In the past decade, 76 Arab women have been murdered in domestic violence in Israel. The ‘Committee for the Struggle against the Murder of Women in Arab Society’ held an event protesting murder and violence against Arab women. Families of the victims are still demanding justice since most of the murderers are still free.

Israeli teenager Natan Blanc was sentenced to a tenth prison term of 28 days for refusing to serve in the Israeli army last week. With the latest sentencing, he has been sent to prison more times than any previous conscientious objector in Israel. Earlier this year, supporters and activists held one of many regular support vigils on a hilltop overlooking the IDF’s Prison 6, where he is currently being held.

In contemporary Israeli society, civil marriage, gay marriage, mixed couples and same-sex parenting appear to exist out in the open. But we live under the illusion that we have the freedom to choose whom and how to marry. In reality, we can’t marry someone from a different religion – even the type of wedding is dictated to us. These decrees harm freedom of religion and they don’t only affect Jews. In Arab society, the situation is even more challenging. A discussion about the topic took place in Haifa recently.

Last month, Israel commemorated Memorial Day. While the mainstream media extensively covered official Memorial Day ceremonies, alternative ceremonies were ignored. Also in the roundup: NGO Zochrot publishes a new map showing hundreds of Arab villages that were destroyed between 1948 and 1967, including a tour to Deir Yassin and a “march of return.”

On the night of April 9, 1948, over 100 men, women, children and elderly Palestinians were killed in Deir Yassin during an operation by Israeli underground militias. In contrast to the Palestinian narrative, which claims that the massacre was motivated by hatred and vengeance, the Isralei narrative describes another of the necessary battles of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. But recent, other voices in Israel are coming out — voices that raise many questions about the historical truth behind the story of Deir Yassin. Recently, ‘Zochrot’ organized a tour to the village that included meetings with village residents and relatives of the Israeli combatants.

In 2008 Israeli security guards were banned from carrying their weapons when they are not working. The prohibition is sweeping but a clause allows the employer to give authorize guards to carry firearms after working hours. In doing so, are they risking the lives of thousands as a results of the weapons finding their way into homes?

Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.

The civil war in Syria has been raging for over two years, with President Bashar Assad on one side and the rebels on the other. Tens of thousands of innocent people have been killed in the fighting.

Although information about what is actually occurring in Syria is only a click away, Israeli society, it seems, chooses to stay away and ignore the atrocities taking place on the other side of the border.

Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.

Related:
Palestinians and the Syrian Revolution: Lessons from the fight against fascism
‘Why don’t you write about Syria?’
30 Palestinians killed last week in Syria

How would you feel if you were suddenly forbidden from walking down the main street of your city? This theoretical scenario, inconceivable to most, is reality for the Palestinian residents of Hebron. Shuhada Street was a pivotal and vibrant main street in Hebron but since 2000, entry has been blocked for Palestinians – even those who live on it. The closure of Shuhada Street is just another example of Israel’s undeclared racial segregation policies

Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.

For several months now, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has been promoting an initiative calling for the recognition of Jews from Arab countries as refugees. Is this historical justice, or just another attempt to achieve a political goal through the cynical use of immigrants from Arab countries?

Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.

Samer Issawi, 33 years old, from the village of Issawiya on the outskirts of Jerusalem, was released from Israeli prison as part of Shalit deal, but was arrested a few months ago on suspicion of violating the terms of his release. Samer is being held in administrative detention, without trial, and indefinitely, while the army seeks to re-sentence him to the remainder of the 30-year sentence from his previous conviction. Ina protest of his illegal arrest, Issawi started a hunger strike, that has gone on for over 200 days. His life is in danger.

Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.

Related:
Hunger-striker Samer Issawi is another statistic in an unjust legal system
As Palestinian hunger strikes come to a head, world begins to take notice

Due to bureaucratic failures, many immigrants from the former Soviet Union are not getting the pensions they accrued while working in their home countries, and thus are forced to continue working and saving in order to grow old with dignity. A significant percentage of immigrant pensioners live below the poverty line. When forced to choose between buying food or medicine, life becomes a day-to-day struggle for survival.

Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.

Omar Saad, a young Druze from the town of Maghar in northern Israel declared his refusal to serve in the IDF in late 2012. Although the Druze are considered to be an ethnic group that has assimilated well in the Israeli community, the voices of refusal within the community are becoming stronger. In an open letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saad writes that he opposes the idea of conscription by law for members of the Druze community, as it forces them to fight against their Arab brothers.

Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.

On Friday February 22, 2013, a demonstration took place in Hebron protesting the restrictions placed on Palestinians’ freedom of movement on Shuhada Street in the city. Shuhada Street has been closed to Palestinians for over a decade (ever since the second Intifada began in October 2000 and seven years after Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein killed 19 Palestinians at the nearby Ibrahimi Mosque); Israeli settlers are free to use the street.

More than anything, the closure of Shuhada Street is an expression of Israel’s undeclared racial segregation policies, and their implications. Ever since it was closed to Palestinians, life in the city-center of Hebron has been destroyed – businesses were closed and many families were forced to leave their homes due to the inability to move freely and make a living.

Last week, just as in years past, the IDF did not hesitate to use its wide range of riot control equipment, including smoke and stun grenades, tear gas, the LRAD (Long range acoustic device) and the “Skunk” (foul water fired from a water cannon, which leaves a terrible odor that lasts for days on whatever it touches). Dozens of protesters were injured.

Israel Social TV is an independent media NGO working to promote social change, human rights, social justice and equality, and to mobilize its viewers towards activism.