Batya Oved of Kfar Sava, an Israel Defense Forces widow since 1978 and currently unemployed, was considered a known critic of Pnina Cohen, former chairwoman of the IDF Widows and Orphans organization.

After not receiving a voting slip for the internal elections for the organization's chair, she found out several of her friends had not received it either. Haaretz has learned they had been blacklisted along with some other 600 widows, most of whom hail from the Bedouin and Druze minorities. The blacklisted widows were not invited to events held by the organization, and excluded from receiving some benefits, according to a document obtained by Haaretz.

The document, in which the names of blacklisted widows are distinctly marked, was exposed by Nava Shoham, an activist for the right of IDF widows. It was prepared by former Chairwoman Pnina Cohen, who had recently been replaced. Cohen denies that such a document exists.