Sessions for We Believe in Israel Conference
Sunday 22 March 2015
Please note that these sessions are subject to change.
Sessions are arranged in five rounds and last one hour each, enabling delegates to
attend up to five different sessions of their choice.
The Challenge to Israel in the UK
Board of Deputies of British Jews: A Better Way:
The Board's response to BDS
Alex Brummer (Vice-President
of the Board of Deputies),
Jonathan Arkush (VicePresident of the Board of
Deputies), Joseph Moses.
Board of Deputies of British Jews: The Making of
Christ the Palestinian: How and Why the Western
Churches are Listening and Reacting to
Palestinian Narratives
Council of Christian & Jews: Why Bother:
Christian-Jewish Dialogue on Israel-Palestine.
Embassy of Israel: Is the media biased against
Israel?
Fair Play Campaign Group: The BDS challenge in
different sectors of UK civil society
Rabbi Natan Levy
Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs: Strategies for
combating the assault on Israel's legitimacy
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs: An Israeli
perspective on BDS
NGO Monitor: Yes, YOU are funding Anti-Israel
activism And how you can stop it!
StandWithUs: What’s right and wrong with Israel’s
Public Relations and how you can help them?
Asher Fredman (Ministry of
Strategic Affairs)
Amir Ofek (Ministry of Foreign
Affairs)
Yitzhak Santis (Chief Programs
Officer, NGO Monitor)
Michael Dickson (Executive
Director, StandWithUs Israel)
StandWithUs: The subversion of Israel’s narrative
in the UK school curriculum
Nomi Benari (Project LeaderStandWithUs UK Textbook
Project)
Claudia Mendoza (Head of
Policy and Research, JLC)
The Jewish Leadership Council: Understanding
red lines – when does legitimate criticism of Israel
become delegitimisation
We Believe in Israel: Who is behind the boycotting
and delegitimisation of Israel, and how can we
combat them?
Zionist Federation: How the world’s media views
Israel
Elizabeth Harris-Sawczenko
and Steve Innes
Yiftah Curiel (Spokesperson,
Embassy of Israel)
Arieh Kovler (FPCG), Ronnie
Fraser (AFI), Amir Ofek (MFA)
Luke Akehurst (Director, We
Believe in Israel)
David Harris (multimedia
journalist and Director of
Research & Analysis, The
Israel Project)
The progressive case for Israel - campaigning
within the left
Neil Nerva (Jewish Labour
Movement), Andrew Gilbert,
Gideon Smith (Chair of the
Yachad Board)
Practical Campaign Skills
BICOM: How to speak up in public for Israel
Professor Alan Johnson (Editor
of Fathom)
Friends of Israel Education Foundation: Shaping
John Levy (Director of FOIEF)
the perspectives of pre-university students and Jane Woodford (Wales
working in High Schools
and West Country Director for
FOIEF)
North West Friends of Israel: What Grassroots can Anthony Dennison (Co-Chair,
do for you
North West Friends of Israel) &
Bernard Yaffe (Treasurer,
North West Friends of Israel)
StandWithUs: Powerful persuasion through
Philip Gimmack
emotional engagement
UKLFI: Should we use the law to fight boycotts
Jonathan D.C. Turner (Chair,
and delegitimisation?
UK Lawyers for Israel), Simon
Johnson (JLC Chief Executive)
Zionist Federation: Writing Skills for Israel
David Harris (multimedia
advocates
journalist and Director of
Research & Analysis, The
Israel Project)
Zionist Federation: Effective Lobbying
Lee Scott MP
Zionist Federation: Twitter for activists
Sam Hailes, (Freelance
Journalist)
Zionist Federation: Defending Israel to different
audiences - what messages work
David Harris (multimedia
journalist and Director of
Research & Analysis,The Israel
Project)
David Harris (multimedia
journalist and Director of
Research & Analysis,The Israel
Project)
Panel of Sussex Friends of
Israel (Fiona Sharpe),
Yorkshire Friends of Israel (Or
Nehushtan), NW Friends of
Israel (Antony Dennison),
West Midlands Friends of
Israel (TBC), Pro Israel, Pro
Palestinian, Pro Peace (Judy
Weleminsky)
Zionist Federation: Dealing with the Press
Bottom Up. The impact of regional pro-Israel
campaigning
Your local Council – why they can be important
and what you need to know to impact on their
decision-making
Cllr Joe Goldberg (Haringey
Council)
Engagement with Israel
BoD: Jewish Values and Israel's Use of Force in
Armed Conflict: Your Views
UJIA: Unity without Uniformity – can British Jewry
agree on anything to do with Israel?
UJIA: King David – Exploring Jewish Students’
Experience of Israel on Campus
UJIA: Israel Education – models from around the
Jewish world
UJIA: The Elephant in the Room: what do we not
talk about when we talk about Israel?
What is Zionism all about?
Why is the concept of a “Jewish State” important?
Yachad: Understanding the concerns of the next
generation of Zionists
Vivian Wineman (President of
the Board of Deputies)
Anthony Ashworth-Steen
(UJIA Director of Informal
Education and Israel
Engagement) and Robin Moss
(UJIA Head of Israel
Engagement)
Micah Smith and Georgina
Bye (UJS Leadership and
Training Director)
Robin Moss (UJIA Head of
Israel Engagement)
Cassie Matus (UJIA Head of
Israel Programmes), Rael
Goodman (Head of Jewish
Agency UK Delegation), Tami
Addlestone (Mazkira, FZY)
and David Brown (Executive
Director, UJS)
Einat Wilf
Einat Wilf
Emily Hilton, Joe Grabiner,
Michael Goldin, Talya Finke
Europe & Israel
CST: The new antisemitism in Europe
European Coalition for Israel: Building coalitions for
Israel in the EU and UN
StandWithUs: European
misconceptions about Hamas and about the two
state solution
Michael Whine (Government
& International Affairs
Director, Community Security
Trust)
Andrew Tucker (ECI)
Andrew White
How to lobby your MEP and other EU institutions
Nuno Wahnon Martins
(Director of European Union
Affairs B'nai B'rith
International) and
Alexander Kolks (Political
Secretary, VVD delegation to
the European Parliament)
The two faces of the EU Israel relationship & where
does all the money go
What can & should we do about the EU?
Jeremy Newmark
Lessons from the French response to anti-Zionism
and antisemitism
Daniel Schwammenthal (
AJC Transatlantic Institute),
Jeremy Newmark; Nuno
Wahnon Martins (Director of
European Union Affairs B'nai
B'rith International),
Alexander Kolks (Political
Secretary, VVD delegation to
the European Parliament),
Andrew Tucker (ECI)
Simon Tobelem
Knowledge of Israel
BICOM: The Middle East Peace Process: all you
need to know
BICOM: Rebutting the Apartheid Smear
BICOM: Israeli Politics Today
Harif: Why Jewish refugees from Arab countries are
central to Israel advocacy
New Israel Fund UK: What do the Israeli election
results mean?
Palestinian Media Watch: PA hate ideology and
incitement - focusing MPs and media on its severity
and centrality
Shaare Zedek UK: Can we ever put politics aside
for peace? How one hospital’s story inspires hope
for all
StandWithUs: Hamas, my next door neighbour Israeli life on the Gaza border
UK Israel Business: The lesser told story – why
UK/Israel trade and investment is booming
Dr. Toby Greene (Director of
Research BICOM; Visiting
Fellow, Tel Aviv University)
Professor Alan Johnson
(Editor of Fathom)
Richard Pater (Director,
BICOM Israel Office)
Michelle Huberman and Lyn
Julius
Professor Naomi Chazan
Itamar Marcus (Chief
Executive, Palestinian Media
Watch)
Simi Ben Hur (Executive
Director Shaare Zedek UK)
Avner Lustig (StandWithUs
UK Consultant)
Hugo Bieber (Chief
Executive, UK Israel
Business)
UK Task Force on issues relating to Arab citizens
of Israel & British Friends of Merchavim: Is Israel
Building a Shared Society?
Yachad: Israel Beyond the Sound Bite: Ten
common claims debunked
Yachad: Understanding Jerusalem
Toni Rickenback (Director,
UK Task Force), Joey Leskin,
(Education Officer, UK Task
Force), Errol Rudnick (British
Friends of Merchavim)
Dan Reisel
Rebecca Daniels (Youth and
Student outreach worker for
Yachad)
Zionist Federation: Celebrating Israeli innovation
TBC
Zionist Federation: No Money for Murder Campaigning against salaries for Palestinian
terrorists
Israel's positives beyond the conflict: untold
stories.... and why they can make a difference
Chris Lawes (Campaigns and
Press Officer, ZF)
Andrew White (founder, the
Beyond Images project)
Knowledge of the wider Middle East
The strategic picture in the wider Middle East and
the role of Iran
What’s happening in Syria and how does it affect
Israel?
Alliances and enmities – who likes who and who
hates who in the Arab World?
Campaigning to expose Qatar
Jonathan Spyer (Director,
Rubin Centre for Research in
International Affairs and fellow
at the Middle East Forum)
Jonathan Spyer (Director,
Rubin Centre for Research in
International Affairs and fellow
at the Middle East Forum)
Alan Mendoza (Henry Jackson
Society)
Simon Johnson (JLC), Fiona
Sharpe (Sussex Friends of
Israel)
Sectoral Caucuses
Christian Friends of Israel: Christian Perspectives
on Israel
Conservative Friends of Israel : 46 days to the
General Election: Are the Conservatives the only
viable choice for Pro-Israel voters?
Jacob Vince (CFI)
Friends of Israel in UKIP
Shnuer Odze and David
Coburn (former Chair of
London UKIP, MEP for
Scotland)
Mike Freer MP, Matthew Offord
MP, Bob Blackman MP, Oliver
Dowden PPC
Labour Friends of Israel: The Labour Party and
Israel: what next
Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel: What do
Liberal Democrats really think about Israel?
StandWithUs: From BDS to George Galloway- the
fight against anti-normalisation on campus
StandWithUs: Voices for Israel
Trade Union Friends of Israel: Do trade unions
matter? and do we have any friends in them
anyway?
UJS session 1: Unified not uniform: students
campaigning on Israel in their way(s)
UJS session 2: The student movement: An Israel
Free Zone?
Rt Hon Ivan Lewis MP; Andrew
Dismore AM; Dame Anne
McGuire MP
TBC
Jonathan Hunter( StandWithUs
Uk Campus Director 20132014)
Joseph Stoll (StandWithUS
Campus Director)
Michael Leahy (Chair, TUFI),
Rachel Savage (Workplace
representative, Unite Union
(personal capacity)), Doreen
Gerson, IUGE, Steve Scott
Student representatives from
SWU, Yachad, movements:
chaired by UJS
Students representatives from
students’ union, J-Soc, NUS
VP
UJS session 3: The fifty shades of grey between
antisemitism and anti-Zionism
UJS session 4: Student activism: No room for one- HET to chair, student panel
trick ponies
(UJS/Yachad/AEPI)