26 October 2022
1 Cheshvan 5783
The National Jewish Assembly was thrilled to host its third Speaker Event with guest speakers Natasha Hausdorff (UK Lawyers for Israel), Rabbi Menachem Margolin (Chairman of the European Jewish Association), and Efrat Perri (Director of Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy in the UK). Each speaker delivered a presentation and participated in a questions-and-answers session moderated by NJA Political Adviser James Marlow.
Natasha delivered a fascinating primer on key concepts in international law that justify the existence of the modern State of Israel, and deconstructed several pseudo-legal critiques leveled by Israel’s detractors. Ms Hausdorff denounced legal mischaracterisations of Israel, which “go to the essence of modern blood libels, and are essential to campaigns against Israel in the international arena.”
Rabbi Margolin elaborated on the challenge of bringing Jewish organizations across Europe together for a common cause, and encouraged the Jewish community and its institutions to re-frame their discussion and efforts from focusing on “problems” to seeking “hope” for European and UK Jewry.
Efrat briefed the NJA on current affairs in Israel and the state of the Israel-UK relationship. Efrat examined the challenges of public diplomacy, and underscored that bilateral negotiations for the UK-Israel Free Trade Agreement had commenced – represents an important step towards strengthening the UK-Israel relationship.
The NJA thanks the speakers for sharing their insights with the NJA, and we look forward to inviting them to another event in the future.
To register for our upcoming events, please click here.
