Public meeting: Beyond tribal loyalties: Jews, Palestinians & identity after the Arab Spring

Saturday, June 9, 2012 - 15:00

There is an expectation in Jewish communities around the world that all Jews embrace Zionism and offer unquestioning support for Israel, ‘right or wrong’. Jewish identity and Zionism are commonly and deliberately blurred. Jews who criticise Israel or question Zionism are often excluded, vilified and threatened. If they express sympathy for the plight of the Palestinian people, they risk being branded as traitors and accused of ‘supporting the enemies of Israel’. Beyond Tribal Loyalties is a unique collection of twenty-five personal stories of Jewish peace activists from Australia, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States. The stories focus on the complex and intensely personal journey that Jewish activists go through to free themselves from the hold of Zionist ideology. Like many Jews, most of the contributors were once unquestioning supporters of Israel and Zionism. Speakers: Avigail Abarbanel, Editor of Beyond Tribal Loyalties: Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists; Nicole Erlich, School of Psychology, University of Queensland; Michael Shaik, independent pro-Palestine activist. 3:00pm. Trades Hall, cnr Lygon & Victoria sts, Carlton South. Co-hosted by the Coalition against Israeli Apartheid and Jews Against the Occupation. Entry by gold coin donation.