FELLOWS

Dr. Nour Abedelhadi Shahbri
Nour is head of the systemic action plan for implementing the government’s five-year plan following Government Resolution 550. Prior to this, she was part of the Health Ministry’s COVID-19 Task Force (Magen Israel), representing the Arab sector and tasked with planning and leading interventions in East Jerusalem and unrecognized villages in the Negev. She also worked at MAOZ as a knowledge and strategy leader in the INBAR joint venture, where she was responsible for matters pertaining to the Arab sector. Nour holds a bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory sciences from the Technion, a master’s degree in healthcare systems management, and a PhD in public health from the University of Haifa. She aspires to lead change in Arab society and is a big believer in her community’s capabilities and human capital. Her dream is to lead the implementation of sustainable mechanisms in Arab society, leveraging its abilities and driving socioeconomic change as well as change in health care and all other areas of life.

Jack Khoury
Born and raised in the village of Fassuta, Khoury studied general history at the University of Haifa and graduated in 1998. After completing courses in journalism and media studies, in 1998, he joined the bi-weekly Arabic newspaper Al-Sinnara in Nazareth and the editorial boards of several local television and radio programs. In 2001, he joined Tzafon 1, a local paper published by the Shokken Network, and began writing in Hebrew as well. In 2003, he joined the newly founded Radio Alshams as a reporter in the Western Galilee region. Concurrently, he continued writing for Tzafon 1 and joined Haaretz as a part-time reporter in the Western Galilee. In 2006, he transitioned to a full-time position at Haaretz as a reporter in the northern region and covered Arab affairs in Israel while continuing to work in radio, presenting news bulletins. In 2008, he became head of the news desk at the radio station and concurrently took on the role of Arab affairs correspondent for Haaretz, including coverage of Palestinian politics. Since 2010, he has continued his work in both roles, writing columns and commentaries for Haaretz and leading the flagship radio program, including special broadcasts. Over the past two decades, Khoury has covered dozens of events, including at the international level, such as the signing of the Geneva Accords, the 2008 U.S. elections (as a special envoy), summits in Cairo and Amman, and international conferences. He has also produced dozens of exclusive stories about Arab society, the Palestinian arena and the Arab world. In 2018, Khoury won the Outstanding Broadcaster Award at the Eilat Journalism Conference. In 2023, he won the Givat Haviva Award for Coexistence for spotlighting the relationship between Arab and Jewish societies in Israel. Khoury is 50 years old, married with three children, and continues to live in Fassuta.

Dr. Idit Shafran Gittleman
Before joining the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Idit was Head of the Program on Military and Society at the Israel Democracy Institute and a postdoctoral fellow at the Minerva Center for the Rule of Law under Extreme Conditions at the University of Haifa and in the Global Trust project at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law. Idit is an adjunct lecturer at Reichman University and a member of the board of directors of the Association of Civil-Military Studies and Forum Dvorah. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on the ethics of warfare and the limits of partiality towards relatives in war. Her areas of expertise are military and society, war ethics and political philosophy. Dr. Shafran Gittleman holds a bachelor’s degree in music, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy, and a doctorate in law.

Eli Bitan
Eli co-hosts the daily radio show “Mendy-Bitan” on Kan Moreshet with Mendy Gruzman — the most popular morning show in the religious and ultra-Orthodox sectors, with tens of thousands of daily listeners. He is also a regular panelist on programs combining current events and satire, including “Mah SheTagidu” and “The Evening Show with Shay Stern” (Kan 11). Eli is a commentator on ultra-Orthodox affairs in the general media and a political commentator in ultra-Orthodox media. He is a regular panelist on a current events program on Kol Chai radio and on the Hidabrut television channel, a commentator on ultra-Orthodox news hotlines, and was a frequent guest on the “London et Kirschenbaum” news show on Channel 10. He presents and comments on the daily “Bein HaSdarim” newscast on news hotline HaScoopim and other news hotlines, providing updates on internal ultra-Orthodox issues. Prior to this, he hosted the program “Dosim” on online television channel HaHalalit, which dealt with ultra-Orthodox topics, primarily targeting the “new ultra-Orthodox” public. Since 2008, Eli has written for various newspapers and magazines, particularly on issues related to the ultra-Orthodox sector. He has written for the Makor Rishon newspaper, news website Sicha Mekomit, ultra-Orthodox magazine BaKehila, and HaDerech, the official mouthpiece of religious party Shas. Additionally, Eli served as an ultra-Orthodox affairs consultant for the series “Our Boys” and the feature film “The Wanderer.” Eli grew up in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh. Today, he lives in Ramat Gan with his wife and son.

Atty. Nisreen Alyan
Nisreen is the director of the Clinic for Multiculturalism and Diversity at the Clinical Legal Education Center in the Faculty of Law at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The clinic provides legal representation and promotes policy to support individuals and groups facing discrimination, including Palestinians, ultra-Orthodox Jews, immigrants from Ethiopia and transgender people. Nisreen holds workshops, training sessions and guided tours in her field. She also runs “Identity” (هويه) Hebrew University Diversity Unit’s program for deepening the discourse on identity for Palestinian students. Nisreen has a master’s degree in public law from Tel Aviv University and Northwestern University, a bachelor’s degree in law from The College of Law and Business, and a general bachelor’s degree from the Open University, specializing in media studies. In 2008, she joined The Association for Civil Rights in Israel as an attorney and did fieldwork as part of the Civil Rights Project in East Jerusalem. Over the years, she also ran the East Jerusalem Department and joined the Unit for Arab Minority Rights, where she focused on equality in resource allocation and access to public services. Nisreen was the Arabic spokesperson of non-profit organization B’Tselem, and later worked as a parliamentary aide in the Knesset. Since joining Hebrew University’s staff in 2016, Nisreen has been working on the East Jerusalem Project at the Clinic for the Representation of Marginalized Population Groups. Her work touches on the scale of poverty and its effects on people in their interactions with the National Insurance Institute, the Employment Service, the Enforcement and Collection Authority (Hotza’a LaPo’al) and the Jerusalem Municipality.

Aziz Basioni
Aziz began engaging in organized labor action when he worked as a laborer and project manager at the Haifa Oil Refinery. He was part of the leadership of the national institutions of Hadash and the Israeli Communist Party (“Maki”) and served as a parliamentary advisor to MK Dr. Afu Agbaria. He holds an MBA and a multidisciplinary bachelor’s degree from the University of Haifa and a practical mechanical engineering diploma from the Technion. Aziz is a social and political activist for ending the occupation and promoting equality, justice, workers’ rights and unionization. He was a leading figure in the fight against violence and crime in Nazareth in the 2019 Popular Committee Against Crime. Born in Nazareth in 1987, Aziz is married to Ruba and father to Issam and Eden. “My vision is to promote equality and partnership and to ensure a better future for all of us in this homeland — Arabs and Jews alike. Every person has the right to liberty, dignity and equality.”

Avishai Ben Aharon
Avishai is the CEO of HeChalutz, a Zionist, social-democratic educational movement founded by HaMidrasha at Oranim. Born and raised in Kibbutz Rosh HaNikra, he currently lives in a mission-oriented urban community in northern Israel. The youngest of seven brothers, Avishai is a father of three. Formerly a career officer and a company commander in the IDF’s Armored Corps, he has a longstanding family legacy of ideological, political and educational leadership. He is an educational entrepreneur and manager. In the past decade, he has developed and led numerous educational programs for young adults from diverse backgrounds. His programs focus on shaping young people’s socio-political identity. Avishai sees himself as a youth movement man through and through, and believes that good political education is humanity’s best hope.

Brit Yakobi
Brit a grant manager in the NIF, the former director of religious freedom and gender at Shatil. Brit leads the Forum Against the Exclusion of Women, a directors’ forum of 17 civil society groups fighting the exclusion of women from public spaces in Israel; works with the haredi public; develops civil society organizational strategies and projects; and builds capacities of social change organizations.
Brit is also an activist, together with other religious activists she initiated the “Faithful Left”- a movement of Haredi, Masorti and religious that grew as a response to increasing racism, inequality, and militancy in our communities.
Brit has an MA in Jewish philosophy and Gender, a BA in Talmud from Tel Aviv University, and teaches in as an Adjunct Lecturer in Ben- Gurion University.
Prior to joining Shatil in 2018, Brit was the director of the Masorti movement’s Jewish Pluralism Watch, an NIF grantee. Brit is a social entrepreneur in the field of Jewish culture. She founded and directs Free Space, which brings culture and art to abandoned synagogues in Tel Aviv.

Dr. Ilan Amit
Ilan has been developing, managing, and leading community planning and development programs promoting a joint Arab-Jewish society for two decades. Ilan has worked with the Arab-Bedouin society in the Negev and within the Israeli-Palestinian space while simultaneously doing academic work – researching, writing, and publishing academic papers related to his fieldwork. In his work in civil society, Ilan laid the foundations for programs narrowing gaps in health, environmental development programs, and education for a shared society. In the academic world, Ilan lectured at the Ben-Gurion University, the University of Amsterdam, the Open University, and the Amsterdam University College – in academic courses and programs focused on the Middle East and civil society.

Eyad Barghuthy
Eyad Barghuthy was born in Nazareth in 1980 and lives in Acre. He is a writer, translator, and editor. At the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute he is the deputy editor of the Maktoob series of translations from Arabic literature into Hebrew. A collection of his short stories titled Bayn Albuyut was published in 2011 by Dar Malamih, Cairo. His first novel, Bardakana, was published in 2014 by Dar Al Adab, Beirut, and in 2021 it was published in Hebrew, titled An Acre-esque Tale. Barghuthy has written, translated, and edited children’s books.

Ola Najami-Yousef
Ola joined The Abraham Initiatives in 2015 as the Director of Leadership and Development Initiatives, bringing extensive experience in coordinating projects focused on Arab leadership, inter-cultural dialogue, and women’s empowerment. She is now the Director of the Safe Communities initiative. Prior to joining The Abraham Initiatives, Ola worked at the Women Against Violence Association for eight years, serving as the coordinator of the awareness-raising and representation of women in decision-making positions projects. Ola sees working in an Arab-Jewish environment as one step closer to building a shared society in Israel. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Education from Bir-Zeit University and completed a course in informatics from Technion.

Lior Benisty
Social entrepreneur and director of the Shaked-Luza initiative, focusing on business development in mixed cities. Served as the chairman of the Israeli Youth Centers’ Association; founded and ran the Lod Youth Center; one of the founders of Jindas Lod Urban Renewal Organisation; and founder of the Students’ Community in Lod. Before that, he was active as chair of the Student Union at Oranim College and part of the governing body of the National Student Union. He is in the ESU, a team of professionals documenting Ethiopian Jewish heritage.

Azadin Abu Ltayef
Serves on the council of Tamam Iniatives: a forum of business generation and social-economic change in the Negev. In this context, Azadin coordinated between twelve different businesses.
Azadin holds a Medical Laboratory degree from the University of Jordan for Sciences and Technology. He is a social-political activist in the city of Rahat and in the Negev.

Malki Rottner
Manager of the the “Petach Merkhav” Center in Ashdod, for the Professional Inclusion of the Haredi Sector. She writes in a weekly opinion column in the local Ashdod newspaper, in which she deals with the boundaries and divisions between Haredim and Israeli society. A social activist in projects that deal with the creation of a common, cross-sectoral leadership in Israel, she is a student of the Department of History and Sociology at Open University and has previously worked as the Community Relations Coordinator of “Shorashim”, the Center for Jewish Culture in Tel Aviv.

Mazal Bisawer
Former grant officer in the New Israel Fund, responsible for the following themes: gender equality, combatting racism, separation of Church and State, shared society, and housing. Fellow in the Van Leer Institute group: “When the Local Meets the Global: On Blackness, Identity, and Political Activism in the Ethiopian Community in Israel. She served as the communications director and substitute director at the Association for Ethiopian Jewry. She holds an MA in Psychology and Classical Studies from Tel Aviv University.

Ameer Bisharat
Ameer Bisharat is a lawyer and entrepreneur focused on municipal and business management. He serves as a Senior consultant and economic advisor for the National Committee of Arab Local Councils in Israel, and is the director of the Rahat Industrial Zone Administration.
Ameer is responsible for the National Committee’s activities in the following areas: Employment and adequate representation, Hi-tech, industrial areas, transportation and infrastructure, local authorities, and housing. He partners with civil society organizations on advocacy related to the various government ministries’ activities. Ameer also serves as the public representative for Arab society in the implementation team for the Housing Chapter in Government Resolution 550, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Heschel Center for Sustainability.
Ameer holds an LL.B, a master’s degree in administration and public policy from the University of Haifa, a master’s degree in law specializing in human rights from the College of Management, and a master’s degree in geography, urban and regional planning from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Yael Gidanyan
Yael Gidanyan, a Jerusalemite of Jewish-Iranian descent, is an entrepreneur and artist. She is the Director of The Jerusalem Conference on Massortiyut, and chair of the “Kehilot Sharot – Singing Communities” organization (promoting Piyut). She writes and lectures on Jewish-Iranian culture and about Jerusalemite identity. For ten years she has been involved in Israeli-Palestinian relations and served for four years as chair of the Interfaith Encounter Association. She has directed Program 120 for Multicultural Political Leadership at the Shaharit Organization. As a youth, she served as chair of the Youth and Student Council of Jerusalem. As a university student, she represented the Faculty of Humanities in the Hebrew University Student Union. She has facilitated workshops on intercultural work around the world. She holds an M.A. in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies from the Hebrew University, where her thesis was on the perception of Palestinians towards volunteers and EU organization employees working in the territories, and she wrote a final paper on children’s literature in Iran.

Rana Awadi-Muhareb
Director of Omnia, a social activist in Lod, a community social worker, holds an MA in Legal studies. Rana founded the Women of Omnia, a community of Arab Women Activists in Lyd and Ramleh. The community was active for six years, running various initiatives until, in January 2022, the community formed an NGO that Rana Directs.
Omnia coordinates communities of women, active in advancing the quality of life for residents of Lod, strengthening Arab women’s status in the community, and encouraging social and political involvement among Arab women.

Aviad Houminer-Rosenblum
Aviad is the policy director of the Berl Katnzelson Center and a board member of “Oz Ve’shlom – A Religious Jewish Peace Movement.” In the past, Aviad served as a policy advisor for the minister of Welfare and worked in the government and society in the Prime Minister’s Office.
He is involved in many projects, specifically around workers’ rights.
Aviad lives in Jerusalem with his pattern Hodaya and their children Reut and Hallel.

Riham Nasra
Riham is a lawyer and political activist from Abu Snan village in Upper Galilee. She received her law degree from Hebrew University and works as a human rights lawyer, first at Gaby Lasky & Associates, and today with adv. Michal Pomeranz. Riha represents Palestinian detainees in military courts, anti-occupation, and human rights activists. Before her legal work, Riham was a parliamentary advisor for MK Aida Toma-Souliman during her period as chair of the committee for the advancement of women and gender equality.
Riham is a member of the central committee in the Communist party and a member of the Hadash national secretariat.

Avner Gvaryahu
Avner Gvaryahu, former Executive Director of Breaking the Silence and current Managing Partner at the Alliance, also serves at Ofek Center for Public Policy. Born in the Israeli city of Rehovot and raised in the religious-Zionist community, he served in the special forces of the paratroopers brigade, where he attained the rank of staff sergeant. After his discharge, he joined Breaking the Silence as a researcher and tour guide, focusing on work with world Jewry, later becoming Director of Public Outreach and then Executive Director from 2017-2023.
Avner holds a B.A. in Social Work from Tel Aviv University and an M.A from the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, NY.

Dr. Enaya Banna
Dr. Enaya Banna is a landscape architect and urban planner, who holds a PhD in Urban Planning from the Technion. Her research work focuses on participatory planning in Arab communities.
She has served as consultant to the head of the Planning Administration on housing and planning in Arab towns in Israel. She worked for ten years as urban planner for the Arab Center for Alternative Planning (AC-AP), representing Arab-Palestinian interests in planning, territory, housing and development. Dr. Banna is currently head of planning for Wadi Iron, an all Palestinian regio

Hanan Alsanah
Hannan is a joint CEO of the Negev Coexistence Forum. She is a feminist, social and political activist in the Arab community, particularly in the Beduin community. She holds a BA in media and middle east studies from Ben Gurion University in the Negev and a BA and MA in Law from Ono college.
Hannan is a veteran Beduin activist and was the first Negev representative to the UN in CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. She has worked for years in unrecognized villages in the Negev as the education and development manager at Sidra. Over 3000 women participated in her adult education projects, and around 500 women in financial empowerment projects

Israel Frey
Israel Frey is an Ultra-Orthodox journalist, analyst, and publicist. He is the political correspondent for DemocraTV. His writing, focused on political and social issues, appears on various platforms in Israel. Yisrael was born in Zfat, graduated from Hassidic learning institutions, is married, and is the father of two.ט

naama lazimi
Naama Lazimi is a member of Parliament for the Labor party. She was raised in Migdal Ha’emeq, and holds an MA from Haifa University in the “Jewish Leadership” program. She lives in Haifa and is the mother of two.
In the past, Naama was active on feminist and union issues, and Mizrahi struggles.
In 2018, she was elected as the city council in Haifa, as part of the “Living in Haifa” party. As a councilwoman, Naama passed many decisions on worker rights. In addition, she forwarded the program “Haifa for All” for an egalitarian and safe city for all genders. She spearheaded a decision to supply family certificates for all, regardless of gender.
In Jun 2021, Lazimi was sworn into the Knesset as part of the Labor party. She sits on the finance committee, the committee for gender equality, and internal security. In the Knesset, Naama focuses on gender equality and redistributive justice.

Sondos Saleh
Sondos is a former member of parliament and a member of the political committee in the Ta’al ( Arab Movement for Renewal). She is the education coordinator for the five-year plan in Arab education, a board member in Muna High-tech center, chairwoman of Mujta’maa, an organization focused on women’s rights in the Arab sector. Sondos is a member of the popular committee in Mashad and a board member in the Heschel center. She is an entrepreneur, runs Aleen Health Care, and teaches biology at St Joseph high school in Nazareth.
She holds an MA in education and technology.

abed shehade
Abed Shehade serves as a political consultant for the Council of Heads of Arab Municipalities. In addition, Abed works in civic engagement on urban planning and housing issues.
In the past, Abed’s primary focus was education, and he served as the principal of the first Arab public school in Lod.
Abed Shehade holds a BA in education and an MA in Urban Planning.
He lives in Lod with his partner Hiba, and his children Hussain and Mag’dal.

esty shushan
Founder and director of the Nivcharot movement, promoting Ultra-Orthodox women’s presence and leadership. She is a lecturer, writer, film producer, and artist.
Esty runs the podcast “spoken Ultra-Orthodox” on the intersections between the Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel. IN 2014, Esty directed “Barren” on early motherhood and large families. In 2020 she produced the documentary “Who Knows One” on COVID and Passover.
Esty won the Yaari Prize in 2017 and the Rappaport Prize for Female Leadership and was voted one of Israel’s 20 leading female activists in 2018 in Globes Magazine.
In 2021 the movie, Woman of Valour, a documentary on Esty’s activism came out.
These days she is working on a feature length film and a book of poems.

Ahmad Muhanna
Ahmad Muhanna is the director of Qudra – an Arab Donors’ Network working to build and strengthen Arab responsibility and communal resilience through strategic giving. During the COVID crisis, Ahmad served as a consultant for the senior government staff responsible for the Arab Sector.
In the past, Ahmad founded and ran Amanina – an organization committed to building volunteer networks in Arab communities. Before that, Ahmad was the parliamentary aid for MK Ahmad Tibi.
Calcalist picked him for their 36 Under 36 social influencers and Globes 40 under 40 up and coming leaders.
He is currently studying for an MA in NGO management.
He was born and raised in Um El Fahem and is the father to Omar and Nour.

Michal Sella
Michal Sella is the Executive Director of Givat Haviva – the Center for Shared Society, and an expert in Israeli politics and public policy. She has extensive experience working with governmental bodies both in Israel and abroad, working as the Director of the Center for Policy Change at Shatil – New Israel Fund, a parliamentary advisor at the Knesset; a journalist and co-editor at Channel 2; a co-founder of The Whistle (the Israeli fact-checking NGO) and a pedagogical coordinator at Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. She holds a master’s degree from Oxford University in public policy, as well as bachelor’s degrees from Tel Aviv University in history and journalism. She lives in Tel Aviv with her partner and child.

Avi Buskila
Avi Is a peace activist, a candidate for the Israeli Democratic List running for office. He is formerly the General Director of Peace Now, Israel’s largest and longest standing peace movement. Prior to joining Peace Now, Avi has led a variety of social and political campaigns, including elements of the struggle for LGBT rights and the struggle for rights of self-employed workers. As a social entrepreneur, Avi also co-founded the Public Defense Front, an NGO focusing on narrowing social-economic gaps in Israel. Over the past decade, Avi worked as the CEO of two advertising firms, David & Jonathan and Migzarim, both of which focused on tailoring campaigns to specific sectors of the Israeli public. Each campaign ran by these two companies had a corporate social responsibility element. Prior to his work in advertising, Avi served as a Major in the Israel Defense Force for 15 years, and became known in 1997 after preventing a Jewish settler from committing a massacre in Hebron.

Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya
Since 2015, Nasreen has served as the Director of the Arab-Jewish Relations Program at The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) where she was previously a researcher. Prior to her work with IDI, Nasreen directed the Merchavim Institute’s initiative, Diversity in the Teachers’ Room, collaborating with the Ministry of Education to integrate Arab teachers into Jewish schools. A native of Ramla and an expert in the field of Arab-Jewish relations, Nasreen works to bridge socio-economic gaps between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel. In particular, she has expertise on efforts to advance informal education in Israel’s Arab society, lift the socioeconomic profile of Arab youth, improve integration of Arab citizens into higher education and the job market, and increase representation of Arabs in Israel’s civil service and decision-making circles. Nasreen has won numerous academic distinctions and scholarships, including the University Merit Scholarship of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geography and Human Environment (2012) and a Merit Scholarship from the Bikura Science Foundation (2011-2012). A current Doctoral candidate at Tel Aviv University, her thesis examines “The contemporary impact of social space barriers on the inaction and future orientation of young Arabs aged 18–22.” She holds an MA in Education and Social Geography. Nasreen is a senior consultant at Portland Trust and a board member of the New Israel Fund and the Israel Women’s Network.

MICKEY GITZIN
Mickey is the Executive Director in Israel of the New Israel Fund. Prior to this role, he was Executive Director of Israel Hofsheet (“Be Free Israel”), a grassroots organization that aims to influence public opinion and policy making on the issues of religion and state in Israel. Mickey also serves as a city council member in the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Previously, Mickey was the Spokesperson of MK Ilan Gilon (Meretz). Prior to his work with MK Gilon, Mickey was a Project Director at European Friends of Israel (EFI), a Brussels based organization which aims to improve relationships between the European Parliament and Israel. Additionally, Mickey worked as the Associate Director of “Festival Beshekel” an Israeli Non Profit, which works to develop avenues for cultural and artistic expression in the periphery of Israel. After completing his military service as an Intelligence Officer at the IDF, Mickey served as an Emissary (Shaliach) for the Jewish Agency for Israel under the auspice of the Jewish Federation of South Band, Indiana. Mickey holds an MSc in Public policy from the University College London, as a Chevening scholarship awarded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Council, and a BA in International relations and Middle Eastern studies from the Hebrew University. Mickey was the recipient of the 2013 NIF UK Human Rights Award, and was selected to receive The Gallanter Prize for Emerging Israeli Social Justice Leaders in 2015.

Yael Patir
Yael serves as the Israel Director at J Street – an American pro-Israel pro-peace lobby group. Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Yael holds a Master Degree in Public Policy and a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, Anthropology, and Political Science both from Tel Aviv University. In her previous position, Yael worked at the Shimon Peres Center for Peace where she served as Director of the Civil Leadership Department. During this time, she also served as the Israeli coordinator of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum, a network of some 100 Palestinian and Israeli peace and dialogue organizations, a position she held from its establishment in January 2006 until January 2012. Prior to that, Yael was a Research and Teaching assistant in Tel Aviv University. Yael is an Atkin research fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization in King’s College London and a fellow at Mitvim the Israeli Institute for Regional and Foreign Policy. Yael writes and interviews on issues relating to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, Israeli civil society and politics, American politics and Jewish community and foreign policy.

Yehuda Greenfield-Gilat
Yehuda is an architect and planner, a co-founder of SAYA/Design for Change and founder of Terra Una Planning LTD. He is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (Masters in Public Policy), holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (Bachelor in Architecture Cum Laude), and is a current Doctoral candidate at the Hebrew University, writing his dissertation on cross border movement in peaceful border regimes. Yehuda specializes in the connection between design, planning, conflict resolution and policy, aimed to inspire and envision peaceful approaches to security oriented issues and. In the past years he has been an advisor to Mrs. Tzipi Livni, former Israeli minister of Foreign Affairs, advised Mr. Reuven Rivlin the President of Israel, and has worked with a broad array of governmental entities NGOs, peace initiatives and think tanks to conduct studies, tools, designs and partnerships to promote concept of constructive border regimes, and conflict resolution in areas of civil, economic or territorial dispute. Along the years, his work creates an extensive database for peace making, and has served policy makers, military entities and leaders in former negotiations. He is the author of “Children of Time and Residents of Space” (Resling Publishers 2015) and has written extensively about his work.

Michal Gera Margaliot
Michal is the Director of the Israel Women’s Network (IWN). Prior to becoming managing director of the IWN, Michal served as a parliamentary advisor and chief of staff of MK Merav Michaeli. In the years 2010-2012, Michal completed her pre-internship and internship at the of Orna Lin & Co. law firm, which specializes in labor law. In the years 2007-2010 Michal was the coordinator of the Laufer Institute for Women’s Studies at the Hebrew University. Michal holds a BA in philosophy, economics and political science, an additional bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s degree in law with specializing in gender studies. She served as a member of the IWN’s managing board, the organization’s Jurist Forum and Finance Committee. Over the past decade, Michal has been active in promoting women’s rights and raising awareness to the issue.

rami hod
Rami is the Executive Director of the Berl Katzenelson Center. Rami holds an MA in Sociology from Ben Gurion University in the Negev, with his research focused on education inequality in Israel. Prior to joining SEA, Rami worked for five years at ‘Koach LaOvdim”, a ground breaking labor union established in 2007 that sparked a revival of labor organizing in Israel. Rami was the organization’s first employee with its establishment, serving a pivotal role in developing its professional and organizational structure, as well as organizing workers from variety of fields. In the past Rami worked with former leader of the Labor party MK Amir Peretz and also served as the director of a unique program at Haifa University for Jewish and Arab students involved in community organizing in impoverished communities. Rami is a lecturer and a regular commentator and publicist in Israel’s newspapers and journals on issues of inequality, social Policy and politics.

Michal Zernowitsk
Michal is founder and chairperson of the ultra-Orthodox Caucus in the the Labor Party in Israel, and a candidate on the Labor party list. She was one of several ultra-Orthodox women who recently ran for a seat on the all-male local council in the town of El’ad, a religious municipality. Michal manages Haredim for the State, a series of courses for politically engaged ultra-Orthodox women and men, a project of the Berl Katzenelson Foundation and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. She is also a Fellow in the Social Economic Academy, and an active member of Ko’ach La’Ovdim, Israel’s Democratic Workers’ Organization. Michal is involved with Bat Melech, an organization that helps women victims of domestic violence in the religious community. She is also a Board member of the Israel Women’s Network. Committed to integrating ultra-Orthodox women into local and national politics in Israel, Michal believes in unifying all Israelis in the struggle for social justice and peace. Michal holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science, and lives with her husband and 4 children in El’ad.

Amjad Shabita
Amjad is a political and social activist, appointed Co-Executive Director of Sikkuy in March 2019, having worked in the organization for seven years: he originally joined Sikkuy in 2010 as co-director of the Equality Policy Department for egalitarian policy, filling this position for two years. Then, in 2014, he joined Sikkuy once again, as head of Sikkuy’s public activities within the Arab society and as co-manager of the Representation Index Project, reviewing the representation of Arab society in Israel’s Hebrew media.
In the past, Amjad had filled the role of secretary-general of Jewish-Arab youth movement Banki for six years, managed the parliamentary bureau of MK Dov Khenin (Hadash – Joint List), and worked as a reporter for Al-Ittihad, the only daily Arabic newspaper in Israel, and a member of its editorial board, as well as filling the position of content editor for the “Kol-Zchut” (=all rights) website in Arabic.
Amjad is involved in struggles and initiatives striving for the advancement of peace, equality and the defense of democracy. He regularly publishes op-eds in both Hebrew and Arabic on the struggles of the Arab society and of the Arab-Jewish partnership in Israel.
Amjad holds an M.A. in Political Science from the Hebrew University (2012) and an M.A. in Communication and Management from the College of Management (2001). He resides in Tira with his wife and daughter.

Maisam jaljuli
Maisam is a social activist, a feminist, and political organizer in Israel. In 2007, she was elected to the Histadrut and became the chairwoman of NAAMAT, the Hisdadrut’s internal women’s organization and the largest women’s organization in Israel, as a candidate for the Hadash Party. Maisam has been organizing women in six Arab-Israel villages ever since. It was in this capacity that she helped organize one of the most massive, country-wide demonstrations in Israel’s history last year to protest violence against women in Israel.
Maisam is also helping to build a shared future for Jews and Arabs in Israel. She is a member of the national leadership team of Omdim Beyachad (Standing Together), a grassroots Israeli movement that organizes Arabs and Jews in Israel around campaigns for peace, equality, and social justice. She sits on the board of Sikkuy, an organization that advocates for equal treatment and presence in public space for Arabs and Jews and Itach-Ma’aki: Women Lawyers for Social Justice.
Maisam holds a BA in Criminology and Sociology and an MA in Educational Leadership from Bar Ilan University. She lives with her family in Tira.

Ameer fakhoury
Ameer was born and raised in Acre, and today lives in Haifa with his wife Maisa and their three children. He is a lawyer, a political and cultural sociologist (he is currently writing a dissertation at Haifa University), and the director of the Neve Shalom/Wāħat as-Salām research institute. Ameer is involved in various grassroots political initiatives. Notable he is in the leadership committee of, “Two States One Homeland,” focused on creating a peace model respecting the sovereignty of both nations, while challenging complete separation.
He is also also a facilitator to NGOs and dialogue groups. In 2018, Ameer edited the book, Attainable Alliances: the Case of the Palestinian Minority in the Israeli Political Field. The book includes articles from leading politicians, academics and activists on what is needed to create a political alliance between Jews and Arabs in Israel.

Nisreen Shehada
Nisreen is a leader in the Standing Together movement,currently serving as their Community and Outreach Coordinator and the Haifa Circle Leader. Shehada is a Doctor of Chemical Engineering and Nanotechnology. She joined Standing Together as an organizer in the Haifa Circle. Since August 2017, Shehada has headed the networking and outreach efforts of Standing Together. In this capacity, she works to build cooperation between the movement and various communities of struggle throughout Israel with an emphasis on the social and geographical periphery and on engagement with marginalized groups.

Hillel Ben Sasson
Hillel, PhD, married + 3 – is the director of IDEA – Center for Liberal Democracy.
Hillel received his PhD in Jewish theology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013 after dividing his study course between the Hebrew University, NYU and the Freie Universitat in Berlin. He publishes public and scholarly essays on classical Jewish theology as well as on Israeli politics and political theology.
His first book was recently published at Magness Press, and its English rendition is due to see light at Palgrave Macmillan later this year.
In recent years, Hillel served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Israel Studies at JTS, New York and as the head of Misholim, an honors program for political and civic education at Oranim Teachers’ College. He also works as a content advisor for the Israeli President’s Bureau.
From 2012 until 2015, following a period of grass roots political activism, Hillel joined Molad: The Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, where he served as Director of Programs

Fida nara (Tabony)
Fida is the Co-Director at Mahapach-Taghir. She was born in was Nazareth, and grew up in Neve Shalom, an Arab-Jewish village.
She has two daughters.
Fida holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Tel-Hai College and a master’s degree in Gender Studies from Bar Ilan University. She is a member of the National Secretariat of Hadash – The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality. Fida is on the Hadash list (number 8) for the 2019 elections.
Besides her passion for learning, Fida is committed to advancing social justice. For the last 25 years, Fida has dedicated her life to women’s empowerment and social change. Her activism started at a young woman Volunteer at the Hotline for Victims of Sexual Violence.
Fida worked as coordinator of the Awareness Raising Project at “Women Against Violence” for 13 years and was promoted to the Director of the Social Change Unit at Women Against Violence.
Fida began her work at Mahapach-Taghir as Co-Director in 2013. Mahapach-Taghir means ‘change.’ The organization is a feminist grassroots Jewish-Arab initiative for social change, established to promote a shared society in Israel with equal opportunities for all.

Samer Swaid
Samer is the director of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, which addresses issues of planning and construction in Arab localities. He also is facilitator for groups at Neve Shalom focused on conflict resolution. Previously, Samer served as head of the Arab Student Committee at the University of Haifa. He is secretary of the Arab-Druze initiative calling for an end to mandatory military conscription for Druze and is a member of the Hadash Party national secretariat. Samer holds a master’s degree in democracy studies from the University of Haifa, and is currently working on his dissertation. He and his family live in Haifa.

Chen Arieli
Chen is serving as Deputy Mayor and is in charge of the welfare and public health administration. She is very interested in implementing a practice of distributive justice and transferring the discourse from equality to fairness. She wants to deepen the factors and create prevention, that will enable a holistic approach that sees the individual in all its diversity and life circumstances.
Arieli, 43, is an Israeli feminist lesbian who involved in social activism for 20 years.
Chen was the Chairperson of the LGBTQ umbrella organization. In her position as Chairperson, Chen led the Aguda to significant achievements for the LGBTQI community in Israel: negotiating with the Treasury Ministry to increase the budgets for community organizations, leading the most massive demonstration in the history of the LGBTQI community, creating structures for a joint discourse among all the LGBTQI community organizations, initiating an innovative project to train and mentor community members running or local elections in October 2018, among other milestones for the community.
Chen is a leading figure of the Israeli feminist movement; and one of the founders of the women’s movement that began in December 2018 as a result of the women’s protest, uniting Arab and Jewish women to work together to change reality.
She is a past Spokesperson and Political Advisor to Merav Michaelli of the Labor Party, in the liberal democratic wing, who is widely considered a leading feminist public figure in Israel.
Chen is also the co-founder and CEO of DUGRI, a new social enterprise building cooperation within Israeli civil society – working through networking and a digital platform to encourage people and organizations in the civil society in Israel to work together for the greater good. She worked as a business consultant for women’s business social business. gave lectures all over the country on subjects of body imagery and fat phobia She is a board member of “Itach Maaci”- women lawyers for social justice; she represented the city on the board of directors of Tel Aviv Museum of Art and “Ahuzat hahof,” a municipal company owned by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa the municipality, which has been operating parking lots throughout Tel Aviv-Jaffa; she is part of the Advisory Committee and a board member of “Matsmichim”- NPO to reduce violence in the education system and board member of the LGBTQ umbrella organization.

Limor Yaakov-Safrai
Limor grew up in an agricultural town, Gan-Or, in Gush Qatif. In the last sixteen years is a resident of the religious Kibbutz, Ma’ale Gilboa. She has a BA in criminology, sociology and anthropology, and an MA in the sociology of education. She also holds a teacher’s degree in literature. Limor worked for many years as a counselor, coordinator, and director of many informal education programs. She is a co-founder of’ “Torah and Avodah Seminary” — an education program for Liberal Religious Zionism. In recent years Limor ran the educational department for youth math for the Religious Kibbutz movement and was a member of the movements secretariat. Over the years, Limor was active in various social initiatives in the fields of feminism, shared society, and struggles against racism. She is a member of the regional council Emek Hama’ayanot general assembly, and a member of the council’s economic board of directors. She is a member of the Religious Organizations Coalition to combat prostitution in Israel, a member of the board of Beit Lochamei Hageta’ot, and the steering committee of Forum Dov Lautman.
Limor is married to Aviad and a mother of four.

Nidal Othman
Nidal is al lawyer and a consultant to various non-governmental and media initiatives. Today he acts as deputy mayor of Tamra. Until recently (2018), Nidal ran the committee against racism in Israel, and in 2013 served as the substitute director of MUSAWA – The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession.
Between the years 2006-2008, Nidal published the sports weekly in Arabic, “Dunia Al-Riada Ulshabab.” Between the years 2014-2015, he anchored the television program, “Our Rights” on HALA TC, interviewing human rights activists on various issues.
In 2003, and a community organizer at MUSAWA Nidal was a founder of the Committee Against Racism in Israel, a coalition of organizations from different communities fighting racism through solidarity and joint work across racial lines.
As an activist in Tamra, Nidal leads struggles alongside others against violence in the community and the proliferation of illegal guns. He ran the local committee against illegal weapons in his community, an initiative of various organizations in the city. In 2018 he was elected for city council and deputy mayor.
Nidal frequently writes op-eds in Hebrew and Arabic on human rights issues.
He is the father of twin girls.

Kholoud Masalha
Koloud has been a media professional for 18 years. She started her career after her studies at Ilam Center, as a media researcher. In 2008, she joined Bukra Website in an effort to create a different kind of journalism. Today, Masalha is the CEO of I’lam – Arab Center for Media Freedom, Development and Research, as well as the executive editor of Bukra Website, the first Arab website that focuses on social issues.
Alongside her work at Ilam and Bukra, Masalha is involved in a number of public projects aimed to empower the Arab public and reassert its presence in Israeli media.
Her previous studies focused, among other issues, on the image of Arabs in Israeli media and human rights discourse in Israeli media.
Masalha has also been involved in a number of documentaries and doco-dramas, focusing on women right issues, as well as political, cultural and gender issues in Arab society.

Laura Talinovsky
Laura lives in Haifa, and serves as Deputy CEO of Shaharit: a think tank and a leadership incubator aimed to diverse Israeli politics and create politics of common good. Prior to that, Laura was the Head of Mechinat Rabin: a Leadership Academy for youth. She taught courses on Economics, Gender, Society and Government at the Academic college of Emek Yezreel and the Rabin Leadership Academy, among others.
She served as Director of the One Voice Movement, that promoted the two-states solution.
Prior to that, she was the Parliamentary Advisor for Knesset Opposition Leader, MK Shelley Yechimovich.
Laura has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and a BA in Political Sciences and Sociology, both from the Hebrew University, and spent a year at New York University on a Paths to Peace Fellowship leadership program for Israelis and Palestinians.
Laura is one of the establishers of the activist group “Generation 1.5” – young Russian speaking Israelis, as she was born in Ukraine and immigrated to Israel at the age of 6.

Mohammed Khlaile
Mohammed is a member of the Hadash party and a social and political activist. In the past, he was a parliamentary aid to DR Yousef Jabareen .He doctoral candidate in the political science department at Haifa University. His academic focus ins on clans in the Arab communities in Israel, the PA, and Jordon. He wrote his MA on the fading power of the Arab parties in municipal elections in Israel, a paper that was awarded outstanding academic work by the Israeli Association for Political Science. Khlaile teaches at Oranim College in the civics and sociology department.

Chen Liberman
Chen is a News correspondent and TV host, staff journalist at Ha’Makor, channel 13’s investigative and newsmagazine TV program. Liberman began her career in journalism during her army service, where she was a member of the IDF radio station, first as a foreign affairs correspondent and then as a crime reporter. She graduated from the City University of New York with a B.A in history and returned to Israel as the head of the culture news desk for channel 10 news. Liberman has made special documentary projects for the evening news about various subjects such as the Israeli law against abortion, the younger generation of Israeli-Palestinians, sexual harassments and the price women pay for exposing their story, and the politics of archaeology, among others. In addition, she has served as a Gesher fellow, strengthening the linkages between Israel and the Jewish diaspora, and an ROI fellow, a young leadership program.

Efrat Yerday
Efrat is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Tel Aviv University, teacher, activist and the chairwoman of the Association for Ethiopian Jews. She was born in Ashdod and lives in Tel Aviv. She has a master’s degree in politics and government from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and now researching the fluidity of citizenship in Israel. In the course of her studies, she established the’”Ethiopolitics”, reading group for students of Ethiopian descent who wanted to broaden their knowledge of Ethiopian history and issues of identity and racism in Israel and elsewhere.
In 2015, following the success of the reading group, she initiated and prepared an academic course in the university’s Department of Politics and Government. The course, Black Identity in a White Space: The Ethiopian Population in the Israeli Context was part of the Program for Specialization in Politics until 2017. She also taught this course as part of the program of Jewish Studies for working people at the Ono Academic College. In 2012 she established the Ra’av (Hunger) publishing house in Beersheba with the aim of adding color to the Israeli bookshelf. She edited its first book of translated poetry, Kushila’imashelahem—Antologia zmanit leshira shekhora (Kushila’imashelahem—A temporary anthology of black poetry).
In 2010–2012 she served as the spokesperson for the Israeli Association for Ethiopian Jews and published opinion pieces on racism in general and institutionalized racism in particular. In 2010 she started the Young Ethiopian Students blog, inviting critical thinking and challenging the establishment and academic narrative of the Aliya (immigration) and absorption of Ethiopian Jews. Yerday wrote for two years the “Shekhora mi’skhor” (blacker than black) column in Hamakom hakhi kham bagehinom (the hottest place in hell)—an independent magazine on socio-economic topics, and today she frequently writes for “Haaretz.” She was the head of the research group “Ethiopians Jews: Rewriting Their Story” at Van-Leer Jerusalem Institute between 2015-2018.

Fida Shehade
Fida is a councilwoman of the municipality of Lod since 2018. She received a master’s degree in urban planning from Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba. She believes that land and housing policy issues are central to combating inequality for Palestinian citizens of Israel in Lod.
Fida is one of the founders of the “Khatwa” Youth Movement in Lod and Ramleh, where she is building a foundation to develop and build housing projects for Palestinian youth. Katwah organized activism against house demolitions in Dahamash, an unrecognized village near Lod.
Fida worked for many years as a youth leader in Lod and around the country in various fields, chiefly raising awareness on identity and gender equality within the framework of Women Against Violence. She is one of the founders of the “Love in the Time of Apartheid” a campaign aimed at creating solidarity between different Palestinian communities and people. She also was active in “Prawer Will Not Pass”, a campaign against the Prawer Plan.
Fida believes that real change comes from stakeholders and through grassroots actions. Real change involves the participation of everyone: women, workers, students, homemakers, academics, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, or age.

Stav Gill
Stav is the director of Erez Network which consists of six educational gap year’s programs around Israel, called Mechina. In his previous role, Gill served as Director of the Be’eri Pre-Military Preparatory Program, promoting diverse and socially-committed young leadership in Israel. He also served in the IDF for seven years as an officer within a combat unit. Gill is the Founder and a board member of the Yahav Program, which promotes ideological education and training National Service volunteers in the Kibbutzim Movement. Gill holds a B.A in Political Science and M.A in Educational System Management, both from Tel Aviv University.
He lives in Beit Berl with his wife and son.