A community centre in Brighton is under investigation by the Charity Commission after a local Zionist made malicious complaints about a proposed screening of the documentary Jenin Jenin on 7 July by Brighton FRFI supporters.
The Brighthelm Centre is utilised by many activist groups and has hosted a wide range of events including those about the Palestinian struggle. The film showing was due to take place in Afrori, a radical bookstore specialising in Black literature, based within the premises of the Brighthelm Centre.
Jenin Jenin covers the aftermath of an Israeli military invasion of the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank in 2002, during the Second Intifada, a period of uprising across Palestine against Zionist occupation between 2000 and 2005.
Notorious Brighton Zionist Heidi Bachram posted a photo of the poster promoting the screening on her X profile along with captions deriding us as ‘extremists’, claiming we support a proscribed organisation and calling on the Brighthelm Centre to cancel the event.
Bachram subsequently approached the Brighthelm Centre, the Charity Commission and Sussex Police with absurd and provocative claims that the event would incite violence and racial hatred against Jewish people. In particular, she falsely claimed that the use of the word intifada was a call to violence and invited support for terrorism.
Anxious about a backlash and concerned for the safety of its staff, Afrori postponed the film showing. As a result of Bachram’s complaints, the Brighthelm Centre is now under investigation by the Charity Com-mission.
This is not the first time that Brighton FRFI comrades have faced harassment from Bachram. On 14 March, a supporter was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after Bachram filmed her at a demo leading on chants and then posted the video on X to bring her to the attention of Sussex Police. Bachram posts extensively on X and regularly spearheads doxxing campaigns against pro-Palestine activists.
Brighton FRFI is building a campaign in collaboration with other local groups to defend the Brighthelm Centre and its trustees from Zionist harassment and censorship, and to insist on our legal right to show pro-Palestinian films in Brighton.
Defend free speech on Palestine!
No to Zionist censorship!
Support the campaign here: linktr.ee/defendbrighthelm
