Attorney Samah Alkhatib-Ayoub joined Sikkuy in October 2012 as an Advocacy Coordinator, specializing in matters of social welfare. Subsequently, she led the department’s activity in the areas of early childhood daycare centers and fair representation in civil service employment. She currently leads the department’s activity in the area of equitable policy planning.

Holding a law degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Samah’s research there focused on “Public Law and Human Rights”, eventually leading her to practice in the legal department of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, for five years.  Currently a PhD student in Law at the Hebrew University, Samah was awarded the prestigious Robert Cripps Foundation Internship Honor in 2008 for her academic excellence and contribution to civil rights in Israel. In 2014, Samah received the Walter Libach Institute for Jewish-Arab Coexistence Award for her PhD research proposal on the subject of “the legal right of the Palestinian minority in Israel as a national indigenous minority to establish a representative body, on the basis of its quality and contribution to the advancement of equality and fairness among Jewish and Arab citizens of the country”.