Author Archive: New Israel Fund
Don’t Despair of Religious Zionism
2 April 2012 By Gadi Gvaryahu, Field Coordinator of Yudbet be-Heshvan During the waiting period before the Six-Day War, the most moderate ministers in Levi Eshkol’s government were those from the National Religious Party. Since then, Religious Zionism has undergone a revolution; the sector that forged a historic agreement with Mapai has become a right-wing…
The Sweet Taste of Justice
I fell in love with Jerusalem when I came here last year as part of a year-long study for my rabbinical program in the US. Like many good love stories, it was unexpected and even fraught. After months of praying with Women of the Wall, visiting the West Bank, arguing in the supermarket, and feeling upset about how Israel didn’t match my vision of a Jewish State, I realized that it only hurt because I cared so much.
Netanyahu’s Fiscal Policies
19 March 2012 Our colleagues at the Adva Center prepared the following analysis of the Netanyahu government’s follow up to the social justice protests as seen in its fiscal policies. A must read for anyone watching these issues. Click here for the PowerPoint.
Belief in change
8 March 2012 By Ruth Eglash Ronit Heyd, director of Shatil, is of the opinion that “hope should and could be the driving force behind our decisions and actions.” Ronit Heyd, Age: 37 Profession: Director of Shatil – leading social change, an initiative of the New Israel Fund. Place of birth: New Jersey (By chance….
Adalah’s advocacy brings Israel closer to the ideal established by Israel’s founders
March 6, 2012 The not-so-stealth campaigns against the Arab civil rights organization Adalah, its supporter the New Israel Fund, and the values of democratic and minority rights are hitting new lows. For example, NGO Monitor recently went public with an op-ed it knew to be wrong, along with some manipulative interpretation. Having wrongly accused Adalah…
Gender Trouble
Suddenly, it seems, gender segregation is everywhere in Israel—buses, army bases, Jerusalem sidewalks, Beit Shemesh schoolyards and, above all, the front pages. What is going on here? Why is all this happening now? Let’s begin with the second question. “This”—that is, efforts by some sectors of Israeli Orthodoxy to set terms for the public presence…
Social Justice in Jerusalem
On Sunday, January 1st in Jerusalem, hundreds of men and women boarded segregated bus lines to protest the ultra-Orthodox exclusion of women. Gender discrimination and the exclusion of women from the public sphere is one of the many problems facing communities in the fractured society that makes up modern Israel. On December 2, I participated…
Women and Girls in Danger
For years I have been pondering how to explain to my Israeli friends my attitude that advertisements in the Israeli media are offensive and dangerous to the status of women in Israeli society. These women are always portrayed as sexy and submissive – exposing their bodies in many different poses as if they are asking…
Hillary Clinton is not the problem
Instead of bridling at Western criticism over the anti-democratic wave that’s rising in Israel, we should take it as an indirect compliment – and as sound advice. It is precisely because Israel has a reputation as a vibrant democracy that our friends abroad are dismayed; the Israel they know doesn’t do this sort of thing….
Voting for human rights, with our feet!
By Hagai El-Ad, Executive Director of flagship NIF grantee the Association for Civil Rights in Israel This Friday, Tel Aviv will witness the country’s third annual Human Rights March. Thousands of people from different backgrounds will come together for the most diverse event of the year, united through one universal message: all human rights for…