UK Chapter

The UK chapter of IJAN was launched in 2008.  From the beginning we have prioritised our accountability to the Palestinian struggle, worked with others in the Palestinian solidarity movement (members of IJAN are currently working as part of London Palestine Action) and other grassroots movements impacted by Israeli apartheid, murder, repression, militarization and other brutality.  Our key initiatives are:

o   Publicising and disseminating Israel’s Worldwide Role in Repression – through its arms and security industries built on the back of murder and control of Palestinian people, Israel has armed apartheid South Africa, the Argentinian junta and the Rwandan genocide, and trained US police in “population control”, and much more.

o   Promoting IJAN’s initiative “Never Again for Anyone”: which began in London with a European tour we organised with Dr. Hajo Meyer – who sadly passed away in August of 2014 – a Jewish anti-Zionist Auschwitz survivor who spoke in Parliament.  The tour challenged Zionist abuse of the Holocaust, making explicit the genocides and ethnic cleansings historically and today, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people, and confronting collectively the many forms of racism we all encounter.

o   IJAN UK is a founder member of No Israeli Funding of the Arts (NIFA).  In 2013 we picketed the Tricycle, a community theatre, to urge that it refuse to host the Israeli-funded UK Jewish Film Festival. When it did refuse in 2014, we continued campaigning for other cinemas around the country to refuse Israeli funding.

o   As a founder member of the Stop the JNF Campaign, we challenge the JNF’s complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, including its racism, greenwashing of destroyed Palestinian villages, and legal machinations.

o   As part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement – we work with other organisations and individuals – protesting companies complicit with Israel and Israeli products being sold here: from UK supermarkets, to Ahava, Sodastream, Veolia, etc.

o   With IJAN Labor, spelling out that the Histadrut – the so-called Israeli trade union – was from the beginning just another parasitic Zionist body, excluding and stealing from Arab labour, and quashing workers organizing in Israel and elsewhere.

o   Promoting the extraordinary success of Block the Boat in the US and campaigning for similar actions here in the UK.

o   Highlighting and supporting the extraordinary resistance of Palestinian prisoners, including children, many held without trial, many tortured.  In particular hosting a meeting with hunger striker Mahmoud Sarsak, and publicising the plight of Um Fadi, mother of one of the Hares boys.

o   A founding member of Jews in Britain Against Genocide (JBAG).  During the summer 2014 Israeli bombing of Gaza, we held a die in outside of the Board of Deputies of British Jews – accusing them of condoning genocide in Gaza.

o   Crucially working with other movements, for example: with Black and anti-deportation organisations to defend African asylum seekers in Israel; with queer organisations to challenge Israeli pinkwashing, particularly in its promotion of Israel as a gay holiday destination; with the refuser and anti-military movements internationally to publicise Israeli refuseniks who refuse not only to serve the occupation, but also Zionism.   We have joined with other Jewish organisations to form a Jewish bloc during protests against Zionism, in particularly against Israeli attempts to destroy Gaza.