Freedom Advocacy Network

Presenter: Joanna Berry, Canadian Immigration & Refugee Lawyer, (sometimes) law professor

You can now share this link with your friends to subscribe to Freedom Advocacy Network meetings/mailing list: https://subscribepage.io/freedomadvocacynetwork  We had an amazing meeting with my friend Joanna Berry. We learned about Christian Zionism from her own personal perspective and upbringing. One of our awesome anonymous members also shared a great campaign idea: “Love Israel, Hate the Genocide and Apartheid”. This campaign idea would specifically target Christians and Christian Zionists in particular. If anyone wishes to help develop this campaign idea further, please reach out to me, and I’ll connect everyone interested together. Just like the last meeting, due to a smaller audience, we decided to record the meeting. You can see the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmGQ31tdwg0 Housekeeping: Fundraiser by Joanna Ruth Berry : Help Joanna Berry Cover Investigation & Litigation Costs Browser Plugin to make boycotting EASY: The Wall addon Register for the Virtual 2025 Joint Memorial Day Ceremony https://secure.everyaction.com/I4SeKiKQlkqsCmGck8ovHw2?link_id=4&can_id=97cf7204e94dc72da5fa84d455e68fcd&source=email-overcoming-autocracy-and-restoring-democracy-april-18-2025&email_referrer=email_2703754&email_subject=rally-reflections-action-events-april-25-2025&&  Catastrophe: Nakba II: Drury, Fintan: 9781785375590: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Catastrophe-Nakba-II-Fintan-Drury/dp/1785375598/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2JCX7P221G67A&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XGqMMwFBOBZZK2hL3XL2Dk0EIXDZXmSGTkFJ6if5yAk.iCj_-Vod7CRmNqaD06nT_y4IvvbsNhMM5Oq6cuM-9Z0&dib_tag=se&keywords=catastrophe+fintan+drury&qid=1745611065&sprefix=catastrophe+fintan+drury%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-2  “Tales of Deprogramming: From a Christian Evangelical Upbringing to Palestine Solidarity Activism” Presenter: Joanna Berry, Canadian Immigration & Refugee Lawyer, (sometimes) law professor “Why do certain Christian groups support Canada’s complicity in the Palestinian genocide? I grew up in a small Christian town in the Niagara Region, part of a Christian fundamentalist family. As a young adult, I married the grandson of an Evangelical missionary who repeated to me the mantra: “There is no such thing as Palestine.” Now I am a loud and proud Palestine Solidarity Activist; an immigration and refugee lawyer; and I am about to marry my true soulmate, an anti-zionist Jew. It was quite a journey. I’ll endeavour to use my story to explain how and why certain Protestant zionist groups in Canada support the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.”  If folks are interested in learning about the reprisals children of Christian fundamentalists face in Canada and the US for resisting their indoctrination, I would recommend watching this Netflix series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyEnI4HO5O0&ab_channel=NewMovieTrailers Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannaberry2/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyEnI4HO5O0&ab_channel=NewMovieTrailers Fundraiser by Joanna Ruth Berry : Help Joanna Berry Cover Investigation & Litigation Costs https://www.gofundme.com/f/4ruvj?attribution_id=sl:783e6fa8-b9a0-4638-b742-ba0d71ef6183&utm_campaign=man_ss_icons&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link  Browser Plugin to make boycotting EASY: The Wall addon https://the-wall.win/ Register for the Virtual 2025 Joint Memorial Day Ceremony https://secure.everyaction.com/I4SeKiKQlkqsCmGck8ovHw2?link_id=4&can_id=97cf7204e94dc72da5fa84d455e68fcd&source=email-overcoming-autocracy-and-restoring-democracy-april-18-2025&email_referrer=email_2703754&email_subject=rally-reflections-action-events-april-25-2025&&  Catastrophe: Nakba II: Drury, Fintan: 9781785375590: Amazon.com: Books https://www.amazon.com/Catastrophe-Nakba-II-Fintan-Drury/dp/1785375598/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2JCX7P221G67A&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XGqMMwFBOBZZK2hL3XL2Dk0EIXDZXmSGTkFJ6if5yAk.iCj_-Vod7CRmNqaD06nT_y4IvvbsNhMM5Oq6cuM-9Z0&dib_tag=se&keywords=catastrophe+fintan+drury&qid=1745611065&sprefix=catastrophe+fintan+drury%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-2  https://maryspence.org/stories/love-your-neighbor-a-common-theme-in-major-religions/ https://www.quora.com/Do-all-religions-have-the-same-teaching-love-thy-neighbor  https://www.bystandersnomore.com/  https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/israel-west-bank-gaza-2023/gaza-tr-measures.html  Notes: Inspired by documentary called Israelism – that was about deprogramming from Zionists ideology Joanna applied it to same kind of thought process to her Evangelical Christian ideology Joanna’s grandmother was mennonite, but, father moved towards Evangelical Christianism in teh 80s Mennonites are passivists, non-violent “A person’s individual conversion was central to the faith” “Evangelizing was also a core principle” Some people believe in Biblical inerrancy: a literal interpretation of the Bible This brings in some commonalities with Judaism “As a little girl I couldn’t want [the cartoon] Care Bare… because they contained magic and magical elements” Attended church 3-5 times a week My father was very offended with anything related to Geography or Evolution “I call her my chosen mama” Randa Farah was studying Palestinian studies at UofT in 80s and 90s “She is a Christian Palestinian… she introduced to me a whole different world of Christians” She also authored the book “Red Priest of Haifa” who was her father She’s also an expert on UNRWA Backlash has increased overtime and gotten worse in present day Also did masters under Randa Farah Randa was constantly harassed by students She experienced her whole life, and was constantly being smeared as antisemetic. The Hillel group was trying to get her fired. They were very aggressive in harassing her. The Hillel students demanded that they get a whole day to “counter” her. They specifically took the course to disrupt her. Was luck to have many great mentors in my early adulthood For many Christians, support for Zionist project is seen as a “Biblical Narrative” This narrative completely erases the Palestinian people – The “Arabs” are seen as colonizers This is dependent on Biblical literalism Joanna’s spouse is an anti-Jew and supports several anti Zionist Jewish causes Ted: The answer for many Christians is “the great commandment” The great commandment is:  be authentic Love your neighbor If you are not loving your neighbor, you are not under the umbrella of Christianity anymore We can’t accept the murder of women and children Istiaque If you are a Christian, you have to follow the 10 commandments This is a marketing campaign waiting to happen “This conservative doesn’t really believe in the 10 commandments” Gardy “Love Israel, hate Genocide, hate Apartheid” is a brilliant campaign idea – I support it This will open the tent and make it bigger Killing women and children is not acceptable It implicitly acknowledges Israel’s existence at the same time I’d wear the Israeli flag as long as it’s not participating in genocide and apartheid Joanna Joanna agrees that “Love Israel, hate Genocide, hate Apartheid” is a great idea Lots of Christians are feeling cognitive dissonance – this would give them a way out Gardy “Love the Palestinians, hate the terrorism” could also be a flip side This also opens doors – media will not talk to you unless you say “you support Israel” Joanna Discourse is too polarized I am a passivist – non-violent – there should be passivists in all tables – we should consider the passivist option whenever viable I used to have a lot of Christians before Oct 2023 – many freindships ended over differences over genocide There was extreme censorship, but now this cognitive dissonance is unescapable General factual consensus is there that what’s happening in Gaza is GENOCIDE People are dropping off and kind of just ignoring the genocide – and then there’s the other extreme May be partner with “United Church”