Impact

Thanks to legal advocacy by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Jerusalem Court for Administrative Affairs ordered the Israeli Police to publish its operating procedures, as required by law. In a victory for accountability, the Israeli Police acknowledged that it will comply with its obligation.

Israel’s Supreme Court upheld surrogacy rights for same-sex couples and single men after a petition was filed by Aguda – Israel’s LGBT Task Force and The Association of Israeli Gay Fathers. The five-justice panel unanimously ruled that the Knesset must amend the law it passed in July 2018 — allowing access to surrogacy procedures for only heterosexual couples and single mothers — so that the right is extended to same-sex couples and single men.

Thanks to a petition from several NIF grantees including Kav LaOved – Worker’s Hotline, ASSAF – Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers, and the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, Israel’s Supreme Court struck down the 2017 “Deposit Law,” which confiscated 20% of every paycheck earned by the 36,000 asylum seekers in Israel. Under the draconian law, intended to incentivize leaving the country, this money was held by the government until asylum seekers did so.

After persistent campaigning by NIF grantees Israel Hofsheet (Be Free Israel) and the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), Tel Aviv and several nearby municipalities introduced public transportation on Saturdays, attracting tens of thousands of passengers. In the wake of the success of these Shabbat buses, other municipalities said they intend to operate public transportation on Saturdays.

In collaboration with the Seventh Eye, Shatil recently launched the Ru.il website, an online database of Russian-speaking experts. The database is intended for journalists, researchers, and editors to find progressive Russian-speaking voices and increase their representation in Israel’s Russian and Hebrew media.

The Israeli government canceled its plan to evict dozens of Holocaust survivors from their government-subsidized housing after pressure from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). Seventy elderly Israelis, including 45 Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans, were due to be evicted from an assisted living housing complex in B’nei Ayish before ACRI, helped the residents fight the decision and overturn it.