Success Stories

  • Protecting Womens’ Employment Rights

    Thanks to pressure from NIF grantees, the Israeli cabinet reversed a decision allowing employers to lay off pregnant women and women on maternity leave without restrictions during the COVID-19 crisis. The cabinet backtracked following petitions filed by several NIF grantees, including the Israel Women’s Network (IWN).

  • Calling for Calm and Equality

    During the escalation of violence in May 2021, The Abraham Initiatives — an NIF grantee that works to promote shared society and equality between Jews and Arabs in Israel — mobilized local political leaders, especially those in mixed cities across Israel, to do their utmost to calm tensions while at the same time allowing for non-violent protests, even large-scale ones, in their towns and cities.

  • A Man Holds a Woman's Hand
    Providing Healthcare in the West Bank

    For the past 30 years, the Physicians for Human Rights Israel mobile clinic has been providing vital medical treatment to residents of Palestinian villages throughout the West Bank. During the COVID-19 crisis and its accompanying lockdowns and restrictions on movement, the clinic became an even more vital lifeline for Palestinians.

  • gay surrogacy photo
    Supporting the Arab LGBTQ Community

    The Aguda – Israel’s LGBT Task Force launched an Arabic-language hotline that provides support and resources to queer Palestinian citizens of Israel. This is a vital resource for a minority group that lacks the resources and infrastructure to provide such support.

  • Ensuring Access to Healthcare in the Galilee

    Following advocacy by the Shatil-led Arab-Jewish Citizens’ Forum for the Promotion of Health in the Galilee, Israel’s Ministry of Health ordered the Galilee Medical Center to open a 25-patient dialysis unit for COVID-19 patients. “This success is the result of Shatil’s professional work in mobilizing a network of activists and encouraging initiatives and actions, which in this case led to a lifesaving achievement,” said Shira Eytan, Shatil’s director of Social and Economic Justice.

  • Hadassah Hospital
    Defending Religious Freedom and Civil Rights

    Following a petition from NIF grantees Adalah and Israel Hofsheet (Be Free Israel), Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that hospitals cannot prevent visitors from bringing in leavened food products (chametz) during Passover. While the petition acknowledged the legitimate need for many Jewish Israelis to uphold their beliefs and not eat such items during Passover, the court agreed with Adalah and Israel Hofsheet that this could not override the fundamental freedoms of Arab and secular Jewish citizens.

  • Demanding Police Accountability

    Thanks to legal advocacy by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Jerusalem Court for Administrative Affairs ordered the Israeli Police to publish its operating procedures, as required by law. In a victory for accountability, the Israeli Police acknowledged that it will comply with its obligation.

  • Fighting for Gay Parents

    Israel’s Supreme Court upheld surrogacy rights for same-sex couples and single men after a petition was filed by Aguda – Israel’s LGBT Task Force and The Association of Israeli Gay Fathers. The five-justice panel unanimously ruled that the Knesset must amend the law it passed in July 2018 — allowing access to surrogacy procedures for only heterosexual couples and single mothers — so that the right is extended to same-sex couples and single men.

  • Standing Up for Asylum Seekers

    Thanks to a petition from several NIF grantees including Kav LaOved – Worker’s Hotline, ASSAF – Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers, and the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, Israel’s Supreme Court struck down the 2017 “Deposit Law,” which confiscated 20% of every paycheck earned by the 36,000 asylum seekers in Israel. Under the draconian law, intended to incentivize leaving the country, this money was held by the government until asylum seekers did so.

  • Public Transportation on Shabbat

    After persistent campaigning by NIF grantees Israel Hofsheet (Be Free Israel) and the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), Tel Aviv and several nearby municipalities introduced public transportation on Saturdays, attracting tens of thousands of passengers. In the wake of the success of these Shabbat buses, other municipalities said they intend to operate public transportation on Saturdays.

  • Elevating Russian-Speaking Voices

    In collaboration with the Seventh Eye, Shatil recently launched the Ru.il website, an online database of Russian-speaking experts. The database is intended for journalists, researchers, and editors to find progressive Russian-speaking voices and increase their representation in Israel’s Russian and Hebrew media.

  • Protecting Holocaust Survivors

    The Israeli government canceled its plan to evict dozens of Holocaust survivors from their government-subsidized housing after pressure from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). Seventy elderly Israelis, including 45 Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans, were due to be evicted from an assisted living housing complex in B’nei Ayish before ACRI, helped the residents fight the decision and overturn it.

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