Protest against hiring teachers by contract

The Lobby for Direct Employment held on Wednesday an emergency session in Knesset against the privatization of the school system. The lobby is concerned over plans to hire teachers on contract – as opposed to state employees – to extend the school day by teaching extra hours. “The time has come for all workers in…

Knesset passes controversial occupation bill

The Knesset on Monday evening approved a law that offers a 35-percent tax break on donations to NGOs that encourage settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories. The legislation passed a final reading in the plenum by 33 to 13, after a brief debate. The amendment to an existing law offers an income tax exemption worth…

Hadash: Occupy Histadrut

Voting opened at 8:00, Tuesday morning, in elections for the chairmanship of the Histadrut Labor Federation, its central committee and leadership of the Na’amat women’s labor organization. The union’s 2,066 polling places, most of them in work places, are scheduled to be open until 10:00 p.m. The official results are expected Wednesday. Neo-liberal Histadrut Chairman…

MK Khenin demands Sa’ar to get involved in HILA strike

  Chairman MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) of the Knesset’s Direct-Employment lobby called on Education Minister Gid’on Sa’ar, Monday, to get involved and prevent the firing of teachers in the HILA program for at-risk youth. HILA teachers staged a strike over notice from their employers – the Association of Community Centers – that they faced pre-dismissal…

CPI: The South African decision delivers a clear message

The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) welcomes the decision of the South African ministry of Trade and Industry, headed by Comrade Rob Davies (Member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party), to ban labeling of West Bank settlement products as “Made in Israel”. The policies pursued by the Israeli government, of expanding…

An activist being arrested by Israeli police during the demonstration in support of Palestinian hunger-striking prisoners in front of Ramle Prison, Israel, on May 3, 2012

Police Beat Handcuffed Detainees in Palestinian Solidarity Protest

The Justice Ministry has received complaints of severe police violence against demonstrators, including the use of Taser electroshock weapons, beating and kicking bound detainees, racist verbal abuse and sexual harassment of female detainees. The complaints were filed to the ministry’s department for investigation of police officers by the Adalah advocacy group two weeks ago, after…

Haifa University bans Nakba Day event

200 Haifa University students and lecturers, among them Hadash chairman MK Muhammad Barakeh, protested on Wednesday against the institution’s decision to ban a Nakba Day event scheduled by Hadash to take place on campus. The decision came two days after a “Nakba Day” memorial ceremony take place at Tel-Aviv University. Haifa University officials said that…

Hadash against Interior Minister’s racist statement

The African refugees in Israel should be rounded up in prisons or holding facilities and then deported from the country, Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) said in a radio interview on Wednesday morning. “They should be put into holding cells or jails,” he said, “and then given a grant and sent back” to their countries of…