Photo by Keren Manor, Activestills
Board of Directors
Attorney Dan Yakir
President
Dan Yakir has been active in ACRI since 1982, and has been officially working as a lawyer at ACRI since 1989. From 1989-1995, he served as a lawyer in ACRI's legal department, and since 1995 has served as ACRI's chief legal counsel until 2023, when becoming the President of ACRI.
Over the years, Dan has led ACRI to unprecedented achievements in the promotion of human rights, in particular the right to equality, freedom of expression, human rights violations in the occupied territories and LGBTQI rights. The landmark cases and petitions in which Dan represented ACRI include the Kaadan case, cases against torture, marriage registration of gay couples married abroad, the cancellation of a British Mandate Press Ordinance, and more. He has received many awards for his work in advancing human rights, among them a special prize from Israel's LBGT Taskforce (2005), The Human Rights Defender prize from the New Israel Fund (2011), The Goldberg Prize from the Institute for International Education (IIE) in New York (2012), and the Yeshayahu Leibowitz Prize of Yesh Gvul (There's a Limit) (2018).
Dan has a LL.B. from the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University and an LL.M. from American University Washington College of Law, where he studied as part of the New Israel Fund's law program. During his secondary studies he worked as an intern at the ACLU of the District of Columbia and at the LGBTQ Project of the ACLU in New York.
Professor Amit Schejter
Chairperson
Professor Schejter is a Professor of Communication Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) serving as President of Oranim College. He is former Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at BGU and a Visiting Professor and co-director of the Institute for Information Policy at the Bellisario College of Communications at the Pennsylvania State University. He studies and teaches media policy and law and specializes in the connection between communication and social justice as well as in the advancement of the “right to communicate.” He is the author and editor of eight books and more than seventy articles, book chapters and law reviews as well as founding editor of the Journal of Information Policy.
Schejter previously served as senior advisor to Israeli ministers of Education and Culture Yitzhak Navon and Shulamit Aloni, as Director of Legal Affairs and International Relations at the Israel Broadcasting Authority, and as Vice President for Regulatory Affairs at Cellcom. He has served as chairman and member of several committees that advised various government ministries and the Knesset in the fields of communications and culture. In his work he combines his professional expertise with volunteer work and public activity. In addition to his board membership at ACRI, he is a member of the board of directors of the Jaffa Theater - the Center for Arab-Hebrew Culture, and co-director of the Shulamit Aloni Prize.
Attorney Yonatan Berman
Board member
Joined ACRI's board in October 2019. One of the founding partners of Dr. Ra'anan Har-Zahav, Edelstein, Berman Law Offices. Numerous principled legal proceedings, particularly in the area of immigration and refugee law and in matters relating to LGBT rights.
Professor Amichai Cohen
Board member
Joined ACRI's board on October 2019. Dean of the Faculty of Law at Ono Academic College whose research focuses primarily on national security law in Israel; international humanitarian law; the integration of international law into Israeli law; and international criminal law. Professor Cohen is the Director of the Center for Security and Democracy at the Israel Democracy Institute.
Ms. Summer Jaber-Massarwa
Board member
Joined ACRI's Board on October 2019. An organizational consultant and a resource development and financial management consultant, Ms. Jaber-Massarwa has extensive experience in organizations that deal with Jewish-Arab relations.
Ms. Etty Kenny
Board member
Joined ACRI's Board in September 2015. Ms. Kenny possesses vast professional experience in management consulting and human resources, and has volunteered her time and expertise for a wide range of causes and organizations. She was Director of the Tel Aviv branch of Eran – Emotional First Aid by Telephone and Internet, and was instrumental in establishing an emergency telephone hotline for the Israel AIDS Task Force. She volunteered with ACRI’s Public Hotline for over a decade. Ms. Kenny also serves as a member of the board of the Muzot High School for Youth at Risk, a member of the public council of the Batsheva Dance Company, and a board member of the Herzliya Museum.
Dr. Tamar-Kricheli-Katz
Board member
Joined ACRI's Board on October 2019. Associate Professor at Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Law. She teaches and researches in the fields of discrimination, inequality, empirical legal studies, contract law and law and society.
Professor Barak Medina
Board member
Joined ACRI's board in October 2017. Professor Barak Medina is the rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds the Justice Haim H. Cohn Chair in Human Rights Law in the Faculty of Law at the University. He served as the Academic Director of the Center for Multiculturalism and Diversity as well as the Academic Director of the Transitional Justice Program at the University. Professor Medina conducts research and teaches Human Rights Law, Constitutional Law, and Administrative Law. He serves as Israel’s acting representative at the Venice Conference of the Council of Europe.
Professor Iris Rachamimov
Board member
Joined ACRI's board in October 2017. Prof. Iris Rachamimov is a historian at Tel Aviv University, editor of the journal Zmanim, and a transgender woman. Her historical research focuses on the mass imprisonment of civilians and soldiers in the twentieth century. In recent years she has also conducted research about the queer history of the State of Israel and non-conformist communities in terms of gender. Professor Rachamimov is active in promoting the rights of the Transgender community and making knowledge and research on the subject more accessible to the public.
Dr. Adam Shinar
Board member
Joined ACRI's Board on October 2019. Associate professor at the Radzyner Law School, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC). He specializes in constitutional law and theory and comparative constitutional law.