Powerful presentations at the JVL AGM

The JVL Annual General Meeting took place in early December and we are pleased to be able to share the powerful presentations made by our guest speakers, Dr. Shahd Hammouri, a Palestinian expert in International Law, and Haggai Matar, an Israeli activist against the Occupation and for justice for Palestinians and a Director of the important Israeli online +972 Magazine .

Al Jazeera published an article by Dr. Hammouri a week later covering some of the same ground – how Israel claims to be operating within international law at the same time as breaking it and using it to obscure its war crimes.  You can read that here. Of course, Israel has been violating international law since its foundation, breaking the very framework that was largely put in place to protect ordinary people from the worst aspects of Occupation as experienced under the Nazis. Israel’s actions in Gaza also break the rules of war.

Haggai Matar highlights the shock that the Hamas attack on October 7 generated in Israel, even among long-standing campaigners for justice. He outlines the importance of continuing that fight as well as trying to make known to Israelis what is happening to the people of Gaza.  He describes the incredibly aggressive clampdown (including arrests) on Israelis for the mildest expressions of dissent, such as expressing any sympathy for the people in Gaza.  In November we published a piece he wrote for +972 Magazine on this subject.

The last video is of a short greeting from Jeremy Corbyn MP to JVL.

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Dr. Hammouri’s initial presentation

Dr. Hammouri’s concluding remarks

This is Haggai Matar’s initial presentation and his concluding remarks.

And here is  Jeremy Corbyn MP’s important comments about Gaza and the strength of the movement against what Israel is doing.