Dear Friend,

I am excited to have recently joined the New Israel Fund team as their first Community Engagement Manager – to expand and broaden the ways you can get involved with our work. This month we have several events with partners and we hope you will consider joining us for them.

Ella Tirosh
Community Engagement Manager

We invite you to join us at the livestream of the Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony on Erev Yom HaZikaron (Sunday 12 May) from 6-8pm in North London.

This year marks the 19th Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day, organised by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle Family Forum. It is the only one of its kind and the largest jointly organised Israeli-Palestinian peace event.

The ceremony takes place in the shadow of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. With all eyes of the international community on Israel and Palestine, now more than ever, we need to unite around our sorrow and stay strong in building hope that another way is not only possible but imperative.

The New Israel fund, together with Yachad and ALLMEP are sponsoring of the ceremony in London, partnering with the UK Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum. This is a unique opportunity to stand together, in grief and remembrance, united to demand an end to the bloodshed.

If you are unable to join us in person, you can watch the livestream of the event here at 6:30pm UK time on Sunday 12 May.

I hope to see you there.

Best wishes,

Ella Tirosh
Community Engagement Manager, New Israel Fund UK

We invite you to come and support Israeli arts with our partners at Seret, the International Israeli Film Festival. We have recently expanded our partnership with them and will be sponsoring four fantastic films this year.

At the New Israel Fund, we strongly believe in the power of film to give voice to silenced or marginalised groups and bring to light issues that rarely capture national media attention.

	Arugam Bay In this film, three surfers from Haifa, go on a post-military-service trip to Sri Lanka’s Arugam Bay. They go together to get some rest, surf and mourn their childhood friend and army commander, who dreamt of surfing in Sri Lanka with them but was killed in a military operation in Beirut before he had the chance. Trauma and unresolved issues from the battlefield are awakened and put their long-term friendship to the test Saturday, 18/5, 18:30 at the Everyman Hampstead Cinema. Screening will be followed by Q&A with Yadin Gellman (one of the actors from the film who was wounded whilst rescuing people in Kibbutz Be’eri)
	Sheva Brachot In this offbeat drama, Marie returns to Israel after 40 years to marry her true love. She reunites with her large, boisterous Jewish-Moroccan family for the traditional week of celebratory meals in honour of the bride. As the week unfolds, this compelling sad comedy uncovers family secrets and lies and explores themes of forgiveness, loss and deep-rooted tradition. The film won 10 Ophir Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Reymond Amsallem, Best Supporting Actress for Tikva Dayan and Best Screenplay. Saturday, 18/5, 21:00 at the Everyman Hampstead Cinema. Screening will be followed by Q&A with Raymonde Amsallem (lead actress).
	The Future Intertwining politics, technology, and psychological drama, The Future explores the story of a renowned profiler who is recruited by the Israeli Security Service to profile a young Palestinian woman suspected of assassinating an Israeli Minister. Over several weeks they face each other for a harsh, exhausting interrogation. This thought-provoking metaphor for the Arab-Israeli conflict explores themes of liberation, motherhood, and personal crises. Sunday, 19/5, 19:30 at the Everyman Hampstead Cinema. Screening will be followed by Q&A with Raymonde Amsallem (lead actress).
	Running on Sand Running On Sand is a comedy-drama about a young Eritrean refugee about to be deported back to his home country. Following a spontaneous escape attempt at the airport, he is mistaken for a Nigerian striker and accidentally finds himself playing for a struggling local football team. The film explores how he heals the divisions of his struggling team, while a tender romantic bond with the charmingly unconventional daughter of the patriarchal team owner grows. Wednesday, 22/5, 20:00 at the JW3

Join us, together with Yachad, to mark Yom Ha’atzmaut by celebrating the strong connections between the British Jewish community and the Israeli peace and human rights community. We will be hosting three British Jews now working in Israeli human rights organisations, all of them are grantees of NIF.

Joel Carmel is the Advocacy Coordinator at Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran soldiers who have served in the Israeli military and shared their stories about the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories.

Rebecca Metzer is Director of International Relations at Gisha, which has nearly 20 years of experience working in Gaza and is currently working for urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Anton Goodman is Director of Partnerships at Rabbis for Human Rights, a rabbinic organisation which works to prevent violations of human rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

Hear from Rebecca, Joel and Anton about their work, their perspectives at this time of war and their stories of growing up in British Jewish communities and coming to work in the Israeli human rights community.

Register here.