Current Projects in Israel

Together, we support projects and programs in Israel that fight for social and economic justice, religious freedom, civil and human rights, shared society and anti-racism, Palestinian citizens, and democracy itself.

EMERGENCY FUND

On an ongoing basis, NIFC will be devoting additional funding towards emergency projects that are defending democracy, pushing back on extremism, and protecting vulnerable populations.

World Central Kitchen

Humanitarian Food Aid to Gazans

World Central Kitchen (WCK) has a global track record of feeding communities in crisis. This includes mobilizing to feed Israelis in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks; over 1.1 million people in Gaza are on the brink of famine. We believe we have a moral obligation to help feed them. NIFC’s emergency project is providing $54,000 in humanitarian food aid to civilians suffering in Gaza. (More here.)

Human Rights Defenders Fund

Legal Protection of Human Rights Defenders

The Human Rights Defenders Fund (HRDF) is the legal “safety net” for human rights defenders in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and a member of the Civil Society Protection Hub. Under Israel’s current government, authorities have turned a blind eye to settler violence and aimed to prevent lawful human rights monitoring. NIFC’s 2024 project will protect professionals and volunteers from efforts to intimidate, harm, and criminalize those performing human rights monitoring in Israel and the OPT.

NIF's Civil Society Protection Hub

Aiding and Protecting Civil Society in israel

Established by the New Israel Fund in February 2023, “the Hub” protects civil society NGOs and leaders who are being intimidated or even physically threatened from operating freely. The Hub offers a wide variety of civil society actors legal assistance, physical and digital security, public relations advice, mental health resources, and other expertise from its members: the Israeli Democratic Bloc, the Human Rights Defenders Fund (HRDF), the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), FakeReporter, and Mehazkim. NIFC’s 2024 project will support the Hub’s coordination of efforts to protect civil society.

Human & Civil Rights

Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)

Litigation and Media Outreach to Protect and Defend Human and Social Rights in Israel

ACRI is the leading organization protecting human and social rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This year, safeguarding human rights in Israel is especially important following a year of attacks on democracy and civil liberties by the extremist Israeli government, attacks which have only intensified since October 7 and the consequent state of emergency. In 2024, this project will offer education and legal guidance to potentially hundreds of thousands of Israelis through ACRI’s hotline and legal assistance.

FakeReporter

Exposing the Mechanisms Behind Malicious Online Activity

FakeReporter exposes malicious online activity aimed at democratic systems, inauthentic influence campaigns, fraud, hate speech, incitement, conspiracies, and lies. FakeReporter exposes the mechanisms and actors behind online malicious activity, assists activists and organizations under attack, increases the accountability of tech companies and involvement of civil servants, as well as provides real time crisis response. In 2024, this project will research online malicious activity, assist victims suffering harassment, and publish information for the public and authorities.

Breaking the Silence

Educating Young People on the Occupation

Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran combatants who have served in the Israeli military. They work to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers rule over a civilian population and control Palestinians’ everyday lives. For most young Jewish Israelis, discussion of the occupation is absent from Israel’s education system; military service will be their first encounter with Palestinian and the reality of the occupation. In 2024, this project will educate students and educators about human rights in the Occupied Territories in both formal and informal settings, such as youth group chapters and high schools.

Yesh Din

Law Enforcement on Settler Violence

Yesh Din is an Israeli human rights organization working to end the occupation and to provide legal assistance to Palestinians whose rights were violated. There has been a sharp escalation of violence and displacement committed by settlers and security forces in recent years, and especially since October 7. In 2024, NIFC’s project will increase accountability for settler violence through documenting events in the field, representing victims in court, and providing research to policymakers.

Shared Society & Combating Racism

Sikkuy-Aufoq

Now and the Day After Education

Sikkuy-Aufoq is an established NGO which has been advancing equality and partnership between Jews and the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel for the past 30 years. Project information is forthcoming.

Palestinian Citizens of Israel

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

Litigation and Media Outreach to Protect and Defend the Human Rights of Arab Bedouin Citizens of Israel living in the Naqab (Negev)

Adalah is the leading Palestinian legal center and human rights organization based in Israel and the sole Palestinian-run organization that works before Israeli courts to protect the human rights of Palestinians in Israel. Adalah is the primary legal agency supporting Bedouin communities in the Negev, including as a member of the Naqab Emergency Room coalition. In 2024, this project will focus on legal aid on behalf of Bedouin communities in the Negev, whose abilities to access their economic and social rights have become even more compromised since the start of the war.

Bimkom -- Planning and Human Rights

Strengthening Bedouin Community Resilience

Bimkom — Planning and Human Rights strengthens democracy and human rights in the field of special planning and housing policies in the Negev for the 100,000 citizens living in unrecognized Bedouin villages. The Gaza war has taken a particular toll on these communities: they suffered deaths and kidnappings by Hamas on October 7 and lacked both bomb shelters and warning sirens. In 2024, this project will provide the research underlying long-term solutions for these unrecognized communities, along with direct assistance.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC)

Advancing Religious Freedom Through Congregational Education

IRAC advances religious diversity and defends freedom of religion in Israeli society. In 2024, this project will educate the Israeli public, and specifically Reform congregations, about their right to freedom of religion, and work with local communities to ensure that freedom of religion is a priority at a municipal level.

New Initiatives for Democracy

Mitvim - The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies

Researching Post-Conflict Strategies and Regional Expertise

Mitvim–The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies is a foreign policy think tank established in 2011 with the mission to promote a progressive paradigm shift Israel’s foreign policy. Mitvim provides answers to resolving the underlying conflict with new regional allies as Israelis seek alternatives to the catastrophic failures of their government’s security and military policies on October 7th. In 2024, NIFC’s project will conduct research and analyses on peace and security after the October 7th attack.

Social & Economic Justice

New Israel Fund's Shatil

Tzameret–Kama: Advancing Women as Leaders in Social Change Organizations

Shatil is the operating department of NIF in Israel. Shatil has been promoting women’s rights since its inception 40 years ago. Today in Israel, women staff are the majority within social change organizations but are only the minority in leadership roles. In 2023, Shatil developed a three-month leadership program called Tzameret-Kama for Arab and Jewish women currently in middle-management positions. In 2024, this project will convene a second Tzamaret-Kama course for Arab and Jewish middle-management civil society leaders looking to advance into more senior roles and continue to build an alumni network of Arab and Jewish women working in civil society.