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Jewish Democratic Initiative JDI strives for an inclusive SA Jewish community, committed to social justice, and advocates for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

ISRAEL ON THE BRINKAlon Liel on the legacy of October 7th, the elections, scenarios for the future.Monday October 5th, a...
02/10/2026

ISRAEL ON THE BRINK

Alon Liel on the legacy of October 7th, the elections, scenarios for the future.

Monday October 5th, at 7.30pm
Register at the link in the bio.

That brilliant Israeli speaker Dr Alon Liel, whose powerful presentation to the JDI’s first Festival of Dangerous Ideas in 2025 was one of our highlights, will speak over Zoom to our JDI audience next Monday, about:
• The legacy of October 7th … and its three-year aftermath. So much has been said, so many have been mourned, but so little has been learned.
• The upcoming Israeli elections, possibly the ugliest and most tainted in the country’s history. Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir might still win … and the consequences could be dire.
• The upcoming Palestinian elections are an attempt to end long-standing factionalism. Hamas has proposed a joint deal with the Palestinian Authority. Can that happen?
Dr Liel is a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa and former director general of foreign affairs, who turned his back on a successful political career to become instead one of the most outspoken voices in Israel opposing the occupation and advocating internationally for a negotiated settlement.

May the year to come bring justice May the year to come be sweeter and more peaceful than the last. May it bring justice...
11/09/2026

May the year to come bring justice

May the year to come be sweeter and more peaceful than the last. May it bring justice, not only for our own people, but for all people.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur call upon us to confront difficult truths, to take accountability, and to work toward a future grounded in social justice and mutual respect.

As we engage in personal and communal atonement, let us envision a world where empathy transcends division and where our differences inspire inclusive dialogue and transformative change.

And let us not be silent, or unconcerned or inactive.

Shana Tova and G’mar Chatima Tova to all.

27/08/2026

Arab Barghouti, Palestinian activist and the son of Marwan Barghouti, widely described as the Palestinian Mandela, who has been serving five life sentences since 2002 speaking at the Jewish Democratic Initiative’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas. To see his full conversation with Azhar Cachalia, one of the Free Mandela Campaign Leaders, head to the link in our bio.

Jewish Communists in South Africa Irwin Manoim, who has for many years researched and written about the forgotten “outca...
25/08/2026

Jewish Communists in South Africa
Irwin Manoim, who has for many years researched and written about the forgotten “outcasts” of South African Jewish history, presented a talk at Limmud Johannesburg last weekend on Jewish Communists. The talk received some acclaim, and he has been asked to repeat it. He will do so next Wednesday, September 2nd, as a free Zoom session to which all are all invited.
The talk asks why there were a disproportionate number of Jewish communists in South Africa; traces their heritage back to the earliest South African movements to practice non-racism; discusses how Jewish communists became vilified as a threat to white South Africa and a source of shame to the Jewish community; and then, after 1994, how they were suddenly embraced by the mainstream Jewish community as heroes.
When: Wednesday, September 2nd 2026 at 7.30pm.
Where: Over Zoom.
Register at the link in bio.

25/08/2026

Avram Burg, former speaker of the Knesset at the Jewish Democratic Initiative’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas. To see the full speech head to the link in our bio.

Our biggest event of the year is happening TODAY! Email info@jdisa for a discount or book on the Quicket link in our bio...
18/07/2026

Our biggest event of the year is happening TODAY! Email info@jdisa for a discount or book on the Quicket link in our bio.

Mo Husseini is a Palestinian-American writer and filmmaker based near Seattle, where he works as a design and creative director. He first drew wide attention with “50 Completely True Things,” a viral essay puncturing myths on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war, which was read by hundreds of thousands and praised by Rabbi Sharon Brous as among the most compelling writing on the conflict in a decade.

He went on to co-direct The Path Forward with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen, a documentary following Israeli and Palestinian peace activists who kept working together after October 7th — deliberately without war footage or body counts. As he’s put it, people on both sides too often assume everyone on the other is incapable of empathy; the film sets out to prove otherwise.

Husseini is also co-authoring a forthcoming book with Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund.

His presentation will be livestreamed to Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Our biggest event of the year is TOMORROW! Don’t let price be a barrier; email info@jdisa for a discount. Booking links ...
17/07/2026

Our biggest event of the year is TOMORROW! Don’t let price be a barrier; email info@jdisa for a discount. Booking links in bio.

Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, is South Africa’s most widely syndicated editorial cartoonist. He grew up in a Jewish family in Cape Town, the son of a lawyer and a mother who had fled Nazi-occupied Lithuania. As a student he refused to bear arms during his military conscription, throwing himself instead into the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front, for which he designed the End Conscription Campaign’s logo. He was detained under the Illegal Gatherings Act before leaving on a Fulbright scholarship to study cartooning in New York under Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman.

Since returning to South Africa, Zapiro has spent over three decades skewering power across the political spectrum, from the apartheid state to the ANC, in the Mail & Guardian, Sunday Times, and now Daily Maverick. His cartoons have provoked lawsuits and death threats in equal measure to prizes and honorary doctorates, and he remains one of the country’s fiercest defenders of free expression.

His presentation will be livestreamed to Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Our biggest event of the year is TOMORROW! Don’t let price be a barrier; email info@jdisa for a discount. Booking links ...
17/07/2026

Our biggest event of the year is TOMORROW! Don’t let price be a barrier; email info@jdisa for a discount. Booking links in bio.

Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, is South Africa’s most widely syndicated editorial cartoonist. He grew up in a Jewish family in Cape Town, the son of a lawyer and a mother who had fled Nazi-occupied Lithuania. As a student he refused to bear arms during his military conscription, throwing himself instead into the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front, for which he designed the End Conscription Campaign’s logo. He was detained under the Illegal Gatherings Act before leaving on a Fulbright scholarship to study cartooning in New York under Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman.

Since returning to South Africa, Zapiro has spent over three decades skewering power across the political spectrum, from the apartheid state to the ANC, in the Mail & Guardian, Sunday Times, and now Daily Maverick. His cartoons have provoked lawsuits and death threats in equal measure to prizes and honorary doctorates, and he remains one of the country’s fiercest defenders of free expression.

His presentation will be livestreamed to Cape Town and Johannesburg.

American-born, Israeli-based, and for over 30 years a fixture on the frontlines of protective presence activism. Ascherm...
15/07/2026

American-born, Israeli-based, and for over 30 years a fixture on the frontlines of protective presence activism. Ascherman has stood between settlers and Palestinian shepherds, blocked bulldozers mid-demolition, and been arrested, beaten, and tried for it. He led Rabbis for Human Rights for over two decades before founding Torat Tzedek (Torah of Justice) in 2017, which keeps doing the same work: accompanying farmers back onto land they’ve been pushed off, fighting home demolitions in court, standing with communities under pressure simply for existing where they are.

He frames all of it as religious obligation, not politics — the idea that “in a place where no one behaves like a decent human being, strive to be one”.

Catch him at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, 18–19 July — livestreamed to Cape Town and Joburg.

Judge Azhar Cachalia resisted Apartheid through mass organisation, enduring detention and banning orders as a founder of...
14/07/2026

Judge Azhar Cachalia resisted Apartheid through mass organisation, enduring detention and banning orders as a founder of the United Democratic Front, before going on to serve on the Supreme Court of Appeal. Arab Barghouthi has spent his life fighting for his father’s freedom, carrying forward a campaign that borrows its language and its hope from the very struggle Cachalia lived through.

On 18 July, they’ll discuss what it means to call someone a political prisoner — and why the world still needs to reckon with that question.

Johannesburg & Cape Town
18 July 2026
Link in bio to book

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