August Newsletter

New Israel Fund Family on the Front Line: New Israel Fund Provides Basic Humanitarian Aid for Israel 's Northern Residents

In the first week of the fighting in the north, New Israel Fund approached grantees based in the region to check on their personal well-being and monitor immediate humanitarian needs. New Israel Fund also reached out to the country's most disadvantaged communities, including Arab Israelis, immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) and populations with special needs, such as single parent families and Israelis with disabilities, to assess their most pressing humanitarian concerns. These communities struggle, even in normal times, to make public services responsive to their needs. New Israel Fund staff is finding that requests for emergency aid encompass a range of basic necessities, including food, transportation and hosting for evacuees in the centre and south of the country, as well as emotional and psychological support.

Shaul Feldman, Ruti Gur's husband, tries out his piano, a precious heirloom, after the family home in Haifa was hit by a missile on Sunday.

Homeless in Haifa

While thankfully there have been no reported deaths or injuries among the New Israel Fund family, Ruti Gur, Project Director of New Israel Fund grantee Economic Empowerment for Women, had a lucky escape when her home in Haifa was destroyed on Sunday by a missile fired from Lebanon. "It was a miracle nobody was home," says Gur who has moved in with one of her brothers. "My husband and I were at work and fortunately I told the children who were staying in Tel Aviv not to come home until Monday."

Gur is a veteran activist with Isha L'Isha: Haifa Feminist Organisation and for many years she was the housekeeper at the Haifa Shelter for Battered Women, which this week is receiving emergency assistance from New Israel Fund. The shelter, which during the course of a year houses 65 women and 110 children seeking refuge from abusive husbands and fathers, is receiving food, toys and educational materials for the 10 women and their children currently staying there.

A Cousin Killed

The missile attacks have been a personal tragedy for Fatina Obaid, Director of the Mobile Rights Vehicle of veteran New Israel Fund grantee Yedid: The Association for Community Empowerment . Her cousin Habib Awad was killed on Sunday by shrapnel from a missile when he was at work in Haifa . Fatina would normally be travelling around the Galilee responding to questions about welfare payments and other rights; now she is confined to her home in the Arab village of Iblin answering questions by email and telephone.

Israel's Arab and Druze communities have been hit hard by the missile attacks, with deaths in Nazareth , Iblin and Marar.

Immigrants Taken Out of Missile Range

Ludmilla Oygenblick, Executive Director of New Israel Fund grantee, Association for the Protection of Mixed Family Rights, which promotes the rights of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not recognised as Jewish by the Orthodox rabbinate, is being given New Israel Fund financial support to take 50 families with small children away from the Haifa Bay area this weekend. Above and beyond food and transportation costs, New Israel Fund also referred the Association to an organisation that operates a guesthouse in the Negev . "We chose families with small children because they have been stuck inside cramped shelters for more than 10 days," Oygenblick said. "They are going crazy and they are scared to come out because missiles are falling every day. They are really looking forward to clearing their heads in the south."

Elionara Mitnitsky with members of her community in Ashdod.

Elionara Mitnitsky, Executive Director of New Israel Fund grantee Esh David, a Reform community of Russian-speaking new immigrants in Ashdod, told New Israel Fund News that her community is hosting dozens of families from the north in their homes. "We are hosting one family who are quite literally suffering from shell shock," she said. "Their apartment block in Nahariya was struck by missiles twice. We are receiving more requests all the time."

Here are a few examples of other activities that are receiving emergency financial assistance from New Israel Fund:

• Association for the Promotion of the Education System in Haifa are providing educational materials for five-and six-year-olds living below the poverty line.
• Meir Panim - The Power to Give, an ultra-Orthodox organisation is networking with Druze and Russian immigrant communities to provide hot meals and activity kits to bomb shelters in the north.
• Born to Live Proudly is transporting teenagers from the Arab towns Iblin and Shfaram in the Western Galilee , which have been, hit by deadly missile attacks and completely lack shelters to a camp in the south.
• Israel Centre for the Treatment of Psycho trauma is creating kits for professionals to treat people experiencing anxiety and stress, and arranging activities for children and their parents in Hebrew and Arabic.
• Union of Arab Psychologists is providing emotional assistance to residents of the north in Arabic in nearly 20 locations including personal and telephone consultations.
• Israel Religious Action Centre (IRAC) has bussed dozens of northern residents to the centre of the country where members of Reform communities are hosting them. IRAC is also sending teams of rabbis and social workers to the north to provide spiritual and emotional support.
• Yedid: The Association for Community Empowerment is collecting and sending books, games, toys and other items from other communities around Israel , to help entertain families whose days and nights are now spent in bomb shelters.
• Bizchut: Centre for Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities , is working with the IDF's Home Guard to find solutions for the deaf and hard of hearing, who are unable to hear the missile-warning siren.
• Israel Association for Immigrant Children has opened a hot line in six languages including Russian and Amharic, which received nearly 2,000 calls during the first two weeks of the fighting. Dozens of the calls were either northern residents seeking shelter away from the missiles, or those in the centre and south of the country willing to take in “refugees.”
• Immigrants for a Successful Absorption has received emergency support to run a summer camp in the Negev for 20 new immigrant children from the North.

Meanwhile, flagship New Israel Fund grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has written to Israel 's Minister of Finance and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour urging them to legislate financial compensation for of employees in the north who have been ordered by the IDF Home Command not to go to work.

The Day After

Above and beyond the immediate economic and emotional needs of Israel 's northern residents, New Israel Fund is mobilising to meet the new challenges to coexistence between Israel 's Jewish and Arab citizens. Jews and Arabs are both suffering from rocket attacks with fatalities in Nazareth , Iblin and Marar as well as Haifa and Nahariya. However, with increasing inter-communal friction and violent incidents between Jews and Arabs which are undermining coexistence, New Israel Fund is already thinking about the day when the fighting is over and Jews and Arabs must carry on living in harmony and mutual respect.

With this in mind, New Israel Fund is conducting a series of meetings and consultations between leading public figures in the Jewish and Arab communities before formulating a plan of action to promote coexistence when the conflict is over. Earlier today (Tuesday Aug. 1 st .) many New Israel Fund organisations met at Givat Haviva to discuss the future of Israeli Jewish-Arab relations. On Sunday New Israel Fund grantee Ayam: Recognition and Dialogue which promotes coexistence in Jaffa held a discussion on Arab-Jewish relations in which 150 people participated.

To stress the need for tolerance and mutual respect New Israel Fund together with Abraham Fund Initiatives placed ads in last Friday's Haaretz in Hebrew and five local Arabic newspapers which together reach Israel 's entire Arab community.

A banner ad linked to the above ad also appears in the English language version of Haaretz. http://nif.org.il/CH/

A Different Kind of Marriage

Marina and Yevgeny are typical of 300,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Although they've been in Israel since the early '90s, they cannot prove their Jewishness to the Orthodox rabbinate and so cannot have a marriage ceremony in Israel that will be recognised by the Israeli government. Like many Israeli couples, they flew to Cyprus for a civil ceremony Israel will recognise legally. But they also had a ceremony at home.

An Israeli couple who were married by "Havaya"

Marina and Yevgeny were recently married during an innovative and meaningful Jewish ceremony created by Havaya – Israeli Wedding. "It was the first wedding I've been to in Israel where I've understood the ceremony and the wedding contract," said Marina . "The Master of Ceremonies even helped my 80-year-old father who has trouble with Hebrew read two of the seven wedding blessings." Havaya – Israeli Wedding was set up by New Israel Fund and three of its grantees: The Institute for Jewish-Secular Rights; Oranim: Hamidrasha Centre for Study Fellowship; and Bina: Centre for Jewish Identity and Hebrew Culture. The Reform and Conservative movements have been offering wedding ceremonies in Israel for some years but Havaya offers a variety of formats that are tailor-made for each individual couple.

"In addition to the formal civil marriage abroad we wanted something with meaningful Jewish content," said Yevgeny. "Many of our wedding guests in Israel are new immigrants in the same position as us. Some of them were so touched by the ceremony that they asked us for the details so they can have a similar wedding."

Having composed a selection of wedding ceremonies and trained MCs to conduct them, the Institute has also initiated a series of other ritual programmes including brits, bar and bat mitzvahs and funerals.

Justice Ministry Proposes New Legislation: The chance for couples like Marina and Yevgeny to marry in a legally recognised ceremony in Israel may be moving closer to reality. Following pressure from New Israel Fund organisations, new legislation has been drawn up by Justice Minister Haim Ramon that would introduce secular wedding ceremonies into Israel for the first time, although only for citizens who are not halachically Jewish. Ramon plans pushing the new legislation through the Knesset during the winter session.

"This legislation is a step in the right direction," said Zamira Segev, coordinator of Forum for Freedom of Choice in Marriage, a coalition of organisations advocating for an end to the Orthodox monopoly on marriage, which was set up and is funded by New Israel Fund. "But there is concern that if only those new immigrants who have no right to marry are given a civil ceremony, the issue of civil ceremonies for all Israelis will be buried."

Thousands of Israeli couples are married in Cyprus or other locations abroad each year, either because they cannot be married by the Orthodox rabbinate or would prefer a secular, civil or Reform wedding ceremony.

Meanwhile, there was an additional indication this week of the heightened public awareness of marriage and family issues when Irit Rosenblum was chosen by Israel 's Modiin newspaper as one of Israel 's 50 most influential people. Rosenblum, a lawyer, is the Executive Director of New Israel Fund grantee New Family: Organisation for Family Rights, which provides legal services and advocacy efforts to ensure full rights for all types of families in Israel . Rosenblum herself conducts alternative wedding ceremonies.

Irit Rosenblum

Facts & Figures About Marriage in Israel:

• 300,000 immigrants from the Former Soviet Union have no rights to marry in Israel because they are Jewish only on their father's side or cannot prove their Jewishness.
• The Israeli government's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) only recently began collecting statistics about the number of Israelis marrying abroad following pressure from the Forum for Freedom of Choice in Marriage.
• According to the most recent CBS figure from 2002, 3,500 Israeli couples married abroad. The Forum for Freedom of Choice in Marriage believes the figures are much higher and estimates that last year this number was closer to 6,000 Israeli couples.
• Only half of these couples were new immigrants without rights to marry in Israel, while the other half were Israelis who preferred the combination of an overseas civil ceremony and a Reform or Conservative wedding (not recognised by the Israeli government) back home.

Security Services Withdraw Demand for "Jews-Only" Flights

The Ministry of Transport will allow Arab Israelis to board flights at Kiryat Shmona after the installation of baggage scanning equipment at the Upper Galilee airport. The move followed strenuous protests by veteran New Israel Fund grantee Adalah – Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel . The Shin Bet security services had originally ordered Tamir Airlines, which operates flights from Kiryat Shmona, not to allow Arab Israelis aboard its flights due to the lack of appropriate security screening equipment at the airport.

Against All Odds Participants Take a Bow

Most of the participants of Against All Odds meet up at the festive opening of the New Israel Fund board meeting in Jaffa.

Last month, when 14-year-old Richard Suarez and 19-year-old Jena Zunio appeared on the penultimate instalment of Against All Odds, they told the television audience they lived in fear of deportation from Israel.

But when the two teenagers, both of them children of foreign workers, attended the festive opening reception of the meeting of the New Israel Fund Board of Directors and International Council in Jaffa, the nightmare scenario of arrest by the immigration police had been replaced by the dream of planning their future as Israeli citizens.

Last week, the Israeli cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, voted to grant them full residency rights. Suarez, Zunio and about 600 other children of foreign workers who have grown up in Israel received these rights thanks to continued efforts by New Israel Fund grantees Hotline for Migrant Workers and Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

"It's such a relief to be able to walk the streets of Tel Aviv without fear of being arrested," said Zunio. "Suddenly I can start planning my future." Chevy Korzen, Executive Director of the Hotline for Migrant Workers, reported that Suarez and Zunio's residency applications have already been submitted. "We have applied for residency status for Jena and Richard and 150 other children of foreign workers. At the same time we are reaching out to dozens more youngsters, who have spent their entire childhood in Israel , and are helping them achieve their rights."

Meeting on Jaffa 's seafront, the main theme of the festive opening reception was the successful conclusion of the first series of Against All Odds, the 14-part television series initiated and produced by New Israel Fund. The series, which aired on Israel 's Channel 2, the country's most popular television station, presented the country's social change leaders to the Israeli public at-large. Against All Odds broke new ground in Israeli commercial television, which is dominated by reality TV programmes and game shows, and achieved remarkably high ratings.

One of the activists featured in the series, Mandy Leighton Belisha, who sits on the Executive Board of veteran New Israel Fund grantee Bizchut, the Centre for Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities, spoke on behalf of all the participants.

"There is one thing we all have in common: we have suffered and through our strength we have overcome our problems," she said. "What we also have in common is the one body – New Israel Fund – that has supported us and given us the strength to overcome our problems.

New Israel Fund is like a magnet which has drawn us all together and affected Israel as a whole." "We cannot change the world," she continued, "we are not that naïve. But through New Israel Fund we have learned that we can change our own reality and impact the lives of those around us."

Leighton Belisha and all the participants said that they had been inundated with inquiries for assistance in the days following their on-screen appearance. Also present at the reception were senior executives and the series director, producer and editor from Keshet TV, Channel 2's largest franchisee, which co-produced the programme with New Israel Fund. The series' host, Yael Dan, said, " Against All Odds gave me the opportunity to meet and get to know remarkable people whom I would otherwise never have met. People like Asher Elias, who rediscovered his Ethiopian immigrant roots and gave up a successful high-tech career to help his community. Each person I interviewed had an amazing story."

View the programmes on the New Israel Fund site.

Against All Odds: Empowering Sderot's Students

Renata Shlomov

The last in the current series of Against All Odds features a story of good citizenship in Sderot. The programme interviews Renata Shlomov, 32, who immigrated to Israel from the Russian Caucasus in 1995 with her baby daughter after her husband was murdered. In 2005, she was awarded New Israel Fund's Yaffa London-Ya'ari Scholarship. The funds enabled her to develop a local student association in Sderot, which has attracted 200 young adults, mainly from the Caucasian immigrant community, Israel 's second poorest after the Ethiopian immigrant community. These college students receive empowerment training while being involved in various projects in the community, such as assisting schoolchildren with their studies.

View the programme with English subtitles.

Message from Alan Bolchover, New Israel Fund UK Chief Executive

The Current Crisis

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah seemed like it may be coming to an end. Alas, we may be waiting longer than we first thought, left with the hope for as quick a solution as possible, as we can only imagine the terrible losses of a prolonged war against Hezbollah.

In the meantime, we know how great the need is in Israel , especially among disadvantaged groups, for all sorts of help and advocacy related to the current crisis. We have also come to realise how sincere is the desire of those who care about Israel to demonstrate their support in a meaning way.

Consequently, we have developed an emergency package that will provide additional funds to New Israel Fund grantees that are enhancing or expanding their programmes to address the specific needs of the population in the areas directly affected by the Hezbollah rockets. We also are expanding our own programmes that address the needs of the marginalized populations living in the North, using the expertise of our SHATIL office in Haifa as the centre-point of this effort. We hope you will contribute to this cause.

Thank you for your continued support.