Civil & Human Rights
Israel’s Declaration of Independence says: “Israel will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.” NIF supports groups and projects working to fulfil this vision. From women’s and LGBT rights, to the relationship between synagogue and state, to protecting the rights of Jewish and non-Jewish minorities, NIF has founded, funded, trained or otherwise supported every significant human and civil rights organisation in Israel.
Mothers Standing Up for the Right to Protest
Anybody attending a demonstration in Israel in recent months might have noticed the presence of a number of women in yellow vests. These activists belong to the burgeoning group, Wall of Mums, a new movement that received an emergency grant from NIF last year. The organisation was formed in the wake of the Balfour protests against government corruption under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The new movement’s mission is “to protect the demonstrators against police violence — in particular young people,” said 59-year-old Hamutal Guri, one of the organization’s founders and a veteran social change activist.
March 2022
Fighting Mass Surveillance
Israel’s human rights organisations, including many NIF grantees, have written to the Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, and the Israel Police demanding that they immediately stop the use of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware in investigations.
February 2022
Defending Bedouin Rights and Land
A coalition of social change organizations, most of them from the NIF family, including NIF’s action arm, Shatil and grantee, Adalah — Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, have called on the Israeli government and the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to halt the “provocative and damaging” tree planting in the Negev.
February 2022
Fighting for Family Unification
Israel’s Supreme Court has prohibited the Ministry of Interior from continuing to work according to the policies of the Citizenship and Entry Law. This law which expired last July, has been used since 2003 to ban family unification where one spouse is an Israeli citizen (in practice almost all of whom are Palestinian Citizens of Israel) and the other a Palestinian resident of the occupied territories.
February 2022