The Whole Story Project - Short Films from the Jerusalem Institute of Justice

Calev Myers - Founder, Jerusalem Institute of Justice

Published on Oct 1, 2013

Get involved in the project at:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the...

The Jerusalem Institute of Justice (jij.org.il) is partnering with 

Epipheo (epipheo.com) for The Whole Story Project, a series of

short films addressing Key Issues in the Middle East.

Keep up to date on the progress at our facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/calevma
https://www.facebook.com/calevma/app_...

• Category

  Film & Animation
  
  
  
  
  
  Editor's Note: Love For His People, Inc. 
  contributed $25 for this project to advance. 
  Hope you give to it also, as you can.
  
  Shalom.
  
  Steve Martin
  Founder, Love For His People, Inc.
  
  
  
  More on Calev Myers:
  
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  

  Calev Myers
  
  
  Calev Myers, Israeli human rights lawyer and activist
  Born United States
  Nationality Israel
  Alma mater Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Occupation Lawyer
  Years active 2004-present
  Organization Jerusalem Institute of Justice
  
  
  Calev Myers is the founder of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ), a human rights group in Israel. He finished a degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and joined the Israel Bar Association as a licensed lawyer after having immigrated to Israel from the United States in 1992. He founded JIJ in 2004 as non-profit organization that takes on cases of religious persecution, and advances freedom of conscience and civil justice in Israel.
  
  Myers also owns and manages the Jerusalem City Center branch as a partner at Yehuda Raveh & Co. law offices. The law firm was established in 1940 by Gideon Hausner who served as Attorney-General of Israel and member of Knesset in 1965, 1969, 1974 and 1977. Myers has been published in the International Law Review and currently works in the fields of corporate and intellectual property law, charity law, and civil rights law.
  
  When Christian humanitarian aid organizations were charged a 15.5% value added tax (VAT) on relief shipments for Israeli victims of the 2006 Lebanon War, Myers negotiated a one-time $3,090,000 VAT discount, from the Ministry of Finance, on a $20,000,000 shipment. In 2008, Myers was asked to act as spokesperson for the family of Ami Ortiz, a 15-year-old who was critically wounded by a bomb that had been planted by Yaakov Teitel in hopes of killing Ami's father, David Ortiz. After hundreds of New Testaments were publicly burned by Orthodox Jews in Israel in 2010,Army Radio interviewed Myers, who called for all involved parties to be prosecuted.
  
  In 2011, Myers founded a caucus with Likud Member of Knesset Danny Danon to combat anti-Semitism internationally. Myers described the caucus's goals as being "to empower Israel's friends around the world to fight anti-Semitism everywhere it exists".
  
  Myers addressed the European Parliament in 2012 challenging Europe's funding the Palestinian Authority while overlooking human rights violations and was the key-note speaker at the opening event of Palestinian Human Rights Week in Toronto, Canada in April 2013. At the event, Myers stated, "We try to look at the issues from a human rights perspective. When you put on your human rights lenses you see what’s really happening and who the true abusers of human rights of the Palestinians are. It’s not primarily soldiers at checkpoints, the Israeli government [or Jewish] settlers in the disputed territories: it’s the Palestinian Authority itself and the nations surrounding Israel.”
  
  Myers has been published in the Justice Magazine of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, and serves as one of their Representatives before the UN in Geneva and New York.

  From their website: 

  THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. – Israel's Declaration of Independence

  In order to ensure the fulfillment of the vision of our nation's forefathers, our small team of advocates from the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) has tirelessly challenged discriminatory governmental practices within Israel's democratic system. We have handled over 500 cases, during the first eight years of our existence, including twenty victorious petitions before the Supreme Court.

  Within Israel, we pursue freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and advocate for members of minority religions, as well as citizens lacking any religious affiliation. We have also done extensive work on behalf of victims of human trafficking, advanced affirmative action for Ethiopian new immigrants, and provided representation to Lone Soldiers who have been abandoned by their ultra-Orthodox families for choosing to serve in the IDF.

  Our passion for freedom, truth and moral clarity has driven us to pursue justice, not only within Israel, but also on behalf of Israel. While most human rights organizations superficially point to Israel's occupation of the disputed territories as the foremost abuse of human rights in our region, we espouse a more thorough and unbiased view on the matter. We have drafted and disseminated extensive reports on the human rights abuses of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and the Hamas government in Gaza.

  Our work in this regard has taken us before the UN and the European Parliament, as well as esteemed academic venues on several continents. We continue to call upon the international community to monitor and require accountability for the billions of dollars of aid donated to the PA per annum; aid which rather than building the infrastructure for an independent, democratic Palestinian administration, has thus far been deposited into the bank accounts of corrupt leaders, financed militant terrorist activities, and funded education of the next generation in values of hatred, violence, racism and anti-Semitism.

  We believe that the only legitimate solution for the Arab-Israeli dispute is one that will enhance freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law for all peoples on each side of the controversy. A resolution based on any other grounds simply cannot provide lasting peace.

  This has not been an easy battle, or one that has been met with much applause. At times, we have found courage in the words of Mother Teresa, "we, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing".

  Thank you for taking the time to visit our website and review our activities. We ask you to partner with us, and by so doing, to strengthen our efforts to advance justice both in Israel and for Israel.

  
  

  Justice, justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you. – Deuteronomy 16:20