"How can millions of Israelis justify their role in the occupation and ongoing genocide? Writer and Palestinian rights activist Avigail Abarbanel offers vital perspective on the internal workings of Zionism, drawing on her own moral awakening growing up in Israel, she surveys the psychology of denial, guilt and the weaponisation of Jewish identity by the settler-colonial state."
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A event on Friday 18th September. The event starts at 19:00.
Israeli society is systematically indoctrinated from childhood — through family, school, and military — to sustain settler-colonialism and enable genocide.
This talk examines the social-psychological mechanisms behind that process: how ordinary people are shaped into collective participation and moral disengagement.
Understanding these dynamics equips activists — whatever their background — to act effectively and stand firm against accusations of antisemitism.
Avigail Abarbanel is the granddaughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors from Romania, born & raised in Israel & serving in the IOF between 1982-1984. In 1991, she moved to Australia, renouncing her Israeli citizenship in protest in 2001.
As a psychotherapist for 27 years, editor of the Anthology Beyond Tribal Loyalties: Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists, Writer of Substack Avigail Abarbanel’s Fully Human Essays, she has written extensively on Zionism, Israeli society and settler-colonialism, drawing on her clinical background to understand the psychological structures that sustain them.
Refreshments will be available.
This venue is wheelchair accessible.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
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