Photo by Keren Manor, Activestills
Staff
Noa Sattath
Executive Director
Noa Sattath took the helm of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) in November 2021.
Since becoming ACRI's Executive Director, Noa has led the organization during a critical period, as it battles the government's attempts at a judicial overhaul and confronts unprecedented human rights violations in Israel and the Occupied Territories following the Gaza war that erupted after October 7th. Under her direction, ACRI has had pivotal and precedent-setting legal and public successes: petitions to the Supreme Court that curbed government overreach; protecting the rights of prisoners during the war; defending freedom of protest and expression; protecting marginalized communities; and challenging abuses of power by police, the military, and public officials. Through persistent legal action, public campaigns, and field advocacy, ACRI under Noa’s leadership has remained at the forefront of defending democracy, civil liberties, and human dignity.
Noa is an ordained Reform rabbi who previously served as Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), where she led campaigns addressing religion and state, gender equality, and anti-racism. While there, she played key roles in fighting against women's exclusion in the public sphere and the election of racist Knesset candidates.
Before her work at IRAC, Noa was Executive Director of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, where she helped lead the first Pride March in Jerusalem. She also served as Executive Director of MEET, an organization that uses technology to develop joint leadership initiatives between young Israelis and Palestinians.
Read an interview with Noa from October 2022 in the Israeli newspaper HaAretz.
Gadeer Nicola
Vice President and Director of the Legal Department
Gadeer joined ACRI in June 2020, and managed the organization’s Arab Society Department until October 2024. Since November 2024, she has served as ACRI’s Deputy CEO and Director of the Legal Department.
Before joining ACRI, Gadeer worked for almost 10 years as the director of the Nazareth branch of Kav LaOved, where she led the organization’s work on occupational safety with an emphasis on the construction industry, and managed the organization's Arab workers' rights work. From 2005 to 2009, Gadeer worked as an attorney at the Human Rights Clinic in clinical education programs at Tel Aviv University’s law school, and from 1998 to 2005 she worked at Adalah, a legal center and human rights organization advocating for the rights of Israel's Arab minority, first as an intern and then as an attorney in the field of socio-economic rights.
Oded Feller
Legal Advisor
Oded specializes in constitutional and administrative litigation as well as immigration and status laws in Israel. He joined ACRI in 2001 and focused on human rights violations by the Population and Immigration Authority of the Ministry of Interior. Among other things, he was involved in groundbreaking efforts to regulate the status of spouses and parents of citizens and residents; grant status to stateless persons; protect the rights of migrant workers; repeal infiltration laws; fight against revocation of citizenship and residency; publish Ministry of Interior procedures; remove bureaucratic barriers; and ensure social rights.
In 2015 and 2016, Oded served as ACRI’s head of the Department of Human Rights in Israel, and between 2016 and 2024, he managed the Legal Department.
Other past legal work includes supervising the Human Rights Clinic at the School of Law at the Academic Track - College of Management, and teaching immigration law at the Ruppin Academic Center. Oded also served as a board member at the Refugee and Migrants' Hotline and at the Israeli Children organization. He is the recipient of the "Distinguished Human Rights Defender" award for 2012-2013 from the Emil Zola Chair for Human Rights. Oded has a bachelor's degree in law from Tel Aviv University.
Sahar Mansour
Chief Financial Officer
Sahar has been in her role as ACRI’s Chief Financial Officer since May 2021. She is a certified public accountant and economist, with over 16 years of professional experience in accounting.
Sahar is a graduate of Israel and the world's largest accounting firm, Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar, where she worked for over 8 years as a senior manager. She managed and spearheaded various services, including accounting, consulting, external and internal auditing, and risk assessments, in a variety of public companies. As part of her role, she also led many projects in SOX compliance preparation for Israeli and multinational companies. Additionally, Sahar previously served as the Chief Financial Officer at the International YMCA Association and the Three Arches Hotel in Jerusalem. Sahar is a graduate of Tel Aviv University.
Karen Saar
Director of Resource Development and Outreach
Mesi Aychek
Co-Director of the Education Department
Mesi joined ACRI in 2012 as an education coordinator focusing on youth and young adults. In 2014, she coordinated the International Humanitarian Law program in pre-military educational institutions, and in 2015 continued to manage the program while simultaneously managing content for the ACRI's Education Department workshop website. Her role then expanded to include serving as the coordinator for anti-racism education, where she is responsible for content development, policy advancement, and consulting.
Mesi has extensive experience in the field of informal education, including therapeutic guidance for at-risk children. She worked at Yad Rachel, an organization that runs therapeutic educational centers for at-risk children, and was an education and leisure culture coordinator at the Aviv residence of Beit-Ekstein for people with special needs. She has also been involved in community guidance and mediation.
Mesi has a master's degree in public policy from Tel Aviv University and a bachelor's degree in communications, sociology, and anthropology from the University of Haifa.
Yael Edelist
Director of the Public Relations Department
Yael joined ACRI in June 2021. Previously, she began her professional career as a spokesperson for the Israel Women's Network. She then managed communications and government relations at the organization Adam Teva V'Din for 8 years, while simultaneously teaching communication courses at the Open University. Yael worked for about a year at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Nepal, and upon her return to Israel she served as the spokesperson and acting marketing director of the Israel Museum.
Yael has a master's degree in law from Bar-Ilan University and a bachelor's degree in communications from the Open University, and has completed certificate studies in journalism and communications.
Abir Joubran
Director of the Arab Society Rights Department
Abir joined ACRI in September 2018. Prior to joining ACRI, Abir worked at HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual between 2006-2009 and 2013-2018. where she initiated and was involved in designing, managing, and promoting many of the organization’s projects, including those dealing with freedom of movement for residents of the occupied territories in the West Bank, the detention of Palestinian minors in the occupied territories, the revocation of residency from East Jerusalem residents, punitive home demolitions, and the promotion of social and economic rights of East Jerusalem residents and their spouses who are in the process of family unification in Israel. Shortly after starting her work at HaMoked, she was appointed as the director of the organization's legal department.
Between 2010-2012, as part of the New Israel Fund's Legal Fellowship Program, Abir worked at Bizchut - The Israel Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities, and was involved in putting together a project to advance the rights of people with disabilities living in East Jerusalem. During law school she did her internship and pre-internship at Adalah.
Abir has a bachelor's degree in law and economics from the University of Haifa, and a master's degree in law from the American University in Washington, D.C. (2010), which she attended as a fellow in the New Israel Fund's Legal Fellowship Program. During her master's studies, Abir received four awards from the university: two for academic achievement and excellence in studies, the third for her commitment to international law and contributions to the university's program, and the fourth for social leadership.
Reut Shaer
Director of the Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Department
Avner Pinchuk
Operations Manager
Avner has been working at ACRI since 2002 and is involved in promoting a variety of civil and political rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of information, the right to privacy, and freedom of conscience. Since early 2015, he has been managing the Civil and Political Rights Department at ACRI. He is also a member of the Audit Committee at the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants and a member of the Public Council for the Protection of Privacy.
In 1987 Avner graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in social sciences and psychology, and in 1991 he completed a bachelor's degree in law at Tel Aviv University. He also received a master's degree in law from Tel Aviv University in 2002. After becoming a member of the Bar Association in 1993, Avner worked in the private sector and specialized in civil litigation.
Suhair Jarjura
Co-Director of the Education Department
Suhair is an educator who joined ACRI in 2019 as the education coordinator for Arab society. Her work includes developing educational content; building and leading professional training courses and projects; and forging partnerships with academic institutions, PISGA centers, and schools for teacher training. She also mentors the department's facilitation team. Prior to joining ACRI, Suhair worked for 16 years in various roles in formal and informal education.
Suhair has a bachelor's degree in special education and sociology and a master's degree in special education from the University of Haifa. She also earned a management certificate from the Avney Rosha Institute.