Democracy & the Judicial Overhaul

Overview of Anti Democratic Legislation (updated August 2023)

In the past few years, ACRI has been increasingly concerned by intensifying infringements on democratic freedoms in Israel. These threats arise, mainly, from two of the main institutions charged with safeguarding democracy: The Knesset (Israeli parliament) and government leadership. Senior officials have voiced harsh and unprecedented statements against human rights organizations, political groups, and minorities, and have made various attempts to curtail their operations. A tide of anti-democratic legislative proposals is being introduced in the Knesset and there is a rising wave of assaults on social, political, and national minorities in the public sphere.

As a result, the basic principles of the Israeli democratic system are being undermined. There is an ongoing attack on the principles of freedom of expression, human dignity and equality, and on freedom of assembly and protest. ACRI continues to demand accountability with regards to democratic principles and the assurance of such principles in every aspect of Israeli life.

Suppression of Protests During Wartime

Photo: Arik Segal, "Documenting the Hi-Tech Protest," WhatsApp Days after the start of the latest war with Iran, police violently and unlawfully dispersed an antiwar demonstration in Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, this is not a new or unexpected event. Below are summaries of some of the cases that ACRI has handled in which the police have attempted to suppress the right to freedom of protest and freedom of expression during wartime. Each case is an illustration of a tactic attemp

5 days ago6 min read

Rights From Day 1. Literally

February 25, 2026 Subscribe to ACRI's newsletter Donate to ACRI Photo: © Andreykuzmin | Dreamstime.com Dear friend, The first few months of a child’s life are critical in monitoring their health and development. In recognition of the importance of this period, and the importance of ensuring that children (and their parents) have access to health information and health services, Israel has a network of well-baby clinics, Tipat Halav (literally, “A Drop of Milk”). At these cli

Feb 253 min read

Repeal the Law Disqualifying Teachers with Degrees from the Palestinian Authority

Illustrative. East Jerusalem school. Photo: Ronit Sela, ACRI On February 24, 2026, ACRI filed a petition with the Supreme Court demanding the repeal of the Law Preventing the Employment of an Educator Holding an Academic Degree from an Institution in the Palestinian Authority. We also requested that the court issue an interim order preventing the law from entering into force until a decision is rendered on the petition. The law, which amends the State Education Law and the Su

Feb 253 min read

Another Unlawful Attempt By Police to Block a Protest

A demonstration in Pardes Hanna to bring back the hostages. Photo: Amos Gil, Shatil-stok On February 18, 2026, ACRI contacted the Commander of the Coastal District and the Acting Legal Advisor of the Israel Police following unlawful demands made by the police toward the organizers of an event titled “In Pardes Hanna, We Choose Peace and Nonviolence.” The police were requiring the organizers of the event, which was going to take place in an auditorium, to obtain a permit and t

Feb 222 min read

Well-Baby Clinics for Bedouins in the Negev Have Been Reopened

© Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com On February 16, 2026, ACRI, together with Physicians for Human Rights and Itach–Ma’aki, contacted the Minister of Health to demand the reopening of the well-baby clinic (Tipat Halav) in the Bedouin community of Bir Hadaj, which was closed in August 2025. There are two Tipat Halav clinics in Bir Hadaj. One has been closed for a long time, while the other, which served approximately 500 women and their children, was closed following break-ins

Feb 172 min read

Police Photography of Protesters

Photo: Wix Media In September 2020, the police scrapped the protocol that prohibited photographing protesters other than under exceptional circumstances. The police claimed there would be a new protocol, but despite repeated requests from the Association for Civil Rights, no new protocol has been put into place. Meanwhile, police officers have been photographing protesters whenever they like, without any justification. Officers have used their personal phones to photograph in

Feb 163 min read

Politicizing the Classroom

© Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime.com The State Education Regulations (Activity of an External Entity in the Education System), 5786–2026, instruct the Minister of Education to establish rules to prevent school activities led by a person or organization that is not part of the education system that stand in opposition to the objectives of the State Education Law. The enactment of the regulations was delayed for eight years, and the Minister of Education announced the for

Feb 152 min read

Workers' Compensation for Unpaid Leave During States of Emergency

Photo: © Kevin George | Dreamstime.com Over the past 20 years, arrangements to compensate workers following military operations and states of emergency have been based on a system in which the State reimburses employers for the loss of their income, and employers pay employees the wages they lost due to absences caused by the emergency. In other words, employers receive compensation directly from the State, and they then transfer the payments to their workers. The Forum for

Feb 103 min read

A Tax Policy that Hurts Farmers

Illustrative. Photo: © Gburshtein | Dreamstime.com On February 9, 2026, ACRI submitted an appeal to the Chair of the Knesset Committee objecting to a proposed amendment to the Property Tax Law, introduced as part of the 2026 Economic Efficiency Law (“Arrangements Law”). The amendment proposes imposing a property tax on vacant land designated for construction and on underused agricultural land of up to 1.5% of the land’s value. The property tax was previously repealed after ex

Feb 102 min read

A Proposed Law to Restructure the Police Internal Affairs Bureau (Machash)

Photo: Yossi Zamir, Shatil-Stock A bill proposing reforming the Police Internal Investigations Department (MACHASH) is being discussed by a joint Knesset committee of the National Security Committee and the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee. The original bill was introduced by MK Moshe Saada and sought to remove MACHASH from the State Attorney’s Office and place it under the authority of the Minister of Justice, who would also appoint the head of the committee; it woul

Feb 53 min read

Blocking Entrances to Arab Towns in Israel is Illegal

© Liujunrong | Dreamstime.com Several times in recent months, the police set up roadblocks on access roads to Arab towns in order to fight crime and weapons smuggling. The roadblocks paralyzed main traffic arteries, made entry and exit to the towns difficult to impossible, disrupted daily life, and violated residents' rights to freedom of movement and human dignity. In response to these actions, we sent appeals to the Attorney General, the Police Commissioner, and the Legal

Feb 54 min read

Refusing to Allow Volunteer Physicians into Gaza

Illustrative. Photo: Wix After two and a half years of war, approximately 42,000 people in the Gaza Strip, including 10,500 children, remain seriously injured and in need of rehabilitation and ongoing care. Meanwhile, Gaza’s healthcare system has been decimated, and lost around 1,500 medical staff during the war. Even before the war, Gaza’s limited healthcare system relied heavily on assistance and training from specialist physicians from around the world, who came for volunt

Feb 52 min read

Water Supply Cut Off as Collective Punishment

Illustrative. Photo: © Igor Terekhov | Dreamstime.com On January 25, 2026, an inspector from the Negev Water Corporation disconnected the water supply to three unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, after discovering damage caused by vandalism to the infrastructure of the water cabinet. As a result, approximately 150 families, including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, were left without water. When the water supply was not restored after four days, w

Feb 41 min read

Taking to the Streets

February 4, 2026 Subscribe to ACRI's newsletter Demonstrating against the government's indifference to crime in Arab society. Photo: Oded Feller, ACRI This past weekend in Tel Aviv and around the country Arabs and Jews demonstrated in massive numbers against the unchecked crime wave raging in Arab society. This was a moving show of bravery on the part of Arab society, which has faced escalating attempts at marginalization and silencing since the outbreak of the war, and solid

Feb 43 min read

Roadblocks Cutting Off Arab Neighborhoods in the City of Lod

Photos: Abeer Joubran, ACRI On February 1, 2026, ACRI petitioned the Supreme Court on behalf of four residents of the city of Lod, demanding the removal of concrete roadblocks placed by the police in two of the city's neighborhoods that are home to hundreds of Arab residents. In one neighborhood, the concrete barrier has completely sealed off the area; there is no other way to enter or exit. In the other neighborhood, the alternative road passes through an industrial area tha

Feb 32 min read

Mountains of Garbage are being Allowed to Pile Up in East Jerusalem Neighborhoods

Garbage in an East Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the separation barrier, February 2026 On November 13, 2025, ACRI contacted the Director General of the Jerusalem Municipality and the head of the Sanitation Department following numerous appeals from residents living in East Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the separation barrier regarding mountains of garbage piling up in the streets. Tens of thousands of residents and Israeli citizens live in these neighborhoods: the Shuafat Re

Feb 32 min read

The Death Penalty Bill: Q&A

Photo: © Alanhutcheson | Dreamstime.com The Knesset is advancing a death penalty bill : Penal Code (Amendment—Death Penalty for Terrorists). Below is information about the bill, which ACRI unequivocally opposes. What does the bill stipulate? The most recent version of the bill, which was published on January 27, 2026, seeks to impose a mandatory death penalty for defendants convicted of murder motivated by terrorism in military courts in the West Bank, and a discretionary

Jan 296 min read

Theft of Cows Belonging to a Palestinian Farmer by Soldiers

Soldiers leading the cows from the pen owned by the petitioners to the civilian truck About a dozen armed and uniformed soldiers arrived at a barn belonging to a Palestinian family in the West Bank, handcuffed the barn owner and his son, broke through the barn's fences, and loaded the cattle belonging to the family onto a civilian truck that arrived at the scene escorted by military jeeps. Social media posts from a group that aids settlers in pursuing agricultural projects (l

Jan 293 min read

Public Comments Before Government Decisions

Photo: © Syda Productions | Dreamstime.com Before the weekly government meetings, the agenda is usually published along with attached appendices, which include proposed resolutions. The agenda and appendices are distributed to ministers and professional officials, and published for the public on the website of the Prime Minister's Office. But what was published before the government meeting scheduled for January 25, 2026 was unusual. An agenda was published, but nothing was

Jan 292 min read

Repeal the Protection of the Public from Criminal Organizations Law

© Andrei Dodonov | Dreamstime.com The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the Supreme Court on February 12, 2025, demanding the cancellation of the Protection of the Public from Criminal Organizations Law. This law, which was approved by the Knesset as a temporary provision for two years, allows police to use tools that had previously reserved exclusively for counterterrorism and state security purposes, based on classified intelligence as well as administrat

Jan 292 min read

Freedom of Movement for the Residents of Jisr az-Zarqa

Barriers in Jisr az-Zarqa. Photo: Abeer Joubran, ACRI On January 12, 2026, ACRI petitioned the Supreme Court on behalf of six residents of the town of Jisr az-Zarqa, demanding the removal of concrete barriers that the police placed at the entrance to the town and within two of its neighborhoods. The barriers at the entrance to the town narrow the traffic lanes, obstruct vehicle movement, and endanger drivers; the barriers within the neighborhoods prevent passage by pedestrian

Jan 272 min read

Soldiers Attempt to Forcibly Expel Palestinian Families in the West Bank

Illustrative. A shepherd in the West Bank. Photo: © Rrodrickbeiler | Dreamstime.com On January 23, 2026 ACRI contacted the army on behalf of two shepherd families from the village of al-Nakhb in the West Bank. The families have been living in this location for decades, and according to them, the land is privately owned and belongs to the estate of the family’s grandfather. In mid-January, a military jeep arrived at the home of Youssef’s family (name has been changed for

Jan 252 min read

Getting Rid of the Gatekeepers

Gali Baharav-Miara, Israel's Attorney General. Photo: Yosi Zamir, Shatil-stok The Kesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee has been debating a bill initiated by the committee's chairman, MK Simcha Rothman, to split the role of the Attorney General for the Government. This is an extremely dangerous proposal that introduces political considerations into law enforcement, and does away with fundamental principles such as the binding status of the Attorney General's opini

Jan 213 min read

Witnessing the Expulsion of a Community

Subscribe to ACRI's newsletter January 20, 2026 Goats from a nearby settler outpost grazing on what was the home of a resident of Ras al-Ain Dear friend, This past Wednesday, members of ACRI’s staff visited the village of Ras al-Ain in the southern Jordan Valley in the West Bank. Ras al-Ain was home to about five communities of approximately 110 Bedouin families. “Was,” because it is in the process of being dismantled and evacuated, after being forcibly expelled by settle

Jan 203 min read

Bad Fences from Bad Neighbors

Map of some of the fences erected on the roads. Map courtesy of Dror Atkes, "Kerem Navot" Wide swaths of major roads northern Jordan Valley have been illegally fenced off over the past few months. The fences were installed by local settlers, with the clear purpose of restricting the movement of the area’s Palestinian residents. As a result of the fencing, Palestinian communities are disconnected from grazing and agricultural fields, and are burdened with further restrictions

Jan 202 min read

Return Bail Money to Palestinians

Photo: © Designer491 | Dreamstime.com ACRI submitted a petition to the Supreme Court against the head of the Civil Administration, demanding the return of bail funds deposited by Palestinians for release from detention or as deposits to ensure their appearance at court. The Civil Administration has accumulated approximately 53 million shekels belonging to Palestinian residents, which it is required by law to give back. State Comptroller reports and journalistic coverage have

Jan 142 min read

Thanks to ACRI: The Mediators Program Aiding Negev Bedouin Communities will Reopen

Photo: © Karl Francis Dale Tapales | Dreamstime.com On December 15, 2025, ACRI, together with Itach-Maaki and Physicians for Human Rights, sent an appeal to the Ministry of Health regarding the mediators program operated through the Ministry of Health, via a contractor, at 26 Tipat Halav (well-baby) clinics in Bedouin communities in the Negev. The program's purpose is to reduce infant mortality in Bedouin society: mediators translate and make medical information accessible t

Jan 122 min read

Tel Aviv University Restricts Freedom of Expression

Tel Aviv University protest in Entin Square (off-campus), March 2025. Photo: Orna Naor, Shatil-Stock On January 12, 2026, we appealed to the President of Tel Aviv University following a new policy published by the university to regulate public activity on campus. The policy includes significant restrictions on freedom of expression, protest, and association on campus, that include requiring protests to take place off campus, police approval for every cultural event, prohibiti

Jan 111 min read

Palestinians Detained By Soldiers for Punishment and Intimidation

Illustrative. Photo: Rachel Druck, ACRI Palestinian residents of the West Bank have increasingly been subject to detention by soldiers. They testify that they were detained by soldiers, taken to a military base, held in harsh conditions for long hours (in extreme temperatures, without being provided with food or water, without access to restrooms, and without being able to move—sometimes shackled and blindfolded). In some of the worst cases, physical violence was used against

Jan 112 min read

Media Reform: Serious Harm to Press Freedom and Democracy

A special Knesset committee is currently debating the Communications (Broadcasting) Bill, 2025 ("Broadcasting Bill"), which seeks to enact reforms in Israel’s commercial broadcasting market and its regulation. Among other things, it proposes to establish a new regulatory body that would replace the existing one. This new regulator would have the power to censor broadcasts and would be subject to political influence. This would, consequently, weaken or destroy the tools design

Jan 82 min read

Neve Midbar Regional Council Has Stopped Providing Educational Services for Children of Unrecognized Villages

Illustrative. The village of Qasr al-Sir in the Neve Midbar Regional Council. @ Aiob Abo Madegam | Dreamstime.com For years, the Neve Midbar Regional Council has been providing educational services to thousands of students who are residents of unrecognized villages under a contracting agreement between the council and the Ministry of Education. On December 18, 2025, the Regional Council announced that, due to an ongoing budgetary and operational dispute with the Ministry of E

Jan 82 min read

An "Essential Products" Basket that Includes Candy and Soda, Not Fruit and Vegetables

© Rene Van Den Berg | Dreamstime.com On January 4, 2026, the Ministry of Economy and Industry launched the "Israel Basket" project: retail chains with many branches nationally can compete to offer the lowest price for a shopping basket of 100 products defined as "basic products." Despite the good intentions, an examination of the list of products included in the basket, the tender conditions that were published, and media reports all raise serious concerns that the project wa

Jan 72 min read

Activists are Receiving Invitations for "Friendly Conversations" from the Shin Bet

Photo: © Framestock Footages | Dreamstime.com On December 29, 2025, the media published that men in civilian clothing who identified themselves as police officers arrived at the home of a well-known protest activist and gave her a form to appear for "questioning" at a district police station. When she arrived at the station, she discovered that three Shin Bet officers were waiting for her, to have a "friendly conversation" about posts she published on social media criticizin

Dec 31, 20252 min read

Remove Movement Restrictions Imposed on Hebron's Palestinian Residents

© Maksym Voitenko | Dreamstime.com Since the beginning of the war, major movement restrictions have been imposed on Palestinian residents of Hebron. Palestinians in the city are under curfew, which means that all residents, including young children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, are prohibited from leaving their homes; they are not allowed to open their shops; driving in private Palestinian vehicles is not allowed and emergency and service vehicles must coordinat

Dec 26, 20252 min read

Exploited "Intersection Children" Must Be Protected and Cared For

© Palex66 | Dreamstime.com On November 18, 2025, ACRI reached out to the Police Commissioner, the Directors-General of the Ministry of Welfare and the Ministry of National Security, and the State Attorney, demanding immediate and systematic action to address the ongoing issue of "intersection children." These are Palestinian minors, including children as young as five, who are brought to Israel in order to beg and sell trinkets at major traffic intersections. The children li

Dec 23, 20252 min read

Police Investigations into the Extinguishing of Chanukkah Candles

@ Costasz | Dreamstime.com On December 19, 2025 the media reported that the Israel Police opened an investigation into an incident in which a passerby blew out Hanukkah candles that were placed in the Weizmann Mall in Tel Aviv. Reports stated that the police have not yet determined the nature of the alleged crime, and that it is considering charging the passerby with the crime of desecration of a place of worship. Two days later it was reported that another investigation was

Dec 22, 20252 min read

Soccer Fans Can Attend Games, Even if Police Don't Like What They're Wearing

Illustrative. Photo: Sebastian27 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) On December 17, 2025 ACRI submitted a petition to the Supreme Court on behalf of fans of the soccer team Hapoel Tel Aviv against the Police Commissioner. The petition demands that the police immediately stop enforcing an illegal policy to prevent fans from entering the soccer stadium because of their clothing or controversial political content. The petition details a series of incidents that occurred in recent wee

Dec 19, 20252 min read

A New Super-Pharm Policy Allowing Only Some with Disabilities to Skip the Line

© Ritu Jethani | Dreamstime.com In November 2025, the drugstore chain Super-Pharm decided to change its policy toward people with disabilities who hold a "queue exemption" card and would no longer allow individuals to skip the line for the pharmacy unless they are Ministry of Defense beneficiaries. It would continue to honor the "queue exemption" card at the regular checkout counters. In making the change, the chain relied on an interpretation of the law stating that accessib

Dec 16, 20251 min read

Allow Lifesaving Winter Supplies into Gaza

Gaza, November 25, 2025. Photo by Yousef Zaanoun, Activestills On December 16, 2025 ACRI sent an urgent appeal to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Commander of the Southern Command, and the Minister of Defense, demanding that residents of the Gaza Strip be supplied immediately with protective equipment to cope with the looming winter, including tents, sealing sheets, blankets, sanitation equipment, and heating and lighting equipment. In the ap

Dec 16, 20252 min read

A Historic Ruling: Police Cannot Use Racial Profiling to Ask for ID

© Ben Gingell | Dreamstime.com First Petition On August 18, 2019, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Association of Ethiopian Jews in Israel, and the Public Committee Against Torture petitioned the Supreme Court with the demand that the court prohibit police from detaining people on the street and asking them to present identification when there is no suspicion that they have committed a crime. As part of the petition, we also called for the revocation of the

Dec 14, 20255 min read

Refusing Entry of International Medical Volunteers to Gaza

Photo: Wix media In October and December 2025 we sent three appeals to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and others regarding the refusal to allow the entry of volunteer doctors from around the world to the Gaza Strip. The three doctors on whose behalf we appealed had previously volunteered in Gaza before being refused entry. They hold American and British passports and there is no claim that they pose a security risk. Instead, the issue is that they

Dec 14, 20252 min read

Ignored Appeals from Evacuated Residents of Sderot

Photo: Gali Bessido, Shatil-Stok On February 2, 2025, the Association for Civil Rights submitted a petition to the Ministry of Tourism on behalf of four residents from Sderot who were evacuated from their city days after the war began. These residents, who were dealing with the effects of being displaced from their homes, were then denied the housing grants they were entitled to, or discovered that they had accumulated debt with the National Insurance Institute due to incorre

Dec 12, 20252 min read

No More "Warning Conversations" from Police to Discourage Participation in Protests

Demonstration by the Ethiopian community against police violence, 2022. Photo: Tali Meyer, Shatil-stock On December 10, 2025, ACRI appealed to the Police Commissioner and the Legal Advisor to the Police following testimonies we received and reports in the media about attempts by the Lachish Police to deter members of the Ethiopian-Israeli community from holding or participating in a lawful demonstration. According to the statements ACRI and the media received, the community

Dec 11, 20252 min read

Allow Seriously Ill Residents of Kfar Aqab to Pass Through a Less-Congested Checkpoint

Hizma checkpoint. Photo: © Ronen Barany | Dreamstime.com The village of Kfar Aqab in Jerusalem is located beyond the separation barrier in the city. Until the Gaza war, residents would leave for Jerusalem through the Qalandiya or Hizma checkpoints. An additional checkpoint, the Jaba checkpoint, was established at the beginning of the war and encloses the neighborhood. The checkpoints are extremely congested, and crossing them takes a long time—sometimes hours. They are also

Dec 11, 20252 min read

No More Hiding Behind Planters

Photo: © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com At the end of a major hearing at the Supreme Court this past July, the court's security guards feared violence from right-wing activists who had come to court. To avoid this, they helped representatives from ACRI quickly escape from the courtroom the moment the proceedings ended and tried to hide us in one of the corners of the building. And so there we found ourselves, after a principled and important legal hearing about the starva

Dec 7, 20253 min read

Providing Status to Female Palestinian Victims of Domestic Violence

© Emanuilov Shabtay | Dreamstime.com On May 6, 2024, we filed a legal petition (Hebrew) regarding the format of processing applications for providing legal status, on humanitarian grounds, submitted by Palestinian women who married an Israeli spouse and suffer from domestic violence. The petition was joined by Physicians for Human Rights, Woman to Woman, Women Against Violence, Women's Spirit, Itach-Ma'aki and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual. Palestinian

Dec 3, 20253 min read

The Death Penalty: Cruel, Unjust, and Racist

November 24, 2025 Subscribe to ACRI's newsletter © Ilkin Guliyev | Dreamstime.com Dear friend, Throughout Israel’s history, only one person has been sentenced to death: Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann was a high-ranking Nazi, and one of the major architects and facilitators of the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos, concentration camps, and extermination camps during the Holocaust. In reports to the United Nations and in other publications, Israel has justifiably taken pride in

Nov 24, 20253 min read

No to Masked Soldiers in the West Bank

Illustrative. © Bialasiewicz | Dreamstime.com On November 24, 2025, ACRI sent an appeal the Commander of the Central Command, the Legal Advisor for Judea and Samaria, and the Military Advocate General, with the demand that soldiers be prohibited from carrying out routine policing activities against civilians in the West Bank with their faces covered. In the appeal, Attorney Reut Shaer, Director of the Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Department, noted that it has bec

Nov 24, 20251 min read

Establish Family Health Centers in East Jerusalem Neighborhoods Beyond the Separation Barrier

© Narongrit Sritana | Dreamstime.com On November 11, 2021, ACRI petitioned the Supreme Court along with a group of mothers, residents of Jerusalem, demanding that the state establish Tipat Halav family health centers in neighborhoods beyond the separation barrier. Tipat Halav family health centers provide essential health and medical services to infants and babies, as well as to pregnant women from the early stages of pregnancy to new parenthood. These centers are available t

Nov 20, 20253 min read

Police Must Allow the Protest Against the Genocide in Sudan

Photo: Henry Wilkins/VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons ACRI petitioned Israel's Supreme Court on November 18, 2025, on behalf of an asylum seeker from Sudan, after the police revoked the permit for a demonstration at the United Arab Emirates embassy in Herzliya against the genocide in Sudan. The police initially approved the demonstration under certain conditions, but later reversed its decision, claiming it had received information that there was a high degree of cer

Nov 19, 20251 min read