Newsroom:
Strengthening Israel’s Democracy
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Blog, Times of Israel
January 26, 2023Israel’s government’s first order of business is the most dangerous of all: a legal coup.
Should the proposed bills, aimed at weakening the judiciary be enacted, Israel will have no checks and balances on the government’s power. This means that the Knesset could decide to outlaw liberal Judaism, to enforce complete gender segregation in the public sphere, to deny LGBTQ rights, to disenfranchise Arabs and to abolish future elections altogether.
We will not give up, we will continue to fight. But the fight is not ours alone. We need you — and many, many more like you — to raise a voice to make sure Israel remains a democracy.
2023
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Haaretz
September 13, 2022The Israel Religious Action Center – the advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel – led a campaign to disqualify Ben-Gvir from running for the Knesset in 2019. It failed, however, with the High Court of Justice ruling in his favor.
IRAC Executive Director Orly Erez Likhovski is concerned that many Israelis have been taken in by Ben-Gvir’s recent charm offensive and the toning down of his rhetoric. He no longer talks about deporting all Arabs, for instance, but instead only those who are “disloyal.”
“Maybe this makes some people calmer, but this is just a mask he has put on,” she says. “His intentions have not changed.”
Erez Likhovski attributes his popularity among young Israelis to ignorance.
“First of all, it’s important to point out that most of the kids at Blich were against him – not for him,” she says. “But I’m sure many of them have no idea what he’s all about. From my experience, when you talk to them about Kahanism, they can’t even tell you who [Meir] Kahane was. There are a lot of lost kids out there looking for something, and when someone like Ben-Gvir comes along who makes everything sound very simple, this appeals to them.”
Still, she believes that most young Israelis would never entertain the idea of voting for him and recoil from his views.
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Haaretz
August 24, 2022The petition was filed by the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages in the Negev, the Abraham Initiatives and the Israel Religious Action Center. It said that residents of the unrecognized villages who want to vote must currently do so at polling stations in recognized villages and are assigned to such stations without regard to where they actually live.
The Abraham Initiatives, the Israel Religious Action Center and the council said in response to the ruling that they regret the denial of their appeal to place polling stations at unrecognized villages. The appellants added: “One election cycle after another, we raise the need to allow the residents of the unrecognized Bedouin villages to vote at polling places located a reasonable distance from their homes, but nothing changes.
“The fact that there are tens of thousands of women and men who are denied the right to vote near their homes is intolerable. It is inconceivable that Israel ties the status of the locality to the right to vote. This is damage to a basic democratic right that demands correction.”
2022
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JTA
July 29, 2021Anat Hoffman, the executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, a Reform Jewish group, wrote in June that the coalition’s makeup is a “huge opportunity.”
“[Haredi parties’] constant presence in the government has been a major obstacle towards advancing pluralism and recognition of the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel,” she said. “With government ministers who believe in and work to advance pluralism, we have an opportunity to advance our issues in cooperation with the government.”
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The New York Times
May 31, 2021 -
The Jerusalem Post
March 3, 2021The teenagers received assistance in their lawsuit from the legal department team of The Israel Religious Action Center, and are demanding that educational institutions follow their restrictions and that state funding is withdrawn from schools that do not.
2021
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JTA
August 26, 2019The appeal to the Supreme Court, which ruled Sunday, was filed by the Israel Religious Action Center of the Reform movement here and the Blue and White, Democratic Union and Labor parties.
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i24 News
August 22, 2019According to the petition, filed by The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), Israel's Central Elections Committee did not examine “severe racist remarks” by the leaders of the party, therefore the decision to allow Jewish Power to run for parliament is illegitimate, reported Hebrew-language YNET News outlet.
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Yisrael Hayom
August 14, 2019MK Esawi Frej (Democratic Union), the Israel Religious Action Center, and the Labor party all petitioned that Otzma Yehudit, as well as individual candidates Ben-Gvir, Gopstein, and Marzel, be banned from the election.
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Jewish Journal
March 18, 2019The court decided on Monday by a vote of 8 to 1 in favor of an appeal by the Reform Movement in Israel, represented by the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC). That overturned a decision made by the Israel Central Elections Commission on March 12 to allow Ben-Ari to continue his campaign.
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JTA
March 17, 2019The court decided on Monday by a vote of 8 to 1 in favor of an appeal by the Reform Movement in Israel, represented by the Israel Religious Action Center. That overturned a decision made by the Israel Central Elections Commission on March 12 to allow Ben-Ari to continue his campaign.
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The Jerusalem Post
March 10, 2019The Central Elections Committee voted not to ban Otzma from running in the April 9 election, following a petition by Meretz, Labor MK Stav Shaffir and the Reform Movement’s Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), but they appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which will have the final say on the matter.
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IOL
March 7, 2019Orly Erez Likhovski, the head of the Legal Department at the Israel Religious Action Centre (IRAC), which represented the Reform Movement in the case, presented the committee with numerous examples of written and video evidence demonstrating that the two candidates have a long history of racist incitement and that racism and racist incitement are central to their platform.
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Haaretz
March 7, 2019Among the other U.S. groups backing Zazim were J Street, the Israel Religious Action Center on Behalf of the Reform Movement, the National Council of Jewish Women, Americans for Peace Now, Partners for Progressive Israel, T'ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, Ameinu, the Jewish Labor Committee, Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assembly.
2019
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Ynet News
August 11, 2018The organizations and political parties taking part in the protest include the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews, Peace Now, the Israel Religious Action Center, Standing Together, Sikkuy, The Coalition Against Racism in Israel, the Mossawa Center, Labor Party youth, Hadash, Meretz, Ta'al, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Zazim—Community Action, the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, Kulan, the Socialist Struggle Movement, the New Israel Fund and Shatil.
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The Jerusalem Post
July 14, 2018The participating organizations were: Omdim Beyachad (Standing Together); The Association of Ethiopian Jews; The New Israel Fund; Peace Now; The Israel Religious Action Center; Sikkuy; The Coalition Against Racism in Israel; Mossawa Center; Young Labor; Hadash; Meretz; Ta’al; The Association for Civil Rights in Israel; Zazim – Community Action; the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality; AJEEC NISPED; Kulan; Socialist Struggle; Combatants for Peace; and Shatil.
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San Diego Jewish World
July 12, 2018Over the last few months, as the governing coalition has been ramping up its efforts to pass this bill, Israeli civil society has spoken up. Under the tremendous leadership of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, the Israel Democracy Institute, the Israel Religious Action Center, and NIF’s action arm Shatil, Israeli activists have made the case for equality. They have helped make sure that the Knesset and the media have heard the concerns of not only Palestinian Israelis, but also those of women, of Mizrahi leaders, and of LGBTQ Israelis. President Rivlin’s strong letter of opposition to the bill echoes some of the concerns that they’ve voiced.