Arab women

Feminist activists paint hundreds of pairs of shoes red to protest gender violence, Tel Aviv, December 4, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

‘Gender violence pushed Jewish, Palestinian women into a corner — together’

Women across Israel were set to strike to protest the government’s inaction toward gender violence. Samah Salaime, a prominent feminist activist, speaks about building solidarity between Jewish and Palestinian women and why this moment feels so urgent. Tens of thousands of women in Israel were expected to participate in a general strike and demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, protesting the government’s…

By Edo Konrad December 4, 2018

An Arab woman casts her vote at a polling station in the city of Lyd on October 22, 2013. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Arab women made history in Israel’s local elections. Here’s how they did it

A record-breaking 26 Palestinian women were elected to office in Israel’s local elections. Despite the unprecedented numbers, there is still a long way to go. Arab women made history in the last round of local elections in Israel held in late October. A total of 26 Arab women were elected across the country, including the first Druze and first Bedouin woman,…

By Samah Salaime November 26, 2018

What is certain is that social norms in the Arab community are constantly changing, mainly thanks to the tens of thousands of Arab women who do not give up on themselves. (Nati Shohat / Flash90)

The quiet feminist revolution in Arab society in Israel

Despite the hardships, Arab women are making gains in the Israeli legal establishment, local politics, academia, and even in the Islamic Movement. I watched as Hollywood stars collectively came out of the feminist closet during the Academy Awards this week. They spoke with pride about the recent #MeToo campaign, and demanded more respect and more…

By Samah Salaime March 8, 2018

Latest

Local Call editor Orly Noy accepts the Dror Prize from former Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner, Tel Aviv, December 1, 2017. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

‘Local Call’ wins award for social change

Local Call wins NIS 25,000 for its persistent coverage of the joint feminist struggle between Arab and Jewish women against gender violence. By +972 Magazine Hebrew-language site Local Call won the Dror Prize for social change, along with a NIS 25,000 cash prize, on Friday, for spotlighting the joint struggle between Jewish and Arab women…

By +972 Magazine December 1, 2017

What is certain is that social norms in the Arab community are constantly changing, mainly thanks to the tens of thousands of Arab women who do not give up on themselves. (Nati Shohat / Flash90)

Wonder Women: The Arab feminist revolution on Facebook

Thousands of Arab women on Facebook are sharing, with heart-wrenching honesty, stories of female heroism that don’t always make headlines. Is a new Arab feminism emerging? And what about the new Arab man? A week ago one of my Facebook friends added me to a group for Arab women. Oh no, I thought. Not another…

By Samah Salaime October 25, 2017

Palestinian women sit and study together at Hebrew University. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Israeli society isn’t yet ready for a woman in a hijab

I am a strong, independent and successful woman. Yet Israeli society is unwilling to understand that wearing a hijab is my choice. By Seren Khateb Shahbari Two years ago I decided to start wearing a hijab. I had a feeling that this is what I wanted at this stage of life. The spiritual need pushed me…

By +972 Magazine August 27, 2017

Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi hugs a family member of 19-year-old Lian Zaher Nasser during her funeral in her hometown of Tira, central Israel. Nasser was one of 39 people killed in a terror attack at an Istanbul nightclub shooting on New Years Eve, January 3, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Dear Arab men, it’s time to build a new kind of masculinity

We must challenge masculinity that derives its power from the backs of the weakest segments in our society, while at the same time proposing an alternative masculinity that fights back against our humiliation. By Abed Abu Shehadeh After every catastrophe that befalls Arab society in Israel, I find myself typing away. I write to try and describe…

By Haokets June 24, 2017

Arab women protest gender violence outside the Ramle police station. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

What are Israelis willing to do to end violence against Arab women?

Another Arab woman was gunned down by a masked assailant. What are you, Arabs and Jews who respect the police and just want peace, planning to do about it? Another woman joins the list. This time it was Siham Azbarqa from Lod who was shot in her home on Monday and died from her wounds the following…

By Samah Salaime March 30, 2017

Arab women protest the murder of two women in the city in the span of one week, October 28, 2016. (Haim Schwarczenberg)

No one is lifting a finger to protect Arab women

Before she was murdered by her ex-husband, Huda Abu Sarir was betrayed by the rest us. She was murdered because we raise men unstable men alongside strong, steadfast women. I drove into the tiny, empty Jaffa alleyway on my way to the home of Huda Abu Sarari, an Arab woman who was murdered by her ex-husband…

By Samah Salaime October 30, 2016

Israeli Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked (R) seen with Supreme Court President Miriam Naor at the first meeting of the Israeli Judicial Selection Committee at the Ministry of Justice, Jerusalem on August 9, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash 90)

Israel’s ’50 most influential women’ — not a single Arab

Israel’s leading economic paper couldn’t find a single Arab to put on their list of Israel’s most influential women. Last week the Israeli magazine Lady Globes (put out by business daily Globes) published its list of Israel’s 50 most influential women for 2016. Although it remains unclear what it takes for a woman to make the list…

By Samah Salaime September 18, 2016

Palestinian women march during a daycare workers strike in East Jerusalem, July 21, 2010. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

WATCH: Arab women speak out over labor exploitation

Four years ago, the State of Israel introduced a plan to increase the percentage of working Arab women in order to lift them out of poverty. But did that plan actually work?

By Social TV April 11, 2016

Women from the West Bank city of Bethlehem march to protest honor killings and other forms of violence against women, Bethlehem, November 16, 2013. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Dear Arab men, leave us women out of your holy wars

An Arab teacher was recently attacked and fired for screening an ‘immodest’ film for his students, all in the name of protecting women’s ‘honor.’ This is the kind of article I am hesitant to publish in Hebrew or English. But out of my wholehearted belief that there are Jews in this world who can be…

By Samah Salaime March 1, 2016

Arab women demonstrate outside Al-Aqsa compound. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Meet the outlawed women of Israel’s Islamic Movement

They are journalists, educators, and physicians, who until very recently were dependent on the recently-outlawed Islamic Movement for their living. Now they leave behind a void that cannot be filled. An inside look at the women who play a critical role in Israel’s Palestinian society. By Samah Salaime (translated from Hebrew by Tal Haran) The…

By Samah Salaime January 16, 2016