Dr. Ofer Cassif, Member of the Israeli Knesset (MK) representing the Hadash-Ta’al* coalition will offer on-the-ground insight on the social and political context that has led to Israel’s most extreme right government ever, and the threats it poses to peace, justice and self-determination for Palestinians.

This event is jointly hosted by Liberation and Marx Memorial Library.

Israel’s new government is the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country’s 74-year history. It is so extreme Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now considered a moderating influence on his extreme right-wing coalition partners. Among his ministers is one who once kept a portrait in his home of a man who massacred dozens of Palestinian worshippers.

2022 was a terrible year for the Palestinians, with the largest number of casualties inflicted by Israeli forces in many years, and the ongoing ethnic cleansing and a massive increase in Jewish settler violence against the Palestinian people.

Netanyahu’s plans to further expand illegal Zionist settlements in the occupied West Bank and his government’s vicious retaliatory actions in the face of the momentous UN resolution to seek an International Court of Justice opinion on Israel's occupation of Palestine threaten an even grimmer 2023.

Hear from a seasoned progressive Israeli politician, activist and friend of Palestine how we got here - and what we can do in Britain, Europe and the US to demonstrate meaningful international solidarity in this most troubling phase in the struggle for peace, justice and self-determination for Palestinians.

About the speaker: During the First Intifada, MK Dr Cassif was the first person to refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories, for which he was imprisoned four times. He was quoted in Haaretz (April 18, 2021) as saying: "I object to the idealogy and practice of Zionism...it's a racist ideology and practice which espouses Jewish supremacy."

*Hadash-Ta’al is a progressive coalition formed of the Arab-Jewish Hadash (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality), and the Arab nationalist Ta’al (Arab Movement for Change).