Arab Minority Rights | Association for Civil Rights in Israel

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

14 hours ago4 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

2 days ago2 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

Disqualifying Teachers with Degrees from the Palestinian Authority

Illustrative. East Jerusalem school. Photo: Ronit Sela, ACRI On January 21, 2026, the Knesset passed the Law for the Prevention of Employment of Education Workers Who Hold an Academic Degree from an Institution in the Palestinian Authority (Legislative Amendments), 5785-2025. The law prohibits employing educators (teachers, principals, supervisors) in Israel's education system if they have an academic degree from an institution of higher education in the Palestinian Authority

Jan 223 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

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

Diverting Budgets from Arab Society: A Cynical Move that Perpetuates Inequality

Photo: Danny Shem-Tov, Knesset Communications (CC BY-SA 4 via Wikimedia) On November 11, 2025, ACRI appealed to the Attorney General with a request not to advance a government resolution proposal being promoted by Minister for Social Equality May Golan that seeks to divert close to 3 billion shekels that were allocated for the welfare of Arab society to the Ministry of National Security for the purpose of addressing crime in Arab society. The budgets that are being proposed

Nov 11, 20252 min read

Illegal Blockage of the Entrance to the Village of Fureidis

Fureidis. © Yoav Sinai | Dreamstime.com On the afternoon of October 24, 2025, the police placed a concrete barrier at the entrance to the village of Fureidis, home to approximately 15,000 people, completely blocking the eastern entrance to the village. According to a news report, the barrier was installed following complaints by the residents of nearby Zikhron Ya’akov to the Minister of National Security regarding gunfire, to which the Minister responded by instructing the P

Oct 27, 20252 min read