The Mossawa Center employs political advocacy and litigation to fight discriminatory legislation and government policies in Israel.
The Mossawa Center is committed to ensuring governmental transparency and accountability, particularly regarding resource allocation and public policy that impacts the Palestinian Arab community in Israel. Discriminatory practices in budget allocation, lack of oversight, and systemic neglect have long undermined the community’s rights and development. The Mossawa Center addresses these challenges through strategic legal action, public advocacy, and community empowerment.
Advocacy for Budgetary Equality
The Mossawa Center has exposed and challenged discriminatory budget cuts that disproportionately target Palestinian Arab communities. Between 2024 and 2026, these cuts total billions of shekels and affect critical sectors, including education, healthcare, and housing. By filing freedom of information petitions and demanding transparency, the Mossawa Center has held government ministries accountable for failing to allocate legally mandated resources to the Palestinian Arab community.
Legal Interventions for Justice
Through its legal advocacy, the Mossawa Center has addressed cases of unfair dismissals and workplace discrimination, often rooted in ethnic or religious bias. For example, Mossawa Center successfully overturned the dismissal of an employee terminated for sharing Quranic verses on social media, reinforcing the rights to freedom of expression and religious practice.
Strengthening Community Representation
The Mossawa Center works to amplify the voices of Palestinian Arab citizens in governmental decision-making processes. By fostering dialogue between community leaders, policymakers, and international stakeholders, the Mossawa Center advocates for equitable policies that promote inclusion and fair representation.
Tackling Environmental Injustice
Recognizing the intersection of social and environmental rights, the Mossawa Center has demanded transparency in environmental policies that disproportionately harm Palestinian Arab communities. This includes filing legal petitions under the Freedom of Information Law to address inequities in areas such as waste management, air quality, and resource allocation.
Collaborative Emergency Networks
During crises, such as the 2023 war on Gaza, the Mossawa Center has led the creation of emergency response networks. These coalitions, comprising civil society organizations and local leaders, provide critical services, including medical aid, psychological support, and advocacy for displaced and vulnerable populations.
By combining legal expertise, grassroots mobilization, and international advocacy, the Mossawa Center continues to confront systemic discrimination and build a more equitable future for Palestinian Arab citizens in Israel.
The Mossawa Center is actively engaged in parliamentary and legal advocacy, employing tools such as political and social advocacy and litigation to fight discriminatory legislation and government policies in Israel. Recently, three laws which have had a detrimental impact on the Palestinian population have been the focal point of the Mossawa Center's work.
The Citizenship Law (Nationality and Entry into Israel Law) prevents Palestinians and residents of “enemy states” from gaining citizenship, or permanent residency, through marriage to an Israeli citizen; with the purported justification for the law being that of national security. Decades of conflict in the Middle East have divided many families, and it is common for marriages to occur between Palestinians from the other side of the Green Line (the 1949 Armistice Demarcation Line). The Citizenship Law therefore constitutes an undue restriction on family life for the affected Palestinian Arab population and has drawn considerable opposition from the Palestinian Arab community and human rights groups. Current Israeli immigration policy allows any Jew in the world to obtain permanent citizenship and a grant simply upon their arrival at the airport. Conversely, the same policy prevents the unification of Palestinian families torn apart by racist and baseless accusations. Since 2003, the Mossawa Center has been working to repeal the Citizenship Law and led the struggle of families that have fallen victims to it. Finally, in 2021, after dozens of meetings and demonstrations, we managed to prevent the Knesset from extending the law. However, the Israeli Interior Minister quickly and successfully pushed for the renewal of the law shortly after. The Mossawa Center continues to advocate for the repeal of the law today.
The Kaminitz Law (the April 2017 Amendment to the Planning and Building Law – 1965) criminalizes building violations and intensifies enforcement of the law through increased home demolitions, larger fines, and heavier sentences for offenders. The Israeli government’s deliberate unwillingness to approve master plans for Palestinian Arab localities and distribute building permits has left many Palestinian Arab citizens with no option other than to build and inhabit structures that are not officially recognized (i.e. without a permit). Hence, the law disproportionately affects Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and severely stifles development in Palestinian Arab localities. The Kaminitz Law is one of the major driving forces behind the demolitions threatening the residents of Jisr AzZarqa and the Bedouin community in the Negev.
The Jewish Nation-State Law is the most recent and dangerous law of the three. Israel does not have a constitution, which would grant inalienable rights and protections to all its citizens. Instead, it has Basic Laws which are passed individually and, in certain cases, can be amended. When the Nation-State Law was passed, it was passed as a Basic Law, essentially engraving it into the Israeli legal and governmental system forever. Moreover, an article in the Nation-State Law states that this Basic Law “shall not be amended, unless by another Basic Law passed by a majority of Knesset members.” This makes it extraordinarily difficult to amend, let alone repeal. Among the most troubling aspects of the Nation-State Law is the fact that it effectively defines Israel as a state solely for the Jewish people, practically declaring all other minorities within the state - particularly its Palestinian Arab citizens - to be second class citizens. The Nation-State Law states that the “right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.” Moreover, it states that Israel’s official language is only Hebrew, demoting the status of the Arabic language as an official language in the country. These two parts of the law are clearly intended to reduce the standing of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and are an attempt to officially designate them as second class citizens who are ineligible for the same rights as their fellow Jewish citizens.
In addition to combating discriminatory legislation, the Mossawa Center also acts against unjust or illegal acts by government bodies. Some of the Mossawa Center's biggest successes in this field of advocacy include the appointment of a Palestinian Arab as Director of Economic Development Authority for the Arab Society after Mossawa's successful petition to the Ministry opposing the appointment of a Jewish employee to this significant position for the Palestinian Arab community; advocating for a government order that connected 11,000 Palestinian Arab homes built without a license to the power grid; advocating for the renewal of the VATMAL law which allowed for expedited development of neighborhoods in 31 Palestinian Arab localities.
The Mossawa Center also places particular emphasis on challenging police violence. It provides detained Palestinian Arab citizens with support - legal, procedural, and otherwise - to ensure their rights to freedom of assembly and expression are not infringed upon nor suppressed. It accompanies the families of victims killed, injured, or unjustly detained by the Israeli police through legal proceedings to bring them justice. Even Mossawa Center staff are not safe from police brutality and violence. In 2018, while in custody after being unjustly detained for peacefully protesting in Haifa, an Israeli police officer brutally beat and broke the knee of Jafar Farah, the Mossawa Center's founder and General Director.
In 2021, massive peaceful demonstrations by Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel swept through Israel, condemning the war on Gaza and evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. In response, the Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu at the time and with significant support from the Jewish supremacist Knesset Member Itamar Ben Gvir, the Israeli police brutally cracked down on the demonstrators using stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas, and arresting over to 3,600 citizens, including over 300 minors.
The Mossawa Center was one of the leading organizations that dealt with the wave of violence and discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel. It provided a database of contacts for pro bono legal support to detainees, those illegally terminated from their workplaces, and those injured by police during demonstrations, as well as held an emergency briefing with representatives of the international community. On the legal front, the Mossawa Center successfully sued Israeli supermarket chain Victory for illegally firing multiple Palestinian students for allegedly supporting the demonstrations. The Mossawa Center followed up on 15 cases of police violence and illegal arrests. The Mossawa Center also represented the families of three Palestinian Arab citizens killed as a result of police violence:
The late Munir Anabtawi - after the Department of Police Investigations announced the closure of the case, Adv. Albir Nahas, a Mossawa Center Board Member, appealed the decision to the State Attorney's Office.
The late Mohammed Kiwan Mahamid - shot in the back while sitting in the back of a car with his friends at the entrance to the city of Umm al-Fahm. Adv. Nahas represented the family in front of the Department of Police Investigations.
The late Iyad Abdullah - after the criminal investigation was closed by the Department of Police Investigations, Adv. Ami Hollander filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of Abdullah’s family.
Despite their status as citizens of the State of Israel, the Israeli legal system has institutionalized discrimination against Palestinian Arab citizens for decades. The Mossawa Center seeks to transform this reality, advocating for equal rights through legislation and challenging discriminatory laws through litigation.