Defend Israeli Democracy protest movement aims to bolster UK support with engagement week
Defend Israeli Democracy UK stage online and in-person events in the week beginning Sept 4th, aiming to build on growing support here for protests against PM Netanyahu's judicial overhaul
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
The UK wing of the Defend Israeli Democracy movement is staging a Community Engagement Week aimed at bolstering understanding and support in this country for those protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government’s controversial judicial overhaul.
Kicking-off on September 4th, Defend Israeli Democracy UK’s leadership have organised a series of online and in-person events featuring an impressive line-up of speakers, including the renowned historian Yuval Noah Harari, distinguished author Daniel Gordis, and the respected journalist Matti Friedman.
Organisers hope the events will help those in the UK community hesitant to join a protest movement against the increasingly far-right Israeli government understand their aims, while also encouraging further commitment from the sizeable number of Jews in the UK who now feel compelled to speak out against Netanyahu’s reforms.
The week long programme – which has received support from UK organisations including Masorti Judaism, Movement for Reform Judaism, Liberal Judaism, the Jewish Labour Movement, the New Israel Fund, Netzer-Youth, LJY-Youth, Yachad and Abraham Initiatives – includes two in-person events, in London and in Brighton, along with three webinars with speakers from Israel.
Historian Harari will be the keynote speaker at a Democracy Rally to be staged in central London on Sunday the 10th.
(Author:Daniel Naber/Wikipedia)
Millions have taken part in weekly demonstrations across Israel, attempting to resist the country’s drift towards authoritarianism, while in the UK, Defend Israeli Democracy have attracted impressive turn-outs to their own protests here.
In September, the Supreme Court will hear appeals in the cases of three anti-democratic laws that have passed, and the rulings could throw Israel into a constitutional crisis.
“We know that many members of the community want to be more informed about and involved in the changes taking place in Israel but not sure how,” said Sharon Shochat, the founder of Defend Israeli Democracy UK.
“This week is intended to provide a platform for community engagement. Our Israeli Democracy Ambassadors Programme will also be launched during this week and I hope many will join in one or all of the activities.”
The September 4 webinar with author Yossi Klein-Halevi, Gordis, and Friedman is co-hosted by the Times of Israel newspaper and the Jerusalem protest movement, and is specifically addressed to Diaspora Jews.
It is titled; Time to take a stand: Judicial reform or regime coup?.
Klein-Halevi said, “Matti, Danny and I come from the heart of the Israeli mainstream. We’ve devoted ourselves for decades to defending Israel in the media and on campuses. We have never protested against an Israeli government and certainly never considered any previous Israeli government to be morally illegitimate.
“We invite British Jews to join this webinar, where we’ll explain why this moment is unique and why it requires a different kind of response from the Diaspora.”
Other events included a session titled Behind the legislation: reasons and motivations for the reforms in Israel.
An in-person event on September 7th will be held at Finchley Reform Synagogue, with Dr Sheldon Stone and Michal Neta among the speakers. Further name are due to be announced.
The week will be marked by a mass Democracy Rally in a central London location to be advertised nearer the date.
Detailed information on the week and registration to events are on the website www.defendisraeluk.org
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