The screening will be followed by a panel discussion, featuring Toufic Haddad, Ousman Noor and Sue Parfitt.

In a year when public speech defending Palestinian perspectives has been suppressed and, in some cases, criminalised in the UK, Censoring Palestine investigates how truth is being constrained across mainstream and social media, education, and entertainment. It also examines how terrorism laws are used—or misused—to silence dissent. Featuring contributions from Alexei Sayle, Ken Loach, Peter Oborne and Sarah Wilkinson, this documentary is an urgent intervention in the debate about freedom of expression on Palestine.

Speakers

Toufic Haddad (PhD.) is a Palestinian American academic and author. He is the author of “Palestine Ltd: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory” (I.B. Tauris, 2016) and has worked in various capacities across the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a journalist, researcher, consultant, editor, and publisher. He recently Directed the Council for British Research in the Levant’s Jerusalem Branch – the Kenyon Institute, but was made redundant in March 2024 in a series of events he contends amounted to censorship and unlawful dismissal matters which currently are the subject of a lawsuit. He is currently the School of Social and Political Science Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.

Ousman Noor studied Law at SOAS and completed an MSc at the University of Oxford. He has worked as a human rights barrister and in international diplomacy at the United Nations, advocating for new international law against “Killer Robots”. He is Co-Director of The Civilian Agenda producing documentaries for peace and international disarmament.

Sue Parfitt is an Anglican priest who has lived in Bristol for nearly 50 years. She is 83 and has been actively involved with Palestine for nearly 40, visiting many times and working with a human rights organisation in Hebron and also with Palestinians in Bethlehem and in Nazareth who are part of the resistance to the Israeli Occupation. She has taken part in the action with Defend our Juries to challenge the proscription of Palestine Action and been arrested for that on 3 occasions. Like many others, she hopes for a positive outcome to the Judicial Review challenging the proscription of Palestine Action.

Donations

All donations from this year’s festival will go to Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), providing humanitarian assistance as well as health and social services to Palestinians whenever and wherever needed. You can donate when buying tickets.