Born in Jerusalem in 1952, Professor Anat Biletzki spent much of her childhood and schooling in the United States and Canada. She has been teaching in the Philosophy Department, Tel Aviv University since 1979. Now she serves as Head of the Department. She has also traveled widely: as a visiting professor in the department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University, the Philosophy Department at Harvard University, and the School of Social Science in the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.

Anat Biletzki has been active in the peace movement and in several human rights projects in Israel for over 25 years. She views her life as a synthesis between philosophy – in a wide sense – and politics – in a wider sense. During the first Intifada she was one of the founders of the peace movement “The Twenty-First Year” – a group devoted to promoting civil insurgence against the Israeli occupation. In those same years she also worked with the Beta Committee that aimed to coordinate rehabilitation efforts for the West Bank village, Beta.
In 1997-1998 Anat helped to establish the human rights movement “Open Doors” which worked for the liberation of Palestinian administrative detainees in Israel – especially 11 detainees who had been incarcerated, without trial or due process, for over five years. (Normally within a year almost all the administrative detainees were released.)
Since 1996 she has been active as one of the leaders of Hacampus Lo Shotek – The Campus Speaks Out: a campus group, made up of faculty staff and students at Tel Aviv University (recently branching out to other Israeli universities), which runs campus events dedicated to ending the occupation and ensuring justice for the Palestinians.
In 2003 she was one of the initiators of the Israeli-Palestinian Action Group for Peace that worked on unifying the several movements and organizations dedicated to a just and lasting peace.

Through many peace movements and organizations, Anat has been working hard for the past 37 years to put an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands. One such organization is B’Tselem - the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories – a unique human rights organization, which is the only Israeli NGO whose mandate is explicitly to monitor, protect and advocate for the human rights of people in the Occupied Territories. Anat Biletzki has been on the board of B’Tselem since 1995, and since 2001 has served as chairperson of the board, involved in casting the organization’s policies during these turbulent times.
From the 1990s onward, B’Tselem, as a human rights organization, has faced several complex issues, such as the role of human rights in a peace process (following the Oslo Accords) and then in an armed conflict (this current Intifada). Despite heated debate and a very hostile environment, the organization has remained steadfast and outspoken in its unequivocal dedication to the universality of human rights. Keeping B’Tselem on its path of always trustworthy research based on independent fieldwork and legal analysis, the board has also been called upon to support innovative projects such as novel public education and advocacy strategies, a checkpoint-monitoring program and tours of Israel’s separation barrier. B'Tselem has been devoted to raising awareness of human rights violations in the Occupied Territories and bringing about changes in Israeli policy.

Both internationally and within Israel, B’Tselem has attained a reputation for accuracy and reliability, even among those who disagree with the organization’s positions. B’Tselem’s research, education and advocacy work have drawn attention to issues around which there was for many years a “conspiracy of silence” in Israeli society, and generated media and public debate on these topics. During the present Intifada, when all human rights organizations in Israel are suspected as “collaborators” with the “enemy”, it has become even more mandatory to explain and integrate the universality of human rights into public discourse.
B’Tselem is on a constant treadmill, attempting to balance the horrors of the current situation with a commitment, on the part of the authorities, the media, the armed forces, and the public, to human rights. This Sisyphean task is rarely rewarded with easily recognizable achievements. Some local successes, in reporting and exposing human rights violations, are routine; more long-term effects are to be hoped for with the end of occupation and a sustainable peace. Anat Biletzki represents Israel’s leading human rights organization in its uncompromising defense of Palestinian human rights and its efforts to educate the Israeli public to respect human rights. The organization serves as a model to human rights organizations around the world in its high professional standards, creative methods and untiring resolve to make human rights truly universal. Her academic and public work – in the university, in international contexts, and in political activism – is mobilized to accompany the constant commitment to these pursuits.

Professor Biletzki was voted chairperson of the board of B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, a few months after the start of the current Intifada (Palestinian Uprising). A steep deterioration in human rights was accompanied by a polarization of Israeli and Palestinian societies, increasing support among Israelis for harsh measures against the Palestinians and increasing hostility towards anything relating to human rights. This reality posed - and still poses - a great challenge to B’Tselem and its goal of protecting human rights and generating any sort of commitment to human rights in Israeli societies. The board of B’Tselem views these agendas as crucial for progress in developing a climate conducive to peace.
In this context of furthering any activity that will promote peace, not only via human rights, Biletzki has also been vocal in the academic arena, working with faculties at Tel Aviv University to raise anti-occupation voices on campus. Several years of such work have now brought about a change in students’ attitudes, with a new Coalition of Anti-Occupation Student Movements becoming active in these very issues. Since B’Tselem serves as a model for professional human rights research and documentation, other organizations look to it for trustworthy and reliable information. In her educational endeavors the B’Tselem mouthpiece has assisted in furthering human rights awareness in universities in Israel. Several symposia, conferences and workshops have taken place during the past few years, all dealing with human rights and the consequences of the occupation. As chairperson of B’Tselem, Biletzki views herself as representing the organization in all contexts and all circumstances.

Professor Biletzki became chairperson of the board of B’Tselem in 2001, a few months after the start of the Intifada. A steep deterioration in human rights accompanied a polarization of Israeli and Palestinian societies, resulting in harsh measures against the Palestinians.

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B'Tselem)