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Written by Ruby Ong
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There’s something pretty exhilarating about spending three days with 2400 people. Especially when those 2400 people care enough about Israel to show up at the J Street Conference in Washington, DC.
Anyone who thinks that J Street – or for that matter, NIF – represents one ideologically monolithic view on Israel’s most difficult issues just isn’t paying attention. There were thoughtful differences of opinion on everything, from peace negotiations to the “Arab spring” to the future of democracy in Israel. And I came away from the conference hopeful about both Israel and about the many ways American Jews can connect to the Jewish homeland.
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In a critical victory for Israel’s democracy, efforts by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party to establish a Knesset committee of inquiry into the activities and funding sources of human rights organizations has failed. The party pulled the plug on a Knesset vote after it became clear that it had lost its majority on the issue.
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The NIF family has reacted swiftly to condemn dozens of leading Religious Zionist rabbis in Israel who wrote a personal letter of support to former President Moshe Katzav who has been found guilty on two counts of rape. The letter said, "You should be brave and strong in your uncompromising stand for the truth. All residents of Zion await the day when this injustice will be removed."
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Dori Spivak has become Israel's first openly gay judge after being appointed to the Tel Aviv Labor Court. Spivak is a veteran human rights campaigner who served as chairman of flagship NIF grantee Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) until last year. He is a law lecturer at Tel Aviv University and deputy director of the Tel Aviv Law Clinic.
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The October 13, 2008 issue of the New York Times carried the headline "Israeli City Divided by Sectarian Violence”. Isabel Kershner reported that the mixed city of Akko had been "rocked" by rioting and sectarian violence after an apparent misunderstanding between Jewish and Arab residents spiraled out of control. By the time the rioting ended, the relationship between the Jewish and Arab residents of the city was marked by hostility and mistrust.
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Two years ago, SHATIL began to cooperate with students at Tel Hai College to address the pressing socio-economic challenges of the Galilee. SHATIL actively works to foster values of social justice among young adults in northern Israel, a region all-too-often neglected by the country's policymakers. This week, the collaborative efforts of SHATIL's northern staff and Tel Hai College's student union paid off handsomely: the Israel Land Authority and Nissim Malcha, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, announced a pilot program to secure affordable housing for students.
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