Using children’s donations collected via “little blue boxes,” the Jewish National Fund has planted more than 250 million trees in Israel/Palestine. Ostensibly to “make the desert bloom,” the planting has radically altered the land’s biodiversity. My Tree follows filmmaker Jason Sherman’s journey to find the tree planted in his name on the occasion of his bar mitzvah. When he discovers that “his” tree is in a forest covering up a Palestinian village destroyed in 1967 – one of many forests hiding scores of destroyed villages – he seeks to learn the motivations behind JNF’s tree-planting enterprise and to understand his own culpability.

Watch the film for free at your convenience; Join the Q&A Discussion

Jason Sherman:  Jewish Canadian playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker

Seth Morrison:  Treasurer, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, publicly resigned from Washington D.C. Board of Jewish National Fund

Mazin Qumsiyeh: author, founder and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) at Bethlehem University

Iymen Chehade (moderator):  Professor of Middle Eastern History, Columbia College; founder, Uprising Theater

You must register to get the free film link and to participate in the Q&A discussion:  Tinyurl.com/VFHL-July2023

Watch the Trailers:  Tinyurl.com/VFHL-MyTreeTrailer

The July 2023 Online Film Salon is Co-Sponsored by:

Kehilla Community Synagogue Middle East Peace Committee

Israel-Palestine Mission Network, PCUSA

SUPPORTER Organizations: Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ♦ Episcopal Peace Fellowship-Palestine Israel Network ♦ Churches for Middle East Peace ♦ Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace ♦  Quaker Palestine Israel Network ♦ Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East ♦ Indiana Center for Middle East Peace ♦ Disciples Palestine-Israel Network ♦ Virginia Coalition for Human Rights ♦ Mennonite Palestine Israel Network ♦ Friends of Sabeel North America ♦ Center for Jewish Nonviolence ♦ United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network ♦ Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace  ♦ Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service ♦ Kairos Puget Sound Coalition ♦ Pax Christi USA ♦