Last Wednesday, the High Court of Justice demanded an explanation form the state as to why it has not indicted rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur for their authorship of the highly controversial book Torat Hamelech.

In a victory for transparent government, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has announced that government dealings with private groups will now be made public.

Following Im Tirtzu’s outrageous and personal smear campaign against the New Israel Fund and progressive organizations in Israel in 2010, a group of eight activists began a facebook page called ‘Im Tirtzu is a Fascist movement.’ Alleging that the term “fascist” constituted libel, and in an undisguised attempt to shut down criticism of their goals and activities, Im Tirtzu took the activists to court. And lost. Following the Jerusalem District Court’s ruling last week, which rejected almost all charges against the activists and which characterized Im Tirtzu as having “fascist attributes” NIF spoke to defendant Edan Ring about his reactions to the victory.

As the selection of Israel’s next chief rabbis approaches, New Israel Fund grantees, including those representing key Orthodox constituents, are drawing attention to the racist and exclusionary views of some of the candidates.