Impact

Israel’s Minister of Health announced a historic investment in health care for Palestinian communities in Israel. PHRI, the Galilee Society, and the Shatil-led Arab-Jewish Citizens’ Forum for the Promotion of Health in the Galilee had all brought attention to the gaps in health-care services between Jewish and Palestinian Israelis. The decision allocates an additional $200 million (NIS 650 million) toward health services in Arab communities.

Following the hostilities between Israel and Hamas in May, PHRI distributed 1,500 food parcels to Gazan families whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the fighting, as well as medicine and medical equipment. During the fighting, when Israel further tightened already stringent limitations on exit permits for Gazans in need of urgent medical care, the organization petitioned the High Court of Justice, and the state repealed the new restrictions.

After hostilities began between Israel and Hamas and within mixed Arab-Jewish cities in Israel, NIF grantee, Omdim Beyachad (Standing Together), brought thousands of Jews and Arabs across the country to the streets to unite against the escalation and violence. Before the announcement of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on May 21, Omdim Beyachad organized Jewish-Arab anti-war demonstrations in dozens of cities across Israel.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel’s Ministry of Health was publishing urgent public health regulations, but only in Hebrew. After advocacy by Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights, government websites began publishing public health information in Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, and other languages. Thanks to these efforts, Arab citizens, African asylum seekers, and Ethiopian Israelis were able to access urgent and credible public health information in their native languages.

Following intense pressure from NIF grantees, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gantz approved a vaccination drive for the roughly 120,000 Palestinians, or 2.5% of the Palestinian population, with permits to work in Israel and the settlements. After another successful campaign by five NIF grantees in January 2021, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) began vaccinating all prisoners over age 45, including Palestinian security prisoners.

After a petition filed by 23 Palestinian local councils, together with human rights organizations, including veteran NIF grantees Adalah and ACRI, Israel’s Supreme Court struck down the “Expropriation Law.” Under this unjust law, the Israeli government retroactively approved illegal Jewish settlement construction on private Palestinian land.