“We live in a terrifying time, facing realities that we couldn’t have dreamt about in our worst nightmares,” says the executive director of Israel’s largest human rights organization, Noa Sattath, speaking with host Allison Kaplan Sommer on Haaretz Weekly. 

The incoming government is threatening human and civil rights on so many different fronts, the head of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel says. She warns of assaults on the rights of Palestinians, refugees and asylum seekers, the LGBT community, and a general crackdown on freedom of speech and protest. 

Yet despite the daunting situation, Sattath is confident in the ability of civil society to rally and blunt the worst of what she sees as the potential harm to Israeli democracy on the horizon. “On the one hand, I am overwhelmed by the damage that I worry this government will cause for generations. But on the other, I know we have a lot of power and the ability to block and mitigate everything that we can – and that will also have an impact over generations.”

Listen to the full conversation, and read more about Israel's far-right government on Haaretz.com. 

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