Naomi Chazan in Toronto
May 27, 2010
New Israel Fund president Naomi Chazan spoke in Toronto to an audience of more than 250 , about challenges to Israeli democracy. While a small protest was staged outside by the JDL, Chazan systematically outlined and analyzed the threats to Israel’s democracy and character, as well as the ways in which human rights and freedom of speech is being limited. Read>
Victory in struggle against ill-conceived welfare-to-work program
May 5, 2010
After a long-fought battle by the NIF Family, the Israeli government has scrapped the contentious Wisconsin Plan, a pilot welfare-to-work program for the unemployed in Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Hadera and Nazareth begun in 2005. The campaign was spearheaded by Wisconsin Watch, set up by NIF grantees Mehuyavut: Commitment to Peace and a Just Society and Community Advocacy: Genesis Israel with assistance from SHATIL and other NIF grantees Sot El Amel – Laborer's Voice, Rabbis for Human Rights and Association for Civil Rights in Israel. Read>
Court Orders Emmanuel School to Explain Continued Segregation
May 5, 2010
Israel’s High Court of Justice has given the Beit Yaakov Girl’s High School in the West Bank town of Emmanuel seven days to explain why they have not implemented its order to stop segregating Mizrachi students from Ashkenazi students. The order followed the High Court’s ruling last August to desegregate the school in response to a petition by NIF grantee Noar Kahalacha, which combats ethnic discrimination in ultra-Orthodox educational institutions. Read>
NIF’s Human Rights Party Attended by 2,000 Young Israelis
May 5, 2010
The Human Rights and Democracy Party last month in Tel Aviv's Levontin 7 club organized by NIF was attended by nearly 2,000 people. Most of the predominantly young Israelis at the party had no previous formal connection to NIF. They came to the free concert to hear more than 20 leading artists who gave a pro-bono performance to show solidarity with NIF and the other human rights organizations that are under attack from extreme right-wing groups. Opposite the concert venue, 30 Im Tirtzu demonstrators rallied against NIF. Read>
Dahmash to the barricades – again
May 5, 2010
The Arab-Israeli neighborhood of Dahmash has been refused incorporation into the neighboring Lod and Ramle Municipalities and therefore lacks all basic infrastructure and normal municipal services. Despite the fact that many of its 700 residents own their own property, they are preemptively denied building permits due to the zoning laws designating their land as "agricultural". Read>
Holyland Affair "Good" for the Greens
May 5, 2010
The Holyland scandal, in which high officials are accused of taking huge bribes that enabled the massive building project in Jerusalem known as the Holyland complex, is having one positive outcome: strengthening the hands of organizations like SHATIL that have been fighting the government's bid to reform Israel's planning and construction law. Read>
Aguda in Canada
May 5, 2010
New Israel Fund Canada hosted leaders of the Aguda, Israel's largest and oldest LGBT organization as they spoke in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.
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NIF’s Human Rights Party Creating a Buzz in Tel Aviv
April 15, 2010
This afternoon, hundreds of young Israelis are expected to pack Tel Aviv’s fashionable Levontin7 club to hear a free concert contributed to NIF by 20 of Israel’s leading singers and artists. The event, entitled “Democracy and Human Rights for All,” dramatizes the outpouring of support from celebrities and social leaders in the wake of the attacks on NIF and other human rights organizations by extremist groups. Read>
