Tell Israel's Speaker of the Knesset: Women's rights are everyone's rights!

Please ask the Speaker of Israel's Knesset, Dalia Itzik, to help protect women's rights in Israel. Add your name to the letter on the right-hand side of this page.

While only Israel's citizens get to decide how their country is run, progressive friends of Israel need to speak out when they see injustice or a danger to democracy. Because the progressive Israelis working to address these issues need to know they have our support.

In recent weeks, the ultra-orthodox brand of Jewish practice has been allowed to ride roughshod over the status of women in Israel, and over the way of life of the non-haredi majority.

We've seen the women members of the Knesset choir banned from singing in public. We've seen Israeli women forced to the back of segregated public buses. And - in a scene straight out of the movie ‘Footloose' - we've seen Jerusalem's city hall cover a secular girls' dance troupe literally from head to toe: Ultra-orthodox officials said their uncovered hair and run-of-the-mill costumes were too promiscuous for a municipal ceremony.

Religious freedom is a cherished value that should not be infringed upon lightly. But religious coercion and gender discrimination are over the line.

We urge you to write to Knesset Speaker, Dalia Itzik, to let her know that you support a democratic, not a theocratic, Israel, in which women are full and equal members of society.

And we invite you to click here to learn more about this issue.