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Israeli activists used digital tools to fight segregation in hospitals, producing graphics like the one below that divides a group of babies into “Jews” and “all the rest.”
We Responded The news of hospital segregation galvanized the members of ZAZIM – Community Action, an organization incubated and launched last year by NIF as part of our New Initiatives for Democracy (NIFD). Modeled after MoveOn.org, ZAZIM, a memberdriven online organizing community, channeled this moment into a sustained effort to end segregation in Israeli hospitals. ZAZIM’s first response to the scandal, a petition to hospital executives demanding an end to segregation policies, garnered over 2000 signatures in just a few days. Together with Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHR-I), ZAZIM then raised thousands of shekels, mostly
APRIL 6 APRIL 5 Reshet Bet radio reports that Israeli hospitals segregate Jews and Arabs in maternity wards and MK Bezalel Smotrich provocatively expresses support for this practice.
ZAZIM responds with a petition against hospital segregation that collects more than 2000 signatures in just a few days.
in small donations from concerned Israelis, for a series of billboards near offending hospitals with the message “stop the segregation in maternity wards.” One of these billboards, outside of Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, came under fire from the municipality because it “offended public sensitivities.” When local authorities took down the billboard, the media firestorm and criticism only grew stronger.
The pressure from ZAZIM members was unrelenting, and ultimately, it worked. A few weeks later, a court ruling forced the hospital to meet with the campaign’s organizers to discuss steps to prevent segregation. As a result, PHR-I was invited to run antiracism trainings for hospital staff.
tIMELINE MAY 1 ZAZIM and PHR-I put up an antisegregation billboard outside of Meir Hospital, which the Kfar Saba municipality removes because it is “offensive.”
We Were Ready Since NIF’s inception, our work to combat discrimination and bridge gaps between Jews and Arabs has been vital to protecting Israel’s democracy. But with a rising tide of racism and extremism, we responded with NIFD and the creation of a new platform for Israelis to take action together, one that could leverage the right moment to make a lasting impact. ZAZIM was designed to mobilize in response to moments like this one. Using online organizing tactics, this platform is able to connect thousands of Israelis and bring the important work of combating racism
and other issues in the progressive consensus, to the critical mass of people who can and should make a difference. Ordinary Israelis participate in creative campaigns— and even determine what those campaigns will be about in the first place. When this shocking practice was revealed, ZAZIM was there to channel the outrage over segregation in maternity wards into real pressure that the hospitals could not ignore. ZAZIM turned up the volume on shared society when it was needed most, amplifying the voices in favor of Jewish-Arab equality. NIF’s investment ensured that the moment would not go to waste.
JULY 10 A court order
compels Meir Hospital to meet with
ZAZIM and PHR-I to
discuss steps to prevent
segregation, leading to
anti-racism
trainings for
hospital staff.
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Following the reports of segregation, Tag Meir/Light Tag Forum led Jewish-Arab solidarity visits to hospitals across Israel.
Tag Meir/Light Tag Forum, an NIF grantee known for its anti-racism vigils and solidarity visits to victims of hate crimes, successfully pressured the Israeli government to prioritize addressing “Price Tag” violence. The Forum’s efforts led to the government formally recognizing a Palestinian Israeli woman as a terror victim after she was attacked by soccer hooligans in Jerusalem. With Shatil’s assistance, Tag Meir organized a special Knesset session dedicated to addressing Price Tag attacks. The Israeli authorities are finally taking these hate crimes seriously, and the result has been a dramatic drop in Price Tag violence against Palestinians and other minorities. NIF grantee Sikkuy published a groundbreaking report that found that, despite constituting 20% of Israel’s population, Arab citizens represented only 2% of all interviewees in the Hebrewlanguage electronic media. Armed with this information, Sikkuy successfully pressured media outlets to include Arab experts in their programs. This effort paid off when a follow-up study, published several months later, found that the number of Arab experts on Hebrewlanguage radio and TV shows had increased by 50%.
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NIFNIF 2016 2016 Annual AnnualReport Report