The Emil Grunzweig Award has been granted annually since 1981 by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) to individuals and organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of human rights in Israel.
2022
Jessica Nevo - Sociologist expert on Gender and Conflict Transformation, Co-Founder of Justice in Case - The Center for Alternative Justice (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Gadi Algazi - Professor of History and social activist (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Kholod Massalha - General Manager, I’lam - Arab Center for Media Freedom, Development and Research
2019
Salametcom Association
Attorney Eitay Mack
2018
Shula Keshet - Artist, social and political activist and Mizrahi feminist, one of the founders of the Ahoti – for Women in Israel movement Odeh Bisharat - author
Itach Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice
2017
The Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prositution
Vered Lee - Ha’aretz journalist
Salah Haj Yahya - Mobile Clinic Director, Physicians for Human Rights - Israel
Dalia Kerstein - Executive Director, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual (Lifetime Achievement Award)
2014 – 2015
The Association of Rape Crisis Centers (ARCCI) received the award in honor of its 25 years of work towards combating sexual violence and promoting the rights of victims
Prof. Kenneth Mann founded The Public Defender’s Office and served as the first national defense attorney. The Committee presented Professor Mann with the award for his contribution to the protection of human rights in criminal procedures; and to the Public Defender’s Office, which is marking its 20th anniversary this year.
2013
Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, was founded in 2005 by Sari Bashi together with Attorney Prof. Kenneth Mann in order to promote freedom of movement for the people of Gaza.
2012
Attorney Gaby Lasky has been defending Israeli activists, foreigners and Palestinian protesters who demonstrate against the occupation, in addition to minors who have been arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces and brought to trial in military courts.
Attorney Michael Sfard represents organizations and individuals who work against human rights violations in the Occupied Territories.
Since its inception in 2011, the coalition’s central function has been to arrange public events in response to what is known as ‘price tag’ attacks.
2011
Journalist for Kol Yisrael
Keren Neubach is a reporter and presenter for Kol Yisrael Radio, who had also worked at Galei Zahal Radio and Channel 1 TV. The radio morning show she hosts, “Seder Yom” - Daily Agenda, brings to the forefront economic and social affairs that are not generally discussed in other leading media outlets.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Tamar Peleg-Sryck, a veteran human rights lawyer, was one of the first women to work
in the military courts. She has represented hundreds of Palestinian detainees, both in her current role with HaMoked, and previously with ACRI and DCI. Prior to her legal career, she served in various educational roles.
Democratic Workers’ Organization
Koach La Ovdim - Power to the Workers - is a general trade union founded in 2007 that organizes workers from a variety of employment fields throughout Israel. The individual unions that Koach
La Ovdim has helped organize have played a leading role in the key battles for workers’ rights and trade agreements. The organization combats harmful work conditions in the private and public sectors, and helps promote the values of social and economic equality.
2010
Yehudit Tsur
Former Judge of Jerusalem District Court
Yehudit Tsur served as a judge and as Vice President of the Jerusalem District Court from 1989 until her retirement in 2010. Before becoming a judge, she served at the Judge Ministry for over twenty years. Among her other positions, Tsur was a personal aide to then Attorney General Prof.
Itzhak Zamir.
Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality and Oren Yiftachel
The Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, which was established in 1997, provides a framework for joint Jewish-Arab action and works on to promote a just solution for the Bedouin population in the Negev. Professor Oren Yiftachel is a researcher of political geography at Ben Gurion University, and a longtime activist for human rights and social judge.
2009
Nir Katz
Nir Katz of blessed memory was a social activist who worked as youth counselor. In August 2009, at the age of 26, he was murdered by a gunman who attacked the “Youth Bar,” a community
youth center run by the Israeli LGBT Association where Nir was volunteering. The attack also took the life of 16-year old Liz Trubeshi and wounded ten others. The attacker has yet to be caught.
Ruth and Paul Kedar
Ruth and Paul Kedar have worked for decades in promoting various aspects of public life in Israel. In 2005, they took part in the founding of the organization Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights, which works to raise awareness and protect the rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
2008
Shovrim Shtika - Breaking the Silence - was founded in 2004 by soldiers who served in Hebron during the Second Intifada and decided to place the daily practices of the occupation at the center of the public discourse. Since then, Breaking the Silence has collected the testimonies of hundreds of soldiers and has made their voices heard through a variety of public activities.
The Refugee Rights Clinic, the first program of its kind in Israel, was established in 1993 as part of the legal clinics at the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University. The clinic provides legal aid to asylum seekers and to refugees, and works to promote the development of more progressive laws regarding refugees in Israel.
2007
Religious Women’s Forum
Established in 1998, Kolech - Religious Women’s Forum is a feminist religious-Zionist movement that promotes equality for women in public life and within the framework of Jewish halakhah.
2005
Adva Center
The Adva Center was founded in 1991 by Barbara and Shlomo Swirski as a policy analysis institute that examines Israel’s social and economic policies. The institute provides critical analyses of governmental measures in the areas of budgets, taxation and social services, and their implications for Israeli society.
2004
Hannah Safran
Dr. Hannah Safran is a feminist and peace activist, who researches gender- related issues. She is one of the founders of the Coalition of Women for Peace and of Women in Black.
2003
Machsom Watch
Machsom Watch – Woman for Human Rights was established in January 2001 following media reports about abuses that Palestinians were suffering from at checkpoints. The women
of the organization, who hail from all across Israel, donate their time and services as volunteers.
2001
Hotline for Migrant Workers
Founded in Tel Aviv in 1998, Hotline for Migrant Workers strives to preserve and protect the rights of migrant workers, victims of human trafficking, and asylum seekers from around the world who currently reside in Israel.
2000
Dr. Joseph Algazi
Journalist
Joseph Algazi, born in Alexandria, Egypt, is a journalist, historian, lecturer, and political and social activist.
1999
Physicians for Human Rights - Israel and Ruchama Marton
Physicians for Human Rights – Israel was founded in 1988 by a group of local Jewish and Palestinian doctors, at the initiative of Dr. Ruchama Marton, a psychiatrist and professor of medicine. PHR took a central role in the public and legal struggle against the torture of Palestinian detainees. In 1999, the Supreme Court banned the practice of torture in Israel.
1998
Kav LaOved
Worker’s Hotline
Established in 1991, Kav LaOved – Worker’s Hotline helps Israeli laborers, migrant workers, Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories, and asylum seekers to fully realize their labor rights. The organization promotes labor rights among the Israeli authorities and the general public.
Aluf Hareven
Lifetime Achievement Award
Aluf Hareven, a former intelligence officer, Foreign Ministry official and scholar, has devoted much of his career to strengthening the relations between Jews and Arabs. In 1991, he was one of the founders of Sikkuy: The Association for the Advancement of Civil Equality in Israel, which works to promote equality between Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel.
Shulamit Aloni
Lifetime Achievement Award
Shulamit Aloni served as a Member of Knesset for three decades, and as a cabinet minister in the government. She was one of the founders of the political party Ratz: the Movement for Civil Rights and Peace. She devoted her public and educational activities to promoting equality and human rights. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to her upon her 70th birthday.
1997
Community Advocacy
Established in 1993 in Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood, Community Advocacy works in partnership with local communities throughout the country to promote and implement social rights, to foster community solidarity, and to affect policy change.
The Juarish Family
Ali Muhammad Ibrahim Juarish, eight years old, son of Muhammad and Laila, was killed by a “rubber bullet” fired by an Israeli soldier in the Bethlehem area in November 1997. They nevertheless donated their son’s organs in order to save the lives of sick children, regardless of their religion, race, or national- ity.
1996
Gideon Levy
Ha’aretz journalist
Gideon Levy is a journalist for Ha’aretz. Since 1988, he goes out every week and documents the lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and the violations of their rights.
1995
Women against Violence
Established in Nazareth in 1992, the organization Women against Violence was the first organization to combat violence against women in the Arab society.
1994
Yitzhak Clinton Bailey
Researcher of the Bedouin society
Dr. Yitzhak Clinton Bailey, who was born in the USA, has devoted his academic career to studying the Bedouin way of life, while similarly devoting his public activities to promoting Bedouin rights.
1993
Eyal Simhony
Former Director of the Execution Office
Attorney Eyal Simhony served as the Director of the Execution Office and as the Registrar of the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court. He resigned from his position and filed a precedent- setting petition with the Supreme Court against the imprisonment of debtors referred to the Execution Office. He later became a public defender
1992
Bassem Eid
Bassem Eid is a journalist and human rights activist who began his career as a fieldworker and researcher for B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, when the group was founded in 1989. The organization documents human rights abuses and brings them to the attention o the general public and policy makers.
James Yaakov Rosenthal
Lifetime Achievement Award
James Yaakov Rosenthal was a lawyer and journalist. He was born in Berlin in 1905 and left Germany in 1933. He served as a parliamentary reporter and a legal reporter at Haaretz for over twenty years, and published numerous articles in other media outlets. He passed away in 1997.
1991
Lotte Salzberger
Founder of HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual
Dr. Lotte Salzberger survived the concentration camps and arrived in Israel in 1949. She worked as a Social Work lecturer and was a political and social activist who served as a member of the Jerusalem City Council. In 1988 she founded HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual. She passed away in 1994.
1990
Yizhak Kadman
Director of the National Council on Children’s Welfare
Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, a lecturer in Social Work, founded the National Council on Children’s Welfare in 1980. He currently serves as its Director. In 1989, which was marked un Israel as the Year of the Child, the UN ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, declaring that every child is entitled to be brought up in the spirit of peace, dignity, and equality
1989
Alice Shalvi
Founder of the Israel Women’s Network
A lecturer, educator, and social activist, Professor Alice Shalvi founded the Israel Women’s Network in 1984, where she also served as Chairperson. Prof. Shalvi also served as principal of the Pelech girls’ school, which became a model for integrating equality and openness within the framework of religious education.
1988
News Reporters Covering the Occupied Territories
The award was given several months after the outbreak of the First Intifada to members of the pool of news reporters covering the Occupied Territories.
The pool of reporters was under pressure to refuse acceptance of the prize, as it was awarded by the ‘leftist’ Association for Civil Rights in Israel. During the award ceremony, the Kach movement’s spokesman, Baruch Marzel, entered the auditorium. The organizers and the audience did not allow Marzel to speak, and his voice was drowned out with boos and with cries of “fascism will not prevail.”
1987
Zvi Berenson
Former Supreme Court Judge
Zvi Berenson served as a Supreme Court judge from 1953 until 1977. He continued to take on public roles after his retirement from the court.
He passed away in 2001.
1986
Itzhak Zamir
Former Attorney General
Professor Itzhak Zamir served as Israel’s Attorney General from 1978 to 1986, and as a Judge Supreme Court from 1994 to 2001. He was ousted from his position as Attorney General shortly before receiving this award, on account of his demand to open a criminal investigation against senior Shin Bet officials for their role in the Bus 300 affair
1985
Baruch Meiri
Journalist for Ma’ariv
Baruch Meiri immigrated to Israel from Iraq in 1950. At the age of 17, he began working as a delivery boy at Ma’ariv, and shortly thereafter became a regular news reporter for the paper.
1984
Moshe Negbi
Editor of “Din U’Devarim”
Moshe Negbi, a lawyer and a journalist, is the creator and editor of the weekly program “Din U’Devarim,” broadcast on Kol Israel Radio since 1981.
1983
Dov Yermiya
Responsible for the welfare of civilians in Southern Lebanon
Dov Yermiya, a veteran peace activist, was born in 1914. At the age of 64 he joined the Israeli army unit responsible for providing aid and welfare to civilians whose villages in Southern Lebanon were
bombed by Israel. He returned to the unit at the start of the First Lebanon War but left shortly after in protest of the army’s treatment of civilians.
1982
Yehuda Litani
Journalist for Ha’aretz
Yehuda Litani a long-time journalist serves as the Ha’aretz reporter on the Occupied Territories from 1973 to 1985.
Robert Weltsch
Journalist in Germany and Israel
Dr. Robert Weltsch began his journalism career in Germany, and continued in his work after immigrating to Israel. He passed away in Jerusalem, at age 90, shortly after receiving this award.
1981
Gabriel Stern
Al HaMishmar Journalist
Gabriel Stern was born in Germany in 1913 and was a journalist and peace activists. In 1949, he began working as a journalist for the newspaper ‘Al HaMishmar, where he reported on political and social affairs. Stern passed away in 1983.