The Mossawa Center calls for action
against police violence and proposed
racist legislation in the Knesset
Haifa 17/11/14. The Mossawa Center’s staff will take part and speak in two emergency conferences in the Knesset this week. On Tuesday November 18th The Coalition Against Racism, the Knesset lobby fighting racism and Members of Knesset, Dr. Afou Agbaria and MK Shimon Solomon, are organizing a conference on police violence against the Arab community specifically focused on the recent fatal shooting of Kheir al-Din al-Hamdan.
On Wednesday November 19th president Reuven Rivlin will be the keynote speaker at another conference in the Knesset organized by MK Dr. Ahmad Tibi and Mk. Nachman Shai. This event will focus on racism, Arab and Jewish relations and possibilities for a shared future.
In addition to the most recent incident of police using deadly force against an Arab citizen a bill has been introduced to committee for voting that would solidify the Jewish nature of the state and strip any real meaning from citizenship of non-Jews in Israel. It also aims to remove Arabic as an official language in Israel. This bill is only one of a series of bills that aims to discriminate against non-Jewish citizens.
The Mossawa Center condemns the discriminatory and racist nature of this bill as well as the unchecked violence continuously perpetrated by police against Arab citizens. Mossawa calls on the Israeli citizens as well as the International community to contact Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni as well as Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and urge them to call for a full investigation in to the shooting of Kheir al-Din al-Hamdan and to put an end to racist legislation aimed at further marginalizing Arab citizens in Israel.
Mossawa Director Jafar Farah stated, "we hold state institutions responsible for the crisis that we all face. Jewish And Arab leaders and public should take responsibility to end this crisis and act to build the future of democracy, peace and social rights"
Please use the links below to send an emails to Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni and President Reuven Rivlin in English or Hebrew. You may use our prewritten text or your own message. If you receive any response please forward it to Programs.Mossawa@gmail.com
