It is now 1 year since the events of October 7th, 2023. According to official figures, over 41,000 Gazans, including 16,500 children, have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the last 12 months. The real figures are clearly much higher, as thousands of unidentified bodies lie beneath the rubble, unable to be counted or mourned.

After targeted bombings of schools and universities, mosques, water infrastructures, cultural centers, and hospitals in Gaza, Israel has now extended its war to the West Bank, Syria, Iran, and Lebanon. Netanyahu’s coalition government, in which self-declared fascists play a prominent role, is not just a danger to Palestinian lives. It threatens us all.

The International Court of Justice has labelled Israel’s actions as a plausible genocide, and numerous legal scholars have gone further, confirming that a genocide is taking place. Despite this, Netanyahu has always been able to count on the support of the German government. Under the auspices of a so-called  “Staatsräson”, Germany has sent the weapons which are being used to kill Palestinian civilians. At home, it has suppressed protest to the genocide of Palestinians and threatened to deny citizenship to anyone who does not endorse Israel’s actions.

Germany’s slavish support for Israel did not start on October 7th. The current repression follows years of demonstration bans, arms shipments, and cancellations of artists and academics. But in the past year, while some other countries have been forced to acknowledge the existence of Palestinian people, attacks in Germany on Palestinians and their supporters have intensified.

Our meeting will be held in oyoun, which has become symbolic for Germany’s attack on culture and freedom of speech. Last year, the Berliner Senat withdrew oyoun’s funding after it hosted an event by the anti-Zionist Jewish organisation, the Jüdische Stimme. In the name of protecting an abstract idea of Jewishness, Germany is clamping down on non-Zionist Jews and others who want to oppose genocide.

At this meeting, we want to look at different aspects of what has happened in Germany, more intensely in the last year. Palestinian activist Ramsy Kilani will look at the military aspect, lawyer Alexander Gorski at the legal aspect, and Palestinian artist Ghayath Al-Madhoun will look at at the cultural aspect. There will then be plenty of time for you to join the discussion.

But we do not just want to talk about the repression. The last year has also seen pro-Palestinian protests of a size that Germany has not seen for decades. University students, medical workers, social workers and others have started to organise resistance. We also want to discuss this resistance and how we can ramp it up in the coming year.

The meeting starts at 6pm on Sunday, 6th October. Following the discussion, we will be showing pre-release extracts from The Reason of State, a documentary film investigating Germany’s war on Palestinian voices by journalists Hebh Jamal and Tom Wills.