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Interview: Justine Sachs on fines from Israel: October 17, 2018

Interview: Justine Sachs on fines from Israel: October 17, 2018

Interview: Justine Sachs on fines from Israel: October 17, 2018 Interview: Justine Sachs on fines from Israel: October 17, 2018, 7.78 MB
Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Justine Sachs is a co-founder of Dayenu, which is a group of young New Zealand Jews against the occupation of Palestine. Sachs is also one of the co-authors of the open letter to Lorde urging her not to perform in Tel Aviv. Following the cancellation of Lorde’s concert, some Israeli teenagers took the case to court hoping to seek damages. This week, Justine and Nadia Abu-Shanab (the other co-author) became aware that they had been ordered by an Israeli court to pay ‘compensation’ of more than $18,000 dollars. This lawsuit is possible after the passing of legislation in 2011 that allows individuals or companies impacted by the Boycott Divest and Sanction movement to sue for damages in Israeli courts. Instead of paying the fine, Nadia and Justine decided to create a fundraising campaign which would be donated to the Gaza Mental Health Foundation. A statement from the give a little page says, ‘The foundation will send donations in their entirety to organisations which are providing vital mental health support to the traumatised families of the Gaza Strip. Emotional distress is a lived reality for Palestinians in Gaza, where over half of children suffer PTSD as a result of Israeli military attacks.’ I got in touch with Justine to find out more and started by asking for some context around the letter to Lorde.

Just an update on that amount, I spoke with Justine yesterday and it is now up to $36,629.00. And if you want to check it out for yourself, just google Help Justine and Nadia raise money for mental health in Gaza