On Saturday, 12 October 2019, 15:30 (doors open at 15:00)

at the Spiegelzaal, De Markten Gemeenschapscentrum

Oude Graanmarkt 5, 1000 Brussel

 Een Andere Joodse Stem (Another Jewish Voice, Belgium) is proud to host a public lecture of Sarit Michaeli, international advocacy officer of B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. 

Sarit Michaeli’s talk will focus on the systematic shirking of Israel’s obligation under international law to ensure accountability for the killing and injury of Palestinians by its security forces, and on how This ongoing state of affairs is one of the cornerstones of the occupation and of Israel’s control of the Palestinian population. In 2018 only, Israeli security forces killed 290 Palestinians, among them 55 minors, most of them in the Gaza Strip. These incidents are a direct result of Israel’s reckless open-fire policy, authorized by the government and the top military command, and backed by the judicial system. This policy includes, among other things, shooting to kill incidents, permitting live fire at unarmed demonstrators by the Gaza-Israel fence, and bombarding densely populated areas within Gaza. Aside from rare, publicized incidents, no one is held accountable for these incidents, and the military law enforcement system whitewashes them.

Sarit Michaeli has been part of B’Tselem’s staff since October 2004, serving as the organization’s spokesperson for 12 years before becoming its international advocacy officer. As well as working with the diplomatic community and international civil society groups, she documents demonstrations in the West Bank, with a focus on security forces’ misuse of crowd control weapons, and has authored B’Tselem’s report on the subject. B’Tselem was founded in 1989 to document Israeli violations of Palestinians’ human rights in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.

Practical information:

The lecture will be followed by an open discussion with the audience. The event will be in held in English.

Doors open at 15:00, the event will start at 15:30 sharp. We will end the event with a toast to mark the Jewish new year, for a year of freedom, dignity and justice to all.

Seating is limited. To ensure participation, please register at: infoeajs@gmail.com

Participation is free, but we will appreciate any donation that could assist us in covering the event costs (recommended sum: €5 per person).

[Press release, 23-01-2019]

Stigmatizing and derogatory approaches towards Muslims, Palestinians, civil society activists, and even towards progressive Jews have been an earmark of Michael Freilich’s public appearances and editorial tone that dominated the magazine “Joods Actueel”. It is therefore not surprising that Freilich found his natural place in a political party that has tapped into xenophobic sentiments and embraced the anti-immigration discourse of the European extreme right.

Now when the masks have fallen, and Freilich revealed his affiliation with the nationalist right, one can only wonder how come he was embraced by the Flemish media as a representative of the Jewish community as a whole. His polarizing and inciting discourse has inflicted real damage on our communities, which will take many years to heal.

Luckily, many Jews in Belgium do not share Freilich’s political views, and prefer to distance themselves from political forces that have been flirting with fascism and racism in the past and in the present. Unlike Freilich, Een Andere Joodse Stem holds to the Jewish and human values of equality and solidarity, and works to make these values a reality within and outside the Flemish Jewish community, in Belgium and in Europe, as well as in Israel-Palestine.

As Jewish European organizations committed to the elimination of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and all other forms of racism, we would like to voice our deepest concern regarding the organization of a conference in Brussels (6-7 November 2018), backed by the Israeli government, aiming to label legitimate criticism and protest against Israeli governmental policies as anti-Semitism. We ask the European institutions, including the European Commission, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), and members of the European Parliament,  to shun attempts by the Israeli government to use false allegation of anti-Semitism to limit and criminalize work by civil society organizations, including those of diverse Jewish communities of Europe, to pursue peace and justice in Israel/Palestine.

The conference, co-organized by the European Jewish Association and two Israeli ministries, has as its goal to persuade all European political parties to sign up to “red lines” that declare legitimate calls for pressure on Israel, including through Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) tactics, to be “fundamentally anti-Semitic.”

We reject their call. Antisemitism is a small but real and growing threat to Jewish populations in Europe – and elsewhere, as the recent outrage in Pittsburgh so tragically demonstrates. Conflating the real threat posed by anti-Semitism with legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and its policies is a dangerous step; it threatens to misdirect European efforts to combat anti-Semitism, turning these instead into a tool to erode the democratic principles of free speech and freedom of assembly, and to aid the Israeli government in its quest to limit Palestinian non-violent civil resistance to the Israeli occupation. These Israeli efforts do not represent the Jewish communities of Europe. The Israeli policies of siege in Gaza and racial segregation in the West Bank, of fatal attacks on civilians and of land expropriation for Jewish-only settlements – are not in our name. We reject attempts to equate opposition to these deplorable policies with anti-Semitism.

In the context of growing Israeli governmental ties with racist, sexist and xenophobic leaders, groups and political parties in Europe and the US (some of which with a past marked by blatant anti-Semitism), there is a real threat of emergent anti-Semitism. The Israeli governmental conference organized in Brussels is not searching for much-needed solutions to this threat. Sadly, it seeks instead to leverage anti-Semitism to maintain an untenable status-quo of occupation, oppression and fear in Israel/Palestine. We stand in opposition to their mission.

As Jewish organizations committed to the promotion of social justice and equality, we have expressed in several occasions the problematic nature of invoking allegations of anti-Semitism in attempts to silence voices opposing Israeli violations. More than 40 Jewish organisations have recently published an open letter expressing their “growing alarm regarding the targeting of organizations that support Palestinian rights in general and the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, in particular” Adding that “These attacks too often take the form of cynical and false accusations of antisemitism that dangerously conflate anti-Jewish racism with opposition to Israel’s policies and system of occupation and apartheid.”

The right to defend human rights, including Palestinian rights, should be safeguarded now more than ever. EU political parties have a responsibility to end complicity of their respective states with the Israeli violations of international law. It is time to act against anti-Semitism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and all other forms of racism. It is time to act against Israel’s decades-long occupation and racial segregation. Don’t lend a hand to the Israeli government attempts to stop us from doing both.

Signed by

Een Andere Joodse Stem / Another Jewish Voice (Belgium)

Free Speech on Israel (United Kingdom)

UJFP – Union juive française pour la paix (France)

JFJFP – Jews for Justice for Palestinians (United Kingdom)

ECO-Rete – Ebrei Contro l’Occupazione (Italy)

Een Ander Joods Geluid/A Different Jewish Voice (The Netherlands)

Judar för Israelisk Palestinsk Fred / Jews for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (Sweden)

Jewish Voice for Labour  (United Kingdom)

Jewish Socialist Group (United Kingdom)

Jüdische Stimme für ein gerechten Frieden in Nahost / Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Near East (Germany)

Jøder for en retfærdig fred (Denmark)

Jewish Voice for Democracy and Justice in Israel/Palestine (Switzerland)

EJJP – European Jews for a Just Peace (European Network)

Lecture by Judith Butler (In English). She is Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of numerous books, such as Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990), Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex” (1993), The Psychic Life of Power: Theories of Subjection (1997), Precarious Life: Powers of Violence and Mourning (2004); Frames of War: When Is Life Grievable? (2009). Her most recent books include: Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism (2012), and Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly (2015). She is also active in gender and sexual politics and human rights, anti-war politics.

From West to East – the Creation of the Mizra’hi Jew

When? Friday, February 24th at 20:00

Speaker: Guilel Treiber

Language: English

Where? Pianofabriek (Arenbergzaal)

Though the statistics are not very clear, we can assume that half of Israel’s Jewish population (if not more) is from North African or Middle-eastern heritage. Nonetheless, Israel is perceived mostly through its European heritage. With the establishment of Israel we see the rise of a new category of Jews – Mizra’hi, the one coming from the east. Mizra’hi is used generically to identify all those Jews who trace their origin to the old territories of the Ottoman Empire and farther. How come this new category arose? What does it mean to be a Mizra’hi Jew in Israel today? Who are precisely the Mizra’hiim? And what is the difference with Sefaradim? In this event we will try to bring to light the rich and long history of the Jews of the Middle East.

Van West naar Oost – De uitvinding van de Mizra’hi Jood

Datum: vrijdag 24 februari 2017

Locatie: Pianofabriek (Arenbergzaal)

Spreker: Guilel Treiber

Taal: Engels

Uur: 20u

Hoewel de statistieken hierover onduidelijk zijn, is het waarschijnlijk dat ongeveer de helft van de Joodse bevolking in Israël (en mogelijks zelfs meer) afkomstig is uit Noord-Afrika of het Midden-Oosten. Desalniettemin wordt Israël vooral bekeken vanuit haar Europese erfenis. Met het ontstaan van de Staat Israël is er een nieuwe categorie Joden ontstaan – de Mizra’hi Joden, afkomstig uit het Oosten. Met de term Mizra’hi wordt de groep Joden bedoeld die oorspronkelijk uit het Ottomaanse Rijk of verder afkomstig zijn. Hoe verklaart men het ontstaan van deze nieuwe categorie? Wat betekent het vandaag om in Israël een Mizra’hi Jood te zijn? Wie zijn ze precies? Wat is het verschil met de Sefardische Joden? Deze lezing reconstrueert de rijke geschiedenis van de Joden uit het Midden-Oosten.