International Lawyers Society

IRAC at its CORE:

IRAC is the only organization working to secure civil and human rights in Israel based on Jewish tradition, as well as precepts of Israeli law and universal values. As the public and legal advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel, IRAC advocates for and works to advance Israel as a shared society for all, without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, or religion. We mobilize our own constituencies from within the Reform movement, as well as the wider Israeli public through legal action, advocacy, and community organizing. We fight religious extremism and those who use religion to incite hatred and hostility towards groups such as liberal Jews, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and Arabs.

 In order to build a more just and egalitarian Israel we work to achieve the following objectives:

• Advancing religious pluralism, freedom of and from religion

• Ensuring state recognition and equal status for Reform and Conservative rabbis, synagogues, and institutions

• Promoting gender and LGBTQ equality

• Advancing racial equality and combating racism

• Protecting and strengthening democracy in Israel

• Protecting the rights of immigrants and of converts to Judaism to become Israeli citizens

Since the beginning of 2023 IRAC has seen that the protection of Israeli democracy must be a foundation of our work. From the realization of Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state the application and protection of our civil rights are enabled:

Strengthening Israel’s democracy -

Israel was founded as a Jewish and democratic state that promises equal rights to all its citizens. In recent years, IRAC has prioritized fighting for Israel’s democracy as the threats to Israel’s democracy have multiplied and been energized by the growing right-wing religious extremism that currently dominates the political environment.

In January 2023, the newly inaugurated right-wing government, the most extreme in Israel's history, began to advance an anti-democratic legislative agenda – the "legal coup". This series of bills was designed to strip the judicial branch of its independence and authority, undermining the already fragile system of checks and balances that are meant to ensure that the executive and legislative branches, effectively unified in a parliamentary system, adhere to the rule of law and respect human rights. All liberal democracies require a strong judiciary that protects minority and civil rights, providing avenues of redress to those whose fundamental rights are violated, and prevents abuses of power. When the government launched this agenda, IRAC immediately mobilized to play a major role in the largest protest movement the country has ever seen. Its unique contribution to this diverse movement was a loud and clear liberal Jewish religious voice under the slogan “Defending Israel’s Democracy in the name of Judaism,” asserting that the government’s policies were neither democratic nor Jewish. IRAC attorneys spent countless hours in Knesset committee hearings fighting the government's dangerous bills, both those related to the legal coup and others threatening the rights of progressive Jews, Arabs, women, and LGBTQ. IRAC's Legal Department submitted dozens of position papers on various issues to Knesset committees. In addition, for 40 straight weeks, IRAC marshaled its constituencies to march in the streets with millions of Israelis and Jews from all over the world, opposing the government's threats to the foundations of Israeli democracy.

The Hamas attacks on October 7th, 2023, and ensuing war in Gaza, initially forced the government to table the legal coup altogether. But its intentions are clearly aimed at promoting this dangerous agenda in other ways. In fact, even as the war continues, the government is introducing legislative initiatives contrary to democratic principles. IRAC remains vigilant and continues to voice its opposition to every relevant phenomenon, attending and participating in various committee hearings and promoting public campaigns against such initiatives. IRAC remains prepared, along with the networks it created during last year's protests, to resume opposition and fight for Israel to remain a liberal democracy defined by the rule of law and with vigorous protections of fundamental rights for all its citizens. For instance, the war revealed that unrecognized Bedouin communities suffer from a severe lack of shelter infrastructure. Indeed, Bedouin citizens of Israel were among Hamas' victims. A seven-year-old Bedouin girl was severely injured with a head trauma during Iran's missile attacks in April when shrapnel from an intercepted missile crashed through the roof of her family's home. IRAC's Legal Department has drafted letters and submitted a petition to the Supreme Court with other NGOs demanding a remedy .