In October 2023, in response to the horrific attacks by Hamas on October 7, NCJW launched its Israel Granting Program Emergency Appeal to apply a gender lens to the crisis and strengthen efforts and approaches which place women, children, and families front and center at all levels. Together, we have raised over $165,000, and grants are being allocated on a monthly basis, responding to evolving needs and priorities on the ground.

Round 1, November 2023
Focusing on supporting women most impacted, in ways that center women’s needs and women’s voices…

Bonot Alternativa: For infrastructure for emergency women’s organizing efforts which include a network of thousands of women volunteers offering direct support for evacuated and bereaved families including psychosocial support, activities for children, assistance with bureaucracy, and legal support. 

Itach Ma’aki: For their involvement in the Council for Unrecognized Bedouin Villages. Itach Ma’aki is the only women’s organization active in this group lobbying for shelters and protection for these most marginalized communities in the South and providing direct humanitarian assistance. They bring a gender lens to the work of the Council and provide direct assistance to the network of hundreds of Bedouin Women for whom they previously provided legal aid.

The National Breast Milk Bank of Magen David Adom: For breast pumps and a publicity campaign to ensure the provision of breastmilk for orphaned infants. Note, they cannot take donations of milk from abroad.

Counseling Center for Women: For trauma counseling for women most impacted and training in gender-focused therapeutic approaches for partner organizations involved in providing trauma counseling. 

Women Wage Peace: To work for a more peaceful future through their collaboration with Palestinian-based Women of the Sun. A founding member of Women Wage Peace, Canadian-Israeli activist Vivian Silver, is among those murdered in the Hamas attack.

Round 2, December 2023
Focusing on fostering women’s resilience, societal safety, and advocacy for justice… 

Eden Association: For care for at-risk girls evacuated from the Gaza Envelope (populated areas within 4.3 miles of the border). This long-standing partner of NCJW serves at-risk girls who suffered directly from the attacks of October 7 and the ensuing war. Our grant will support girls of the Eden residential care facility and their staff who were evacuated from their homes. 

El Halev: For Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) workshops for women and girls who experienced the trauma of October 7. El Halev has built concise, focused workshops rooted in the ESD methodology, thoughtfully customized to address the unique challenges of the current crisis. These programs serve as a lifeline for those contending with a loss of security, safety, trust, and overwhelming feelings of disempowerment. Our grant will fund workshops and courses for women and girls from the South residing in temporary accommodation centers since October 7. 

Gun-Free Kitchen Table (GFKT): For dealing with a new reality of mass-civilian armament. GFKT is a coalition of 19 organizations working to prevent gun violence by reducing the distribution of small arms in civilian spaces. Gun control and the small arms reality inside Israel are undergoing radical change. Handguns and rifles are proliferating throughout the country in exponentially rising numbers, and new regulations for private gun licenses reduce oversight — raising the risks across society, especially for women, who face disproportionate risks in homes housing guns. Our grant to GFKT will support accurate, timely data collection and tracking, lobbying for increased collaboration between government agencies and law enforcement, and advocacy to push back and plan for the potential reversal of mass civilian armament in Israel.  

Itach Ma’aki: For Political Negotiations from a Gender Perspective. Itach Ma’aki’s Political Negotiations from a Gender Perspective training program has produced a powerful and diverse cohort of women from all sides of the conflict who have continued to meet and seek out ways to take an active part in negotiations to end the conflict. Itach Ma’aki will work to empower their alumni community as negotiators and will utilize the project’s steering committee of Israeli and Palestinian experts to promote the application of a gender lens and assimilation of gender perspectives into track II peace and security deliberations in Israel and Palestine. The project will also include a public media campaign for advancing women in negotiations. 

The Rackman Center: For international advocacy regarding gender atrocities of Hamas. Led by Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a world-renowned expert in gender and international law, the Rackman Center has been working to exercise all possible avenues, with an emphasis on international human rights bodies (mainly the UN and academic institutions of influence), to help release the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and to raise awareness about the gender atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli women, girls, and children on October 7. This includes interviews to leading international media outlets, appearing before UN and international law bodies, personal meetings with influential decision makers, and webinars with communities around the world. Professor Halperin-Kaddari’s past experience as Vice President and member of the UN’s Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women as well as her distinguished academic career in women’s rights allows her and the Rackman Center to significantly influence this arena.

Kulna Jaffa: For Jewish-Arab Solidarity for Social Justice. Dozens of Arab-Israeli women from Jaffa have lost their jobs since October 7, many fired without warning, safety net, or indication of when or if they would be able to work again. Many are single mothers subsisting on minimum wage and living from month to month. To respond to growing needs, Kulna Yaffa, a grassroots community organization established in 2021, initiated a Jewish-Arab coalition to support these women and ensure that they and their children will continue to have food to eat and a place to live. They are currently raising urgent funds for food stamps for impacted mothers. They have also established solidarity working teams to assist families in job counseling, legal aid, and access to governmental and municipal services and food banks. The grant for this program will be channeled through Itach Ma’aki.