Daphni Leef

Daphni Leef (Hebrew: דפני ליף; born 7 January 1986) is an Israeli social activist, video artist, and editor. In July 2011 she initiated the 2011 Israeli Social Justice Protest that took place in Tel Aviv and were the largest social protests in Israel's history.Following the civil protest Leef focused on issues regarding fair housing in Israel and established various independent social projects.

In 2017 Leef debuted the first movie she directed named Before My Feet Touch the Ground, which is a documentary about the 2011 protest from her personal perceptive. The film was chosen to open the Docaviv - Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival in May 2017, and was part of the official selection of the 2017 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Daphni Naomi Leef is the daughter of the Israeli composer Inam Leef, and the great-granddaughter of the Israeli engineer Zalman Leef. Leef was born in Jerusalem and raised in the Rehavia neighborhood of the city. She attended Gymnasia Rehavia junior high. In 2002, at age 16, she moved with her family to Kfar Shmaryahu, a local council within the Tel Aviv District ranked very highly on the Israeli socio-economic scale. During her high school period Leef majored in Film Studies at a high school in Ramat Hasharon.

In September 2002 Leef signed a public letter along with dozens of other pre-army-aged youths that declared their refusal to serve in the "army of occupation". Leef did not serve in the IDF, but claimed in an August 2011 interview that she did not serve in the military due to medical reasons.In 2005, after she finished high school, Leef moved to Tel Aviv and began studying in the film department of Tel Aviv University. Leef graduated from the university in 2008. She became a professional video editor and has created many short films, music videos for Israeli singers (such as Eran Tzur, Michal Amdursky and Noam Nevo) and films for various political NGOs, including a short work for the "Free Israel" association ("ישראל חופשית"), which promotes civil marriage in Israel.