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 Itach - Women Lawyers for Social Justice is a non-profit organization that aims to create social change by using the law to address the needs and rights of women from the social, economic and geographic periphery of Israel. Founded in the summer of 2001 by a group of leading feminist legal professionals in Israel, Itach aspires to increase access to the law, legal knowledge and tools among the population of disenfranchised women, specifically in the fields of employment rights, welfare benefits, public housing and violence against women. We believe that as lawyers, we have taken on the professional responsibility to create access to justice for every citizen. Itach's three branches are located in Tel Aviv, Beersheva and Haifa, and each branch focuses on different needs in its region.
Goals
Itach's mission is to create social change among the population of poor and low-income women by creatively addressing the issues of legal rights, empowerment and social justice. We aim to protect the most basic rights of women from the lowest socio-economic levels in Israeli society and to influence the legal and social discourse to take into account their unique experiences and needs. We strive to increase access to legal information, to empower women to understand and realize their rights and to use their strength to become change agents for issues that concern them. We aspire to raise awareness in the legal profession and among the general public about the real-life struggles of poor and low-income women and to influence decision and policy-making to take into account this population's unique needs and situation.
Activities
Legal hotline
Itach's legal aid hotline, active in Tel Aviv and Beersheva, receives calls from women who are in need of legal aid and provides them free-of-charge access to legal information, consultation and assistance, services they would not otherwise be able to obtain. The volunteers who staff the hotline approach each call sensitively, listening and supporting the woman who calls, helping her to define her legal problem, explaining her rights and privileges and referring appropriate cases to a staff attorney. Our focus and experience working with the population of poor and low-income women insures that the women who call are treated with respect and understanding and that solutions to their specific needs are found. In Tel Aviv and in Beersheva, assistance is provided in the following fields: Income support (Bituach Leumi), public housing and employment. We are currently establishing a service in our Haifa branch that will deal with issues regarding violence against women.
Advocacy
Itach learns about broad issues affecting disenfranchised women from the women themselves, and intervenes on a policy level to make changes that protect the rights of this population. We affect change through petitions to the Supreme Court, involvement in Knesset committees and continuous dialogue with government institutions. Daily, we aspire to influence the legal and public discourse, infusing our arguments in court and discussions with decision-makers with the real-life experiences of impoverished women.
Paralegal Projects
Even though laws exist to protect basic rights of all citizens, women from the economic and social periphery often lack the knowledge and/or confidence to use these laws to protect themselves. Itach aims to democratize marginalized women's access to justice, opening up the doors to the often intimidating world of the law. Through courses on law, feminism and social change, we expose women to information about the law, their rights under the current policies and legal tools that they can use; and we empower women to become change agents in their lives and the lives of their families, friends and communities.
Itach Community
Itach's efforts are supported by a growing community of women lawyers in the Beersheva, Haifa and Tel Aviv regions. Itach Community is comprised of women lawyers in private practice, those working in human rights and social change organizations and those in the academic field, who bring to Itach a broad range of professional expertise. The Community contributes its knowledge and creativity by participating in discussions about legal arguments and through involvement in Itach's empowerment projects. Members of Itach Community provide legal consultation and representation on a pro-bono basis to women turning to Itach for assistance in specific fields.
Board of Directors
All Itach board members are women and legal professionals:
Adv. Nasreen Alimi- Kabaha - Coordinator of The Working Group for Equality in Personal Status Issues, which aims to promote the rights of Arab women regarding personal status issues.
Adv. Rachel Benziman - Executive Director of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
Dr. Daphna Hacker - Lecturer at the Tel Aviv Unversity's Law Faculty and the Women and Gender Studies Program, specializing in the fields of gender and the law, family and qualitative research methods.
Adv. Anat Saragusti - Senior Editor at Israel's "Channel 2" television news programs, and a masters student at the Tel Aviv University Law Faculty.
Adv. Miriam Schler - Director of the Tel Aviv Sexual Assault Crisis Center.
Dr. Neta Ziv - Director of the Clinical Legal Education Program at Tel Aviv University's Law Faculty and lecturer in the law school.
Adv. Gila Barzilai – Nudelman – Legal intern at Adalah, The
Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Adv. Saida Machsan – Biadi – Director of Women and Horizons, a
non-profit organization that represents women and works for change
in the Sharia Courts. Masters student in gender studies at Bar Ilan
University.
Adv. Noor Alatawna – Staff attorney at Adallah, The Legal Center
for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and one of the few Bedouin women
lawyers in Israel.
Lydia Rabinovitch - Legal Counsel at the Ministry of Welfare
and Social Services and Masters' student at Tel Aviv University
Inbal Maimon - Attorney dealing with civil law and Masters'
student at Tel Aviv University focusing her research on Mizrachi
perspectives on Israeli law
Staff
Keren Shemesh-Perlmuter, Adv - Director
Lesley Benedikt - Resource Development Coordinator
Becky Cohen-Keshet , Adv.- Staff Attorney, Beersheva Branch
Anat Thon Ashkenazy, Adv.- Staff
Attorney, Tel Aviv Branch
Enas younis, Adv. - Staff
Attorney, Tel Aviv Branch
Dana Myrtenbaum , Adv.- Staff Attorney, Haifa Branch
Irit Porat - Community Worker, Beersheva Branch
Zahava Zuckerman-Agmon - Coordinator, Tel Aviv Branch
Freida Degani – Coordinator, Beersheva Branch
Ansaf Sharab, Adv. – Staff Attorney, Beersheva Branch
Odet Falah - psychologist, group
facilitator, Haifa Branch
Our supporters include the following:
If you are interested in becoming Itach’s
partner in creating social change for poor and low-income women in
Israel, increasing their access to justice and improving their lives
and the lives of their families, you may send your support in one of
the following ways:
·
From the
U.S., tax-exempt donations may
be made through The New Israel Fund, as a donor-advised donation to
Itach – Women Lawyers for Social Justice
·
In
Israel, tax-exempt donations may be
made in the form of a check made out to Itach – Women Lawyers for
Social Justice.
New Israel
Fund Itach – Women
Lawyers for Social Justice
1101 14th Street
NW Ahuzat Bayit 3
Sixth
Floor Beit Yahalom
Washington DC 20005-5639 Tel Aviv
65143
USA Israel
Tel: 202-842-0900/ 1-888-988-3863 Tel: 03-5160103
Fax: 202-842-0991 Fax: 03-5163940
info@nif.org mail@itach.org.il
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