Shulamit Aloni, born Adler, was a human rights advocate, writer, and politician born on November 28, 1928 in Tel Aviv. For many years she has been an active peace and civil rights advocate in Israel. She was among the sharpest critics of human rights politics in Israel, in relation to Palestinians. In 1959 she joined the Mapai Party, and from 1965 to 1969 she was a member of the Knesset representing the Labor Party. In 1973 she founded the Civil Rights Movement (CRM). It promoted a reform of voting procedure, the separation of church and state, as well as basic laws to protect human rights. Aloni worked from 1974 until 1996 for the CRM, and as a Knesset member in various committees. She had multiple ministerial roles.
Her portfolio included Minister of Education and Culture under Yitzhak Rabin, Minister of communications and minister of Science and Art. Throughout her political career, she supported the coexistence of Jews and Arabs, despite all of the problems that it caused her personally. She was board member of Yesh Din, a human rights organization focused on the occupied Palestinian Territories. She was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize in 1984 as a mean of moral support in her struggle.
She also won in 1998 the Emil-Grünzweig Prize and subsequently the Israel-Prize in 2000 for her lifes work. Shulamit Aloni died at age 85, on 24 January 2014.