NIF’s Kick Racism out of Soccer project (a partnership with the Israel Football Association and the Israeli Football Players Association) has launched a special call for proposals for initiatives promoting Jewish-Arab shared society. The call is open to the entire world of Israeli soccer, from the Premier League to non-league and grassroots soccer.

The project is inspired by last year’s initiative that awarded 40 emergency grants to organizations promoting Jewish-Arab partnership. These awards supported a wide variety of activities, including a project to teach Arab and Jewish schoolchildren storytelling skills, an effort to bring Jews and Arabs together around the dinner table, and a seminar teaching Jewish and Arab tour guides to run dual-narrative tours. Both this year’s and last year’s initiatives have come during a period in which Jewish-Arab relations have come under strain from a wave of violence across the country and the occupied territories, as well as heightened anti-Arab invective, making this an urgent time for shared society projects.

The call for proposals will complement Kick it Out‘s efforts to reduce racism and violence on the pitch and in the stadiums. The initiative is also being supported by NIF grantee Sikkuy, one of the leading organizations working to promote Jewish-Arab equality in Israel.

Gal Karpel, Kick it Out coordinator, said: “Soccer is a great platform to advance shared society and coexistence. This project promotes these ideals by bringing these initiatives to the Israeli public, and encouraging new ideas to bring Jews and Arabs together during these difficult times.”