Film Screening and Discussion: The Palestine Exception

The Palestine Exception is a documentary exploring how speech about Palestine has been restricted on US university campuses and how students and staff have responded.

Brought to you by Cinema Politica and the UCG D&I Committee, this screening aims to reaffirm academic freedom, encourage critical engagement with political issues, and highlight the moral foundation of diversity and inclusion.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with three speakers: Alette Smeulers (Faculty of Law), Lama Nazeeh (Advocacy Manager at 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media), and Charvi Arora (PhD student UG). We invite everyone to engage in a respectful and constructive dialogue. Hosting this screening does not imply endorsement of every view expressed in the documentary.

Find out more about the documentary here and register now!

About the speakers

Lama Nazeeh is Advocacy Manager at 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, where she works on platform accountability, censorship of Palestinian voices, surveillance and AI. She is a lawyer specialising in international law and previously worked in Palestinian diplomacy and legal advocacy.

Charvi Arora (any/all pronouns) is a PhD researcher at the University of Groningen. They have been involved with the Groningen Feminist Network and are currently active in Decolonise Groningen and Groningen for Palestine.

Alette Smeulers is Professor of Criminology at the University of Groningen, specialising in international crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Her interdisciplinary research examines perpetrators of mass atrocities and international criminal justice. She has published extensively, including Perpetrators of Mass Atrocities: Terribly and Terrifyingly Normal? (Routledge, 2024).