{"id":8227,"date":"2014-06-20T13:11:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/?p=8227"},"modified":"2014-06-20T13:11:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T11:11:00","slug":"sharonaw-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/2014\/06\/20\/sharonaw-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"A Message from ACRI&#8217;s New Executive Director"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nDear Friends,<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As my first weeks as ACRI\u2019s new Executive Director draw to a close, I want to take this opportunity to connect directly with you \u2013 ACRI\u2019s friends, supporters and members \u2013 to thank you for your support and to share some insights that I\u2019ve learned during my first days on the\u00a0job.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nFor many years I have watched with pride as ACRI has gone from strength to strength \u2013 growing quickly into the pre-eminent human rights organization operating in Israel today. I have seen it succeed in overturning the Anti-Infiltration Law aimed at imprisoning African asylum-seekers, obtain access to free public education for residents of East Jerusalem, restore running water for impoverished Israeli families who fell behind on their water bills, prevent the demolition of Bedouin villages in the Negev and Palestinian villages in the West Bank, ensure freedom of speech on college campuses and in political campaigns, and more.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>ACRI\u2019s work has directly touched the lives of millions of people in Israel and the Occupied Territories.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/secured.israelgives.org\/custom\/acri\/cart\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/DonateWhite.jpg\" width=\"276\" height=\"69\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Having worked as an ACRI attorney in the past, it is with great pride that I return to an organization that remained dear to me throughout my time away. Returning home to take responsibility for the continuation of this legacy is both exciting and humbling, and I look forward to confronting the many challenges that stand before us.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nFollowing years of relative restraint, the Knesset has begun to debate a number of dangerous pieces of legislation that would potentially violate the civil rights of millions of Israelis.<br \/>\nMost egregious of these is a\u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/acri.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=3476224e38bd22add086658b6&amp;id=0219f923cd&amp;e=b9a4d264aa\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">government-sponsored bill<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0that seeks to constitutionally define Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people \u2013 a bill that would subordinate Israel\u2019s democratic character to its Jewish character. ACRI steadfastly believes that democracy in Israel must not be a secondary value and we are utilizing all the resources at our disposal to defeat this initiative.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nConcurrently, we are pursuing action to defend the rights to\u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/acri.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=3476224e38bd22add086658b6&amp;id=c5e3daad78&amp;e=b9a4d264aa\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">housing<\/span><\/a><\/span>,\u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/acri.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=3476224e38bd22add086658b6&amp;id=06483c3600&amp;e=b9a4d264aa\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">health<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/acri.us2.list-manage2.com\/track\/click?u=3476224e38bd22add086658b6&amp;id=a4f25651d4&amp;e=b9a4d264aa\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">education<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0for all Israelis and expanding our\u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/acri.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=3476224e38bd22add086658b6&amp;id=0078a4c9c9&amp;e=b9a4d264aa\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">human rights education<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0programs to increase the discourse on human rights and anti-racism education in schools throughout Israel.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>My return to ACRI is in many ways a pledge to recommit myself to the defence of human rights for all &#8211; without regard to religion, nationality or race.<\/strong>\u00a0 We at ACRI pledge to stand up for the values of a just and democratic Israel.<br \/>\nWe pledge to stand together with the victims of human rights violations and work to ensure a better future for all.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">As we recommit ourselves to the protection of human rights, we ask you to recommit yourselves along with us.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/acri.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=3476224e38bd22add086658b6&amp;id=b75e4da3c5&amp;e=b9a4d264aa\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Become a member<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/acri.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=3476224e38bd22add086658b6&amp;id=6a3f8470e1&amp;e=b9a4d264aa\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">make a donation<\/span><\/a><\/span>!<\/span><\/div>\n<p><\/strong><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With your support, I have no doubt that ACRI can continue to overcome the challenges that lie before us and forge a path towards a more just and equal society.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As we embark on this new path, I wish us all the best of luck.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sharon Abraham-Weiss<\/strong><br \/>\nExecutive Director<br \/>\nAssociation for Civil Rights in Israel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Dear Friends, &nbsp; As my first weeks as ACRI\u2019s new Executive Director draw to a close, I want to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/2014\/06\/20\/sharonaw-letter\/\">Read more<span class=\"meta-nav\">&#8230;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[275,85],"class_list":["post-8227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democracy-and-civil-liberties","tag-sharon-abraham-weiss","tag-take-action"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8227"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8240,"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8227\/revisions\/8240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.acri.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}