This UUJME-sponsored webinar explains the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its problematic aspect – it conflates antisemitism with opposition to Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights. This discussion is important because the IHRA definition is suddenly being adopted without discussion in many localities. While supporting the fight against real antisemitism, UUJME opposes the adoption of the IHRA definition by municipalities and legislatures. Remarkably, even Kenneth Stern, the author of the IHRA definition, opposes its use in laws and on campuses because of the chilling effect it can have on free speech. The moderator of the discussion will be Unitarian Universalist minister Rev. Dr. Terasa Cooley, and our subject matter experts will be Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison, a Palestinian American human rights advocate who recently faced the IHRA definition in the Virginia state legislature.

Panelists and Moderator
Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP). She is a leading authority on the Middle East, with particular expertise on Israel/Palestine and on the way issues related to this area of the world play out in Congress and in U.S. domestic politics, policies and legislation. Lara is a Contributing Writer at Jewish Currents and a non-resident fellow at the U.S./Middle East Project. She has served as Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now, and as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis, and Beirut.

Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison is a Palestinian American activist and community organizer, an elected Central Committee member of the Virginia Democratic Party and was an elected State and national Bernie Sanders Delegate to the DNC. She is a member of several organizations and boards and she actively engages in grassroots movements and amplifies issues ranging from racial justice reform, housing and foreign policy – primarily on Palestine. Zeina was born in Jerusalem and raised in Ramallah.

Rev. Dr. Terasa Cooley has served as a Unitarian Universalist minister for 30 years. She entered the ministry after becoming disenchanted with the dog-eat-dog world of politics, including a three-year stint with the legendary progressive politician Jim Hightower of Texas. Recently Terasa served as interim minister at the UU Church of Arlington (Virginia) and now serves in that role in the Neighborhood Unitarian Church in Pasadena, California. In 2019, while in Virginia, she led a church delegation to Israel and Palestine and has met with grassroots activists in India. These experiences she describes as “powerful and transformative for me and challenge me to stay open and not turn away.” A gifted leader and educator, Terasa sees congregational conflict as an opportunity and has written a book entitled Transforming Conflict: The Blessings of Congregational Turmoil.

Register to attend.