June activities

On 6 June, Mark Birbeck spoke at a commemorative event for the young people who were murdered by the IRGC during the January 8th and 9th protests.

Adele Raimer, who hosted our Israel delegation at her kibbutz last year, spoke at an event in London on 9 June. Kurpa Patel said: "It was moving to hear Adele’s account of 7th October in Kibbutz Nirim. No matter how many times we hear it, it is difficult to comprehend the horrors and the pain of that dreadful day. Although she said sharing is part of her healing, I honestly don’t know how she does it; it must be so painful for her to re-live that day and what followed."

On 10 and 13 June, we made more Our Fight group visits to the Nova Exhibition. On each visit we find ourselves spending time on a different section or hearing a new testimony. The exhibition has been extended to 15 July, and if you haven't yet been, please go.

Nova Exhibition

The Nova Exhibition is an in-depth remembrance of the brutal massacre at The Nova Music Festival on October 7th. The installation sets out to recreate a festival dedicated to peace and love that was savagely cut short by a terrorist attack on that fateful day. The attack at The Nova Music Festival w

Nova Exhibition

On Sunday 14 June, we started the day at Edgware Synagogue, where a real estate event was taking place for people looking to buy property in Israel. Predictably the anti-Israel protestors became hysterical about this in a way they hadn't over any other property fair, and of course petitioned to have the event shut down—something that was even raised in Parliament. The original venue cancelled the booking. Protestors then assembled outside the new venue, where they were met by many local residents who came out to confront them. Welcome echos of the Battle of Phoenix Cinema.

Later in the day, at the real estate event itself, there were some panel discussions on anti-Semitism organised by Stop the Hate. Mark Birbeck was pleased to have been invited to speak on one of them.

Later in the evening we attended a showing of the film Yellow Ribbons, which documents the work of the 'poster fairies', a group led by Jack and Deborah Miller, who ensured that the 7 October hostages were not forgotten during the two years it took for their ultimate release. The event was chaired by Michael Marlowe, the father of Jake, a brave young Brit who was murdered on 7 October whilst working as an unarmed security guard at the Nova Festival. The film and discussion together made for an uplifting and inspiring event about unity, community and resilience.

On 16 June Emily Schrader spoke at an event in London on what the world is missing about Iran. We'll have a write-up on this on the website shortly.

Outside Parliament on 22 June we assembled to talk to the public about a debate that was taking place in Westminster Hall, on whether there should be a public inquiry into Israeli influence on British politics. Our Parliamentary Briefing on how the debate's framing was reminiscent of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion clearly had an impact on the way some parliamentarians approached the discussion.

Parliamentary debate on Israel risks normalising conspiracy theories | A guide for MPs and advocates

Ahead of today’s Westminster Hall debate, Our Fight has submitted the following comprehensive briefing to Members of Parliament. Our Fight Director Mark Birbeck notes that the debate is another test of whether our public institutions can recognise and reject classic conspiracy frameworks.

Our Fight: For Israel, Against Anti-SemitismOur Fight

And to finish the month, Al Murray and friends entertained a full house at Leicester Square Theatre for our comedy benefit, Stand Up for Jews!, kindly organised by Andy Shaw and the Comedy Unleashed team. Andy plans to put on more shows, so look out for announcements, especially if you didn't manage to get a ticket for this one.

Coming up

Tuesday 7 July: This week will see the 21st anniversary of the London bombings. We’ll be joining commemorations in the morning, to remember the 52 people who were murdered by Islamist terrorists. Later in the day we'll be taking a group visit to the Nova Exhibition. Please watch out for more up-to-date information on our social media channels and WhatsApp Groups.

Wednesday 8 July, 7pm: Be a Mensch for Maureen. Watch out for more up-to-date information on our social media channels and WhatsApp Groups.

Thursday 16 July, 3.30pm: A group visit to the Holocaust Galleries at the Imperial War Museum. More details to follow in the weekly newsletter. (Note that we previously announced this event for 9 July, but postponed it to allow for more visits to the Nova Exhibition, after it was extended.)

Early October: The venue that we had booked for our national symposium on anti-Semitism decided we are not the right fit for them, so we will almost certainly be changing the date. We hope to have the venue and date confirmed this week. If you would like to be involved in organising the event, raising funds, finding partners, or showing people to their seats on the night, please be sure to join our WhatsApp Groups and ideally, come along to our weekly meetings.

Between 6.30pm and 8.30pm, every Monday, campaigners get together in central London for a discussion about something in the news, and to plan our activities. You can find more information about these catch-up sessions in our WhatsApp Groups.

You might have missed

Two years ago, on the anniversary of the London Bombings, Our Fight campaigners talked to the public in Russell Square, the location of one of the four suicide attacks. 52 people were murdered that day, half of them in the underground near to the station.We talked about the attack, the hostages at that time still held in Gaza, and the issue of Islamist terror.

Worth a read

This article by Tim Black on Spiked Online, from the time of last year's anniversary, remains relevant.

London 7/7: the atrocity we don’t talk about

Twenty years on, we have still failed to reckon with the threat posed by homegrown Islamist extremism.

spikedTim Black

For members

Unfortunately we had to cancel our discussion on Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism on 25 June. We will re-schedule as soon as we can.

We need your help

As always we need funds. The comedy benefit was a welcome boost, but there is always more to do.

Thanks for being part of this,

Mark Birbeck
Founder and Director
Our Fight