The following is a summary of only some of ACRI’s litigation highlights and successes since 1972. ACRI has been instrumental in bringing key precedent-setting cases to the Supreme Court to promote equality, the rule of law, due process, freedom of expression, and many other fundamental universal human rights and civil liberties.
GENDER EQUALITY
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court demanding a change in policy that required women to retire from the workplace at age 60 while allowing men to retire at age 65. (1987)
ACRI successfully petitioned the Supreme Court together with the Israel Women’s Network for the right of women to participate in Air Force pilot aptitude tests. (1994)
ACRI won a judgment against El Al airlines in the Tel Aviv Labor Court prohibiting the airline from refusing to consider a female pilot as a candidate for a position on the basis of gender. (1996)
FREEDOM OF AND FROM RELIGION
ACRI prevailed in a petition filed in the Supreme Court demanding recognition of non-Orthodox conversions performed outside Israel for the purpose of registration of citizenship status in Israel. (1987)
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against the refusal of the Minister of Religious Affairs to appoint women to serve on a religious council. (1987)
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court to allow the licensing of secular burial societies. (1989)
ACRI successfully petitioned the Supreme Court for the recognition of the right of Conservative and Reform Jews to serve on religious councils. (1989)
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court to permit movie theaters in Netanya to operate on Friday nights. (1991)
ACRI successfully demanded recognition of Reform conversions to Judaism performed in Israel in registering citizens as Jewish in the Population Registry. (1993)
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against the Jerusalem Police regarding their decision to prevent the Temple Mount Faithful from holding a prayer service and demonstration at the entrance of the Temple Mount. (1983)
ACRI’s petition to the Supreme Court resulted in the abolishment of censorship of theatrical plays. (1986)
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against the Mayor of Beersheba’s attempt to prevent the hanging of signs and posters critical of the Mayor’s policies. (1999)
ACRI won a significant judgment expanding the protection of freedom of expression in which the Supreme Court applied a narrow definition of what constitutes incitement to violence. (2000)
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against the Misgav Regional Council to overturn their ban on political meetings in the buildings and open spaces of the Misgav regional center. (2005)
RULE OF LAW
For the first time in the history of the State, the Supreme Court repealed a law because it violated the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty. The Supreme Court ruled that the Military Jurisdiction Law passed by the Knesset, establishing the number of days soldiers can be detained prior to being brought before a judge, violates that basic law. (2000)
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
ACRI successfully petitioned on behalf of an immigrant soldier to reinstate his citizenship status that was revoked because, although he was Jewish by birth, he had initially informed the population registration authorities that he was Christian. (1999)
EQUALITY FOR ARAB CITIZENS
ACRI successfully petitioned the Attorney General’s office to disqualify a political list running for the Upper Nazareth City Council, contending that the party was inciting illegal racism against Arabs. ACRI’s petition led to the Attorney General’s successful appeal to the Supreme Court and the subsequent banning of the racist party. This marked the first time that a party list had been disqualified because of incitement in municipal elections. (1998)
ACRI successfully petitioned the Supreme Court demanding the equal provision of rent support for Arab and Jewish families, under parallel circumstances. (1999)
ACRI along with the Adalah association successfully petitioned the Supreme Court against various local authorities, demanding that municipal signs in localities with mixed Jewish and Arab populations appear in Arabic as well as in Hebrew. (1999)
In response to ACRI’s petition, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision prohibiting the preferential allocation of state land to Jewish citizens. The ruling, also known as the Kaadan ruling, represents the first time in the history of the state that the Arab community’s equal right to state allocated land was articulated by the courts. (2000)
ACRI won a landmark decision in the Supreme Court guaranteeing fair representation to Arab citizens in the Israel Lands Authority’s. In addition, the court articulated the need to implement affirmative action to ensure the presence of Arab citizens on official decision-making bodies. (2001)
ACRI challenged the Central Election Committee and succeeded in overturning the ban on election campaign broadcast material in which the Palestinian flag appeared. (2003)
CITIZENSHIP
In response to a petition submitted by ACRI, the state overturned its decision to automatically deny formal citizenship status to spouses of Israeli citizens who are citizens of Arab countries. (2005)
ACRI achieved a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court, which forced the Ministry of the Interior to rescind its policy of requiring a foreign national common-law spouse to leave the country as a condition for the initial consideration of their residency applications. (2006)
In response to a petition submitted by ACRI, the Jerusalem Administrative Court issued a precedent-setting ruling ordering the Interior Ministry to begin the graduated naturalization procedure for foreign common-law spouses of Israeli citizens who are separated but not yet officially divorced from their former partners. This ruling marks an important step toward the State’s gradual recognition of common-law relationships, specifically those in which one partner is not an Israeli citizen. (2007)
RIGHT TO BODILY INTEGRITY
In response to a series of petitions filed by ACRI and other human rights organizations and attorneys, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of physical means of torture by the General Security Services (GSS) is unlawful. (2000)
RIGHT TO VOTE
ACRI’s Supreme Court petition demanding that prisoners be entitled to exercise their right to vote, which was rejected by the court, served as the catalyst for a law that was subsequently enacted enshrining this right. (1984)
GAY AND LESBIAN RIGHTS
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against the Ministry of Defense on its refusal to bestow deceased spouse benefits to the same-sex partner of a deceased military officer (Adir Steiner) (1996)
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against the Ministry of Interior’s refusal to recognize the legal adoption of a child by his biological mother’s lesbian partner, the first time legal recognition has been granted to same-sex parents. (2000)
ACRI was successful in ensuring the granting of pension rights to surviving same-sex partners. (2000)
ACRI achieved a landmark ruling obligating the Interior Ministry’s Population Registry to register the marriages of same-sex couples who marry outside Israel. (2006)
HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against the Military Prosecutor, demanding that General Yehuda Meir be brought to trial for his orders to his soldiers to break the hands and legs of residents of two villages in the Occupied Territories. (1989)
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court on behalf of the right to due process of 415 Hamas activists who were expelled from Israel. (1992)
ACRI successfully appealed to the Supreme Court against the Minister of Defense, demanding recognition for residents of the Occupied Territories to appeal house demolition orders. (1992)
In response to an intervention by ACRI and other organizations, the Supreme Court banned the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields by the IDF.(2002)
As a result of ACRI’s Supreme Court petition, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were prohibited from holding a detainee for eighteen, or even twelve days, without bringing him or her before a judge. Although the court did not articulate a specific time period, the IDF revised their order to require that a detainee be brought before a judge within eight days of his arrival at a detention facility. In addition, the court ruled that there should be no undue delays in conducting a preliminary inquiry as to the reasons for the detention. (2002)
ACRI’s petition to the Supreme Court regarding the conditions at the Ofer detention facility resulted in a clearly articulated ruling that security needs do not justify violations of minimally humane conditions of detention and mandated improved conditions. (2002)
ACRI, in conjunction with other human rights organizations, succeeded in obtaining a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court obligating the IDF to honor international human rights during armed conflict. The court called on the army to ensure a constant supply of food and water, access to dignified burial, and medical care. (2004)
ACRI achieved a first-time ruling by the Supreme Court, which called for the dismantlement of an existing section of the Separation Barrier, and for the determination of an alternative route to lessen the violations of the rights of the local Palestinian residents. (2005)
ACRI secured a precedent-setting decision by the Supreme Court ordering the Israeli security forces to protect Palestinian farmers, and their property, from attacks by violent settlers, and to act immediately and decisively to permanently uproot this phenomenon. (2006)
ACRI, as part of a coalition of nine human rights organizations, successfully petitioned the Supreme Court against the amendment to the Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law (known as the Intifada Law) which exempts Israel from paying compensation to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories who have been injured by the Israeli military. The Court’s landmark decision nullified the provision exempting the State from paying damages to Palestinians who suffered harm in areas defined as “conflict zones”. (2006)
In response to a petition and subsequent contempt of court motion submitted by ACRI, the High Court of Justice ordered the State to dismantle a secondary barrier in the Southern Hebron Hills. The barrier was purportedly set up to protect Israeli settlers in the area. While it would prevent the passage of agricultural vehicles and flocks of animals to residents’ lands, it would not prevent a terrorist from crossing and would create a strip of firing positions along the road. The barrier was finally dismantled in August 2007.
(2007)
MIGRANT WORKERS’ RIGHTS
ACRI petitioned the Supreme Court demanding that the police investigate complaints by foreign workers that employers or employment agencies withheld their passports. The petition led to the preparation of a police procedure for processing such complaints. (1997)
As a result of a petition submitted by ACRI to redress the lack of judicial oversight of the detention procedures for illegal migrant residents, the Ministry of the Interior prepared an amendment to The Law of Citizenship and Entry into Israel that regularized the issue of detention and deportation. The ministry also established an administrative review panel to provide every detainee with the opportunity to contest his/her detention within 14 days of their incarceration. (1999)
ACRI successfully intervened as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in a Supreme Court petition to bring about the cancellation of a guarantee that had been required of every employer of a foreign worker. The harsh guarantee aimed to ensure the foreign worker’s departure from Israel at the end of the employment contract and created conditions of servitude for the foreign workers. (2000)
As a result of a principled petition submitted to the Supreme Court by ACRI, in partnership with a coalition of human rights organizations, the court ordered the cancellation of the binding arrangement which forces migrant workers to remain with one specific employer, or face the revocation of their work visa. The state was allocated six months to prepare an alternative arrangement that does not undermine the basic rights of the workers. (2006)
RIGHT TO EQUALITY
ACRI, together with other social change organizations, brought about the repeal of the state decision to link parents’ military service to the allocation of child allowance. The implementation of the decision would have violated the right to equality of people with disabilities, Arabs, and new immigrants who do not perform military service. (2003)
RIGHT TO PRIVACY
As a result of ACRI’s litigation, the state imposed regulations restricting access of government offices and commercial banks to confidential personal information in the Population Registry. (2004)
