May Newsletter
Join us on Monday 9th July at a very special Awards Dinner to honour some of Israel’s most outstanding activists and organisations working in the field of human rights.
Israeli Minister of Education, Yuli Tamir, will give a keynote address and the Right Honourable Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, will chair this prestigious inaugural event.
The New Israel Fund Human Rights Awards Dinner will be held at the newly renovated Hotel Russell, and is sponsored by The Pears Foundation. Be sure to Save The Date!
More information coming soon!
News
NIF UK delegation joins in as Let’s Kick Racism Out of Israeli Football Campaign Celebrates on a Global Scale
Israeli boys and girls from all sectors of society wearing NIF “Kick It Out” t-shirts line up with the England team before the match with Israel - watched by tens of millions of viewers worldwide
Israeli boys and girls from all sectors of society wearing NIF “Kick It Out” t-shirts line up with the England team before the match with Israel - watched by tens of millions of viewers worldwide
An 80-strong NIF UK delegation flew out to Tel Aviv to watch England play Israel in the Euro 2008 qualifier on Saturday 24th March. They also took part in a range of highly publicized meetings and events within the framework of NIF’s Lets Kick Racism Out of Football campaign to combat racism in Israeli society.
A global TV audience of tens of millions of viewers in 22 countries saw live coverage as Israeli children from all sectors of society wearing the NIF “Kick It Out” logo accompanied the Israeli and England football teams onto the pitch prior to the game. In the presence of 41,000 spectators at the Ramat Gan National Stadium, the ceremony had a nearly 40 per cent rating in Israel alone, which translates into more than a million viewers.
Minister of Sport Ghaleb Majadle, Israel's first-ever Arab minister in his first public address, said he hoped the "Kick Racism Out" campaign would help fight discrimination against Arabs in Israel. "It is our job to hold hands with people from all parts of society in this effort to stop racism and violence in sports and in the entire Israeli society," Majadle said. Among NIF's 150 guests were delegates from the
British Zionist Federation, many of whom expressed interest in NIF activities.
As part of their trip, NIF’s UK delegation also visited Israel’s only jointly owned Arab-Jewish professional football team, Hapoel Abu Ghosh-Mevasseret Zion, where they were shown how football can promote coexistence. Hundreds of local Jewish and Arab residents came to greet the British visitors, generating a festive atmosphere.
Israeli national team footballer Abbas Suan scores a penalty
watched by NIF UK visitors and Jews and Arabs
from Mevasseret Zion and Abu Ghosh
Launched in 2002, NIF’s campaign has put the subject of racism in Israeli society on the public agenda. Achievements have included new legislation specifically outlawing racist chanting at football matches and subsequent arrests and convictions. The pro-active and educational phase of the campaign began last March, using the experience and know-how developed in English football.
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert both wrote letters praising NIF’s campaign to combat racism in Israeli society through our football program.
In his letter Tony Blair said “I would therefore like to take this opportunity to praise the work already undertaken by the Israel Football Association (FA) and the New Israel Fund and wish them the greatest success in their efforts to free football of racism in Israel.”
Ehud Olmert wrote, “I congratulate the New Israel Fund and the Israel Football Association on their noble efforts to reduce the phenomenon of violence and racism during football matches.”
For more information, go to:
• Israeli and UK Prime Ministers' Letters
• International Herald Tribune: "Israeli Muslim Minister Backs Racism Campaign"
• The Independent: "Football can Show The Way to Israeli Society"
• Jerusalem Post: "English fans enjoy Israel's sun, surf and serious side"
Israel Prize for Prof. Alice Shalvi: Fighter for Feminism
Prof. Alice Shalvi, a member of NIF’s International Council, former NIF Board Member, and the founder of veteran NIF grantee Israel Woman’s Network (IWN), as well as a pioneer of Israel's feminist movement, has been awarded the Israel Prize. The prize, Israel’s highest accolade, is for her “Lifetime Achievements and Special Contribution to Society and the State of Israel.”
Born in Germany in 1926, Prof. Shalvi found refuge in England after the Nazis came to power and immigrated to Israel in 1950 after graduating Cambridge University. As a leading religious woman, Professor Shalvi made her name in the Orthodox community as Principal of Pelech, a unique progressive high school for religious girls, located in Jerusalem. In August 1997 she was appointed the first woman rector of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, has been its Acting President, and is now Chairperson of its Executive Board.
In 1978 her activities won her the President's Award for outstanding contribution to the quality of life in Israel. In 1989, she received the Emil Grunzweig Prize, awarded by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and in 1991 she was awarded the Rothfield Prize by the International Centre for Peace in the Middle East.
Alice Shalvi is also the author of three books and has published widely on literature and on women, feminism and Judaism, and education. She broadcasts on Israel Radio, has frequently appeared on television, and lectures on social, education and women's issues both in Israel and abroad.
The Israel Women's Network was founded in 1984 and is known as one of the largest and most visible of women's organizations in Israel. It works for the advancement of the status of women in Israel through education, legislation and legal activities. As a founder of the IWN and its first chair, Alice Shalvi placed the struggle for the status of women in the Jewish religious context prominently on the Network’s agenda, with special stress on the plight of deserted wives and women whose husbands refused to grant them a Jewish divorce.
The Israel Prize judges praised Prof. Shalvi as "revolutionary and courageously trailblazing, with intellectual integrity and long-term vision." She will receive the prize for "a lifetime contribution" on Israel Independence Day.
On the topic of women's rights, NIF held the third event in its Hyde Park “Free Speech” series in Tel Aviv at the end of March, where the microphone was given to passers-by and grassroots activists so they could voice their feelings and opinions on women's rights. Topics covered included domestic violence, equal pay, agunot (“chained” wives) and much more.
NIF Campaign Against Humiliating Security Checks at Ben Gurion Airport Achieves Results
The Israeli government has recently announced a commitment to address the often humiliating treatment of Israeli Arab and other non-Jewish passengers by security personnel when flying in and out of Israel. The New Israel Fund, which recently launched a programme with Machsom Watch to draw public attention to this problem, welcomes this change in policy and will continue to monitor implementation of the government’s proposed solution. The campaign has helped place the subject on the public agenda and created pressures that even Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was not able to ignore.
Yediot Ahronot featured an article headlined "Olmert to Mofaz: Consider Easing Up On Israeli Arabs During Checks at Ben Gurion Airport." The paper said that "Olmert's request followed the large number of complaints by Arab passengers about humiliations and discrimination."
The article reported that Olmert told Mofaz that the treatment of Arab passengers had been put on the public agenda and that he had read the report on the subject by NIF grantee.
Centre Against Racism and Discrimination
The Israeli press has also reported that expensive new technology would soon be introduced at Ben Gurion International Airport to replace the need for intrusive personal checks on passengers.
The latest phase of this campaign was launched in January when Machsom Watch and NIF sent a letter to Gabi Ofir, Director General of the Israel Airports Authority, and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, offering to train airport security staff and instil greater sensitivity towards travellers. The letter, featured extensively in the Israeli press, helped call attention to the issue and put pressure on the government to respond.
“I am encouraged by the increased awareness and interest in this subject that our campaign has aroused” said Maya Bailey of Machsom Watch. “And I think that the system will adapt and become more sensitive.”
NIF will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that new policies and procedures are indeed put into place.
Read more about this in Ha’aretz
Ending Discrimination in Ultra-Orthodox Schools
Mizrahi high school girls are worst hit by discrimination in the ultra-orthodox sector The Jerusalem Municipality will introduce a new single entrance examination for all the city’s ultra-orthodox high schools, which it hopes will end the current widespread discrimination against Mizrachi students (students whose families came to Israel from African and Asian countries).
The decision follows an order by Judge Yehudit Zur of the Jerusalem District Court of Administrative Affairs to the Jerusalem Municipality and Ministry of Education to formulate measures to address and end the discrimination. The Court was petitioned on the issue by flagship NIF grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
In the last year alone, ACRI has received complaints from the families of 113 Mizrachi girls in Jerusalem who were rejected because of their ethnic background.
“In most instances,” explains Yoav Loeff, ACRI’s spokesman, “the families are told outright that the school is only for Ashkenazim, or that their child is not suitable when the school hears that they have a Mizrachi name. Unfortunately, the fear of media exposure is so strong in the ultra-orthodox community that nobody was prepared to go public and be part of our petition to the court.”
The court ruling clearly instructs the municipalities and Ministry of Education to be pro-active in preventing discrimination and ending the current situation where ultra-orthodox schools can accept or reject anyone they want without substantive and non-discriminatory justification. Under the new system, the results of the entrance exam will be provided to schools by number, not by name, thereby preventing schools from identifying the ethnic origins of their applicants.
However, schools will retain the right to refuse a candidate who passes the exam on the grounds of an “unsuitable” psychological or emotional profile. ACRI will closely monitor the situation to ensure that this exception is not used as a loophole for continued discrimination, and also to ensure that the new measures are also applied in other ultra-orthodox schools around the country.
First Orthodox Group Pushes for Secular Burial
A Jerusalem group has become the first Orthodox organization to back civil burial in Israel. NIF grantee and SHATIL client Ne’emanei Torah v’Avoda has joined the Jerusalem branch of Eternal Rest, which works to ensure that those who want to can obtain a civil burial in the capital. SHATIL’s Pluralism Project coordinator, Shira Ben-Sasson Furstenberg, who made the connection between the two groups, points out that civil burial is the only pluralism issue that has a law backing it. While ultra-orthodox Jerusalem Mayor Lupoliansky supports it, issues of land and access have held up implementation.
Furstenberg quips: “We can’t live pluralistically in Israel. But maybe we can die pluralistically here.”
SHATIL Brings First Sexual Health Education Course to Bedouin Women
“If I have relations with my husband once, can I get pregnant more than once?” This was one of the many questions asked by participants in SHATIL’s Family Planning course for Bedouin women – the first of its kind in the country.
While the course teaches about contraception, menstruation, pregnancy and birth, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse and incest, it has a broader reach, covering issues like self image, interpersonal relations, assertiveness, personal, social and political identity, communication skills, marital myths and homosexuality.
In addition to giving information and increasing awareness, the course prepares participants to be group facilitators. Each graduate will run workshops for girls in high schools throughout the Negev on the material learned. The course also aims to create a change in Bedouin women’s approach to the subject, both for themselves as women and as mothers who influence the next generation of boys as well as girls.
This course arose from a serious need. Bedouin families are extremely large; most women lack say in the number of children they bear; live under the threat of honour killings; and lack basic knowledge about matters of husband-wife relations, the process of conception and family planning.
In addition, there are incidences of rape, early pregnancy and a great lack of awareness of sexuality among Bedouin teenaged girls as a result of the taboo against speaking about such subjects.
Message from Ellen Goldberg, New Israel Fund UK Executive Director
Since Pesach, we have recognized three deeply meaningful days on our Jewish and Israeli calendars – Holocaust Day/Yom Hashoah, Memorial Day/Yom Hazikaron, and Independence Day/Yom Ha'atzmaut. These days reflect events in modern history that have profound social significance for the Jewish communities in Israel and around the world.
These are days that bring us face to face with events of triumph and tragedy in our recent history. They are days during which we contemplate racism, hatred, commitment to one’s country and one’s people, as well as the importance of democratic and Jewish values, which together greatly influence the moral nature of Israeli society.
It is also an opportunity to recognize and celebrate Israel’s innumerable achievements during the last 59 years, in all facets of life. But the juxtaposition of these three public days also ensures that we recognize the areas in which we must continue to be vigilant – issues of human rights, social justice, and freedom – to ensure that our future will be free of similar tragic events of the past, and abundant with the triumphs of equality and human dignity for all.
So in keeping with this spirit, we invite you all to join us in honouring and celebrating the work of select outstanding Israeli Human Rights activists on Monday evening 9th July, 2007. The New Israel Fund Human Rights Awards Dinner will be held at the newly renovated Hotel Russell, and is sponsored by The Pears Foundation. Be sure to Save The Date!
We thank you for your support of our work, which helps build a brighter future for all Israelis!
