ACRI held its Annual General Meeting on September 6, 2009, at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. The high attendance and enthusiastic participation of those in attendance comes following an intensive campaign to increase membership to ACRI in the past months. We have nearly doubled our membership from 400 to some 700 since the spring. Needless to say, increased membership builds recognition and public support of ACRI, enhancing our ability to bring about real social change in Israel. It also constitutes an important source of income for ACRI.
At the general meeting, ACRI members, both those present and by correspondence, elected a new board of directors, including five new members: Dr. Thabet Abu Ras, Dr. Michael Birnhack, Dr. Adriana Kemp, Dr. Gila Stopler, and Dr. Nissim Mizrachi. A complete list of our new board members is listed here.
In addition to electing new board members, participants were privy to a stimulating panel discussion entitled “Current Threats to Democracy in Israel.” The lively discussion was led by Anat Saragusti, a continuing ACRI board member, and consisted entirely of ACRI board members, members, staff, and members of the “Friends of ACRI” network. The panelists were: Professor Michael Karayanni, professor law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Ms. Dorin Frankfurt, fashion designer and “Friend of ACRI”, Yossi Lemel, publicist and “Friend of ACRI,” Attorney Dan Yakir, ACRI’s legal counsel, and ACRI Attorney on Citizenship and Status Issues Oded Feller. Though the subject was ominous, all participants expressed great hope in ACRI’s ability to fight the increasing trends toward racism and undemocratic values in Israel.
