Shula Keshet

Shula Kehset (Hebrew: שולה קשת; born on August 2, 1959) is an Israeli social and political activist and entrepreneur, Mizrahi feminist, artist, curator, writer, educator, and publisher; one of the founders and the executive director of the Mizrahi feminism movement, "Ahoti – for Women in Israel". Keshet is the leading figure in the struggle of the residents of South Tel Aviv against deportation of the African asylum seekers, and since the 1980s has been leading the protest movement against the Tel Aviv central bus station, which is located in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood, contributing to crime, pollution, noise, overcrowding and drugs. She established Ahoti House, the headquarters of the Ahoti movement, which also serves as a community and culture center, information and educational center, art gallery, and more. She led the establishment of the Ahoti Fair trade store, which works to afford employment and income to women from marginalized communities. She founded the Libi BaMizrach (My Heart is in the East) festival of Mizrahi culture, and runs various other initiatives aimed at connecting between women from different oppressed communities, and providing them with the means for empowerment and relief – social, political, and legal. Keshet's artwork centers upon her identity as a Mizrahi-feminist, and in her work as a curator and producer she brings together women of Arab ethnicity (whether Jewish, Muslim or Christian) and helps them tell their stories. In May 2018, Keshet was elected the chair of the neighborhood committee of Neve Sha'anan, and in November 2018 she was elected to the Tel Aviv city council.