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>
Chanukah Candle-Lighting at Western Wall Protests Gender-Segregation
December 15, 2009
On a chilly Jerusalem evening this week, several hundred social activists – men and women, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and secular Jews - gathered at the Western Wall plaza for a unique celebration of Chanukah. The candle-lighting ceremony was organized by Yerushalmim, which seeks to strengthen social solidarity in the city, with support from NIF and many NIF grantees working to promote religious pluralism in Israel. Read>
Israel’s First-Ever Human Rights March Attracts Thousands of Supporters
December 15, 2009
Last Friday more than 100 Israeli social change organizations, many of them NIF grantees, and thousands of individuals, joined flagship NIF grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) for the first-ever human rights march held in Israel. The event, which marked International Human Rights Day, was funded with a special grant from NIF and logistical assistance from SHATIL. Read>
Kolech Launches Hotline on Gender Segregation
December 15, 2009
Kolech – Religious Women’s Forum, with a special grant from NIF, has launched a hotline for Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox women to report gender segregation in public places and discuss discrimination that they have suffered on buses and other public places. The line, called Hashmiani (Make Myself Heard), operates in Hebrew, Yiddish and English and is staffed by volunteer Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox women.
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Moving Young Russian Immigrants toward Social Change -
December 15, 2009
Immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel are not widely known for their involvement in the progressive social change agenda of NIF/SHATIL. While SHATIL has made efforts in the past to expose young immigrants from the FSU to the world of social change, none has succeeded like our recently completed intensive course: Leadership and Activism Training for Young Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union held in Tel Aviv this fall. Read>
