ACRI Annual Report Highlights Increasing Racism and Rights Violations

December 11, 2007

The 70-page annual report of NIF’s flagship grantee the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) exposes a disturbing increase in racism and discrimination, violations of basic civil rights and infringement of human dignity, as well as restricted access to health and welfare services and much more.

The report generated unprecedented media coverage on human rights in Israel. “Report on Human Rights in Israel Exposes a Dreadful Picture” read the headline on the front page of Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s largest circulation newspaper, with the front cover and four inside pages of the 24 Hours magazine devoted to the topic. Ma’ariv, Israel’s second largest newspaper, dedicated a double spread to the subject in its main news section entitled “Rights are not Being Protected.” The report was also widely featured on TV, radio and Internet sites.

Below is a sample of the statistics presented in ACRI’s 2007 report:

Racism: Only half of Jewish Israelis believe Jews and Arabs should have equal rights. Fifty-five percent believe the State should encourage Arabs to emigrate, 78 percent oppose the inclusion of Arab political parties in the government and 74 percent of Jewish youth think Arabs are unclean.

Deprivation: Some 100,000 East Jerusalem Arab residents have no legal access to water, causing unsanitary conditions and the spread of diseases such as Hepatitis A. Only 55 out of 15,000 kindergarten aged Arab children in East Jerusalem are in municipal kindergartens.

Health: Infant mortality in southern Israel is 7.6 per 1,000 live births compared to 3.3 in Central Israel. Thirty percent of low wage earners and 20 percent of the chronically ill forego medical treatment or medication not covered by government insurance.

Unchecked Police Violence: In 2005-2006 only 35 percent of complaints of police violence were investigated and the police officers involved were prosecuted in only three percent of the instances.

Refugees: Out of 1,348 applications for political asylum by refugees, only six were accepted. 

Read more about the ACRI report here.