LGBTQ Issues in Israel: Jewish & Arab Perspectives

7pm reception, followed by a 7:30pm program

A conversation with the New Israel Fund Law Fellows, Moderated by Rabbi Eleanor Steinman

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Reut Cohen is a feminist, human rights activist and lawyer from Israel. She has written extensively on legal issues related to gender, law and politics and served as the deputy editor of Law & Government, University of Haifa's Faculty of Law Review Journal. Additionally, she has published Op-Eds on Israeli online forums such as Ynet and H'aOkets. As a student at University of Haifa, she co-founded a Jewish-Arab group to challenge anti-democratic/racist student union policies and started a feminist blog Reuma to provide feminist perspectives on pop culture. She took a leadership role in the 2011 Israeli social justice protests in Haifa as well as in the local LGBTQ community's struggle for recognition and funding from the municipal government. She is excited to be a 2013 NIF Herman Schwartz Israel Human Rights Law Fellow and LL.M candidate at the American University Washington College of Law.

Muna Haddad is a Palestinian-Israeli lawyer from Nazareth. She studied law and psychology at the University of Haifa (2008). During that time she worked as a research assistant to the Dean of Research and worked at WAC-MA'AN, a workers' advice center. Muna interned at the civil department of the Northern DA's Office and then worked as an attorney at a private law office. She obtained an LL.M degree in Commercial Law from Tel Aviv University (2012) and volunteered at Aswat - Palestinian Gay Women. After realizing that human rights law is her true passion, Muna volunteered at a human rights NGO in Ghana and is now a NIF Herman Schwartz Israel Human Rights Law Fellow and LL.M candidate at the American University Washington College of Law.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR:

Rabbi Eleanor Steinman currently serves as the Director of Programs and Fund Development for A Wider Bridge, an organization that serves to inspire LGBT Jews to deepen their Jewish identity through connection to Israel. Previously, Eleanor served as the Executive Director of California Faith for Equality, and as Assistant Rabbi at Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto. Rabbi Steinman is a graduate of Brandeiss University and received both a Masters in Hebrew Letters, Masters in Jewish Education, and rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. She also is an alumna of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, an AJWS Rabbinic Student Delegation, and the Balfour Brickner Rabbinic Fellowship.

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