked Veolia Transportation, a public company which operates bus lines in Tiberias, to introduce a gender segregated bus line in the city. The rabbi cited the existence of such lines in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak as justification for similar services in Tiberias. Transportation Minister Israel Katz has postponed until January 17 a decision on the legitimacy of gender-segregated public transportation; NIF supporters can still weigh in by contacting the Minister to protest Read>
Farewell to Eliezer Yaari
January 6, 2010
The NIF family gathered in Jerusalem’s Khan Theater on Monday night to say farewell to outgoing NIF Israel Executive Director Eliezer Yaari, who stepped down in November following a 12 year tenure. NIF's Board of Directors and dozens of colleagues and friends paid tribute to Yaari’s leadership in Israel’s social change movement. Read>
SHATIL Confronts Racism in and toward Israel's Russian-Speaking Community
January 6, 2010
Stopping the cycle of racism both from and toward Israel's community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) was the goal of the groundbreaking conference The Other: Between Racism and Tolerance in Israel's Russian Speaking Community organized by SHATIL in collaboration with six immigrant organizations. Held at the Hebrew University on December 20th, the first-of-its kind conference examined attitudes and racial prejudices directed at and originating in Israel's FSU immigrant community. Read>
