Exploring the Future of Israeli Democracy with Haaretz

Last week, Mickey Gitzin, executive director of NIF in Israel, spoke from the heart at the Haaretz conference in NYC:

You can’t solve Israeli democracy only by fighting the courts while the courts are allowing atrocities to happen in the West Bank, without even thinking to block it. You can’t think about the future of Israeli democracy or the future of my children without understanding that the future of the children of Gaza is connected to it. This needs to be part of the same story…Our job is actually to see the reality as it is and to push towards a better one for all people that live from the river to the sea.

The conference featured a powerful roster of speakers, including Ayman Odeh, member of Knesset and leader of the Hadash–Ta’al party; Naama Lazimi, member of Knesset and leader of the Democrats party; David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker; and, of course, Mickey himself.

(Photos courtesy of Gili Getz)

Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya, NIF board member and expert in the field of Arab-Jewish relations moderates a panel with (L-R) Esther Sperber, executive director of Smol Emuni US; Ben Samuels, Haaretz DC correspondent; and Esther Solomon, editor-in-chief of Haaretz English.

MK Ayman Odeh

MK Naama Lazimi

David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker

(L-R) Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, former NIF board member and senior rabbi emerita at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, and Rabbi Noa Sattath executive director of NIF’s flagship grantee, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)

Participants watch a video in the main hall of the 2025 Haaretz Conference in New York.