This event has happened
Refusal then and now: Refusing complicity, resisting repression, reframing solidarity
Refusal then and now: Refusing complicity, resisting repression, reframing solidarity
DATE: March 12
TIME: 6:30pm
LOCATION: Location in walking distance from U of T St. George campus. Details to be shared with registrants closer to the date of the event by email.
DONATION: This panel is free of charge, but we encourage you to make a donation to one of the following!
Students for Palestine Worldwide, Gaza Fundraiser: https://chuffed.org/project/sfp-gaza-fundraiser
Mesarvot: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=ZSVAHSBRJXGXC
THE PANEL:
Join IJV U of T for a panel discussion about refusal, repression, and reframing Palestinian solidarity, moderated by Samira Mohyeddin.
Tal Mitnick and Einat Gerlitz lead the anti-Zionist refuser support network, Mesarvot, and recently refused IOF service. Joining them are Natalie Rothman, Professor of History at UofT who also refused Israeli military service in the 1990s, as well as legal academic and writer, Azeezah Kanji (JD, LLM), whose work focuses on anti-colonial and anti-racist perspectives on international law, constitutional law, and the "war on terror."
If you have any questions, please direct message @ijvuoft on Instagram, or email ijv-toronto@ijvcanada.org.
ACCESSIBILITY INFO:
The venue is wheelchair accessible from an alternate entrance. One of the washrooms is accessible to non-motorized wheelchairs, with a 32-inch wide entrance. For more details, please direct message @ijvuoft on Instagram or email ijv-toronto@ijvcanada.org.
If you would like to request ASL interpretation, please email ijv-toronto@ijvcanada.org.
NATIONAL TOUR INFO:
IJV has partnered nationally with the Mesarvot Network, World Beyond War Canada, Labour for Palestine, and the United Jewish People's Order on this tour, which features speakers from across the Palestine solidarity movement in Canada.
Mesarvot’s mandate is to support and raise the profile of young Israelis who refuse to be part of Israel’s war machine. These speakers approach this work from an anti-Zionist perspective while aiming to build a broad coalition to defeat the ongoing forces of oppression within and outside Israel.
Independent Jewish Voices chapters, with support from partner orgs, from coast to coast will be hosting a speaking tour of two young Refuseniks in March 2025, Israelis who have refused mandatory military service. Tal Mitnick and Einat Gerlitz have both spent time in Israeli military prison for refusing to participate in the enactment of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and defying the illegal occupation and apartheid of the Israeli state.
In 2023, Tal Mitnick served a sentence of 185 days for being the first conscientious objector to refuse military service after October 7th and sparked a rebellion of youth across Israel who pledged to refuse to serve in Israel’s military while citing the ongoing occupation of the Palestinian people as the source for rising fascism.
In 2022, Einat Gerlitz served a sentence of 87 days for her refusal to serve in the Israeli army and has been involved in the climate justice and queer movements in Israel. Einat is engaged in solidarity work with Palestinians in the West Bank and 48’ borders as a protective presence.
Together, they have led the recent wave of internal dissent and conscientious objection amongst Israeli youth and will speak from their personal experience on:
● The importance of war resisters within the movement for human rights and a free Palestine
● Non-violent resistance to Zionist fascism within Israel
● Critical feminist analysis of Israeli militarism
● A queer response to pinkwashing of Israeli apartheid
● Updates on the current state of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation and an insight into the political atmosphere
● How Canadians can support nonviolent resistance to Israeli war crimes by making links with the resistance within ’48 borders