In this episode of FMEP’s Occupied Thoughts podcast, Jessica Montell, Executive Director of the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked, joins FMEP’s Lara Friedman to discuss the ongoing battle to prevent Israel from demolishing the West Bank home of a Palestinian-American mother and her children, as an act of collective punishment for a crime committed by her estranged husband. For more on this story, see: Palestinian mom fights to stave off punitive home demolition (Associated Press, June 7).
Recorded June 22, 2021
Bios:
Jessica Montell is executive director of HaMoked, the Center for Defence of the Individual. She has been a leading figure in Israeli civil society for two decades. For thirteen years she headed the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. She left B’Tselem in 2014 and was founding director of SISO: Save Israel, Stop the Occupation, an Israel-Diaspora partnership to build collective action for the 50th year of the Israeli occupation. In 2011, Ms. Montell was selected by Ha’aretz as one of “the year’s 10 most influential Anglo immigrants.” In 2013, the UK-based Action on Armed Violence selected Jessica as one of the 100 most influential people working to make the world a safer place. Ms. Montell is a frequent speaker and commentator on human rights, international humanitarian law and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. @JessicaMontell.
Lara Friedman is the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. With more than 25 years working in the Middle East foreign policy arena, Lara is a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, with particular expertise on the Israeli-Arab conflict, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, and the role of the U.S. Congress. Prior to joining FMEP, Lara was the Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now, and before that she was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, serving in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis and Beirut. She tweets @LaraFriedmanDC.