In light of Israel’s military operation in Gaza and the ongoing attacks by Hamas on Israel’s south, ACRI has been at the forefront of efforts by Israeli civil-society organizations to condemn the damage inflicted on civilians in both Gaza and southern Israel and to raise public awareness of the human rights violations that are being perpetrated by both sides in the wake of the fighting.
Below is a summary of ACRI’s activities:
· To read ACRI’s position on protecting civilians during the conflict, click here.
· ACRI has established a special hot line for residents of Israel’s south in tandem with SHATIL, offering information in Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian about various rights and procedures in the context of the conflict, including lack of access to bomb shelters and instructions from the Home Front Command, compensation, workers’ rights, access to health services, and more. For phone numbers and times, click here.
· Information Sheet: Human Rights Violations in Israel and Gaza
· On January 28, ACRI and six other human rights organizations called on the Attorney General and the IDF Judge Advocate General to investigate the conditions in which prisoners from Gaza were held. For details, click here.
· ACRI and partner organizations intervened to the Attorney-General to conduct independent and exhaustive investigation into
Israel’s suspected violations of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza. Read the intervention. On February 24, Mazuz issued his response to ACRI.. On March 19, ACRI sent a second letter of intervention.
· Read ACRI Director Hagai El-Ad’s op-ed on Ynet: “Civilians used as Cannon Fodder”.
· On January 6-7, we joined our partner organizations in submitting two urgent petitions to the Supreme Court concerning the military operation in Gaza: one demanding that Israel refrain from attacking medical staff and allow the safe evacuation of injured individuals for medical treatment, and the second demanding sufficient supplies of electricity and fuel into the Gaza Strip. Both petitions were rejected.
· Press release: Attacks on Civilians Targets, including UNRWA School, Must End, January 7, 2009.
· ACRI intervened to the Home Front Command urging it to include in its instructions specific emergency procedures and resources for workplaces and public transportation. For more details, click here.
· Together with a coalition of Israeli human rights organizations, we are running a public campaign under the slogan, “Civilians are Not Cannon Fodder. Not in Gaza. Not in Sderot” and highlighting the need to distinguish between combatants and civilians during the fighting. The Hebrew campaign is available here. Also visit the blog established by the coalition in English and Hebrew.
· ACRI condemned in a written intervention to Attorney-General Meni Mazuz the illegal arrests and interrogations of demonstrators who lawfully protested against the military actions in Gaza. The full intervention is available here.
· We joined our partner organizations in appealing to Defense Minister Ehud Barak to demand that Israel restore fuel supplies to hospitals, water wells, and other vital humanitarian institutions in Gaza. The full intervention in Hebrew is available here.
For more information or to arrange an interview on ACRI’s work in response to the conflict in Gaza and the south, please contact Melanie Takefman, ACRI’s International Communication and Development, Coordinator at ++972-2-652-1218 or melanie@acri.org.il.
