On July 19, the International Court of Justice declared that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful, along with the associated settlement regime, annexation, and use of natural resources. The Court added that Israel’s legislation and measures violate the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid. 

Meanwhile, the Israeli government, which historically has operated with impunity for violent, undemocratic practices, is arresting and oppressing citizens who express disapproval and dissent over the ongoing war on Gaza and suppressing demands for human rights and accountability. Emboldened by Israel’s impunity, authorities throughout the Middle East and North Africa are similarly repressing free expression and assembly, stifling local hope and demand for democratic reform. In addition, direct military escalations in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Iran, have fueled growing instability and authoritarian repression across the region.

Please join the Middle East Democracy Center as the Democracy Matters Initiative (DMI) convenes a panel of experts from its DMI Advisory Group to discuss how the Israeli government’s repression of its own people and its human rights violations against Palestinians embolden other regional governments to oppress their own citizens. They will explore how a culture of impunity is stifling demands for democratic reform across the region and will propose innovative ways to instead strengthen civil society and democratic reform, amplify the voices of pro-democracy constituents, and ensure justice and accountability for human rights violations and war crimes.

Would you like to submit a question for our panelists? Please email it to media@mideastdc.org.

Register here

Speakers:

• Alaa Sayeg
  DMI Advisory Group Member (Lebanon);
  Fellow, Stanford Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law;
  Founder, Ryzomes Social Enterprise
• Nareman Shehadeh Zoabi
  DMI Advisory Group Member (Palestine & Israel);
  Human Rights Attorney, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

Moderator:

• Yasmin Omar
  DMI Director, MEDC;
  International human rights lawyer

Bios:

Alaa Sayeg is a Lebanese political figure specializing in socio-economic innovation. He is notably known for his contributions to democratic parliamentary reform and policy development in Lebanon and the Middle East. Sayeg is a fellow at the Stanford Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He’s the Founder of Ryzomes Social Enterprise, a vital partner to governmental organizations and prominent international organizations like the United Nations, Oxfam, Friedrich Ebert, and Heinrich Böll.

Nareman Shehadeh-Zoabi is a Palestinian citizen of Israel. She holds an LLB in Law and a BA in Psychology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and an MA in Criminology from Haifa University. Since 2018, she has been serving as a Human Rights Attorney at Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. Initially, Nareman worked in the Social and Economic Rights Unit, focusing on advocacy for marginalized groups, particularly the Bedouin community in the unrecognized villages in the southern Naqab region who are facing threats of evacuation. In 2021, she transitioned to the Civil and Political Rights Unit, dedicated to promoting Palestinians’ civil and political rights, challenging systemic discrimination, and advocating for equal protection under Israeli and international law. Her primary focus has been on the criminal justice project, handling cases related to arbitrary detention, prisoners’ rights, freedom of speech-related offenses, and accountability. 

Yasmin Omar is the director of the Democracy Matters Initiative at MEDC. She is an international human rights lawyer with a dedicated career focused on defending victims of human rights violations. Having practiced law in Egypt for a decade, she relocated to the United States in 2017. Before joining MEDC, Omar served as a consultant with the United Nations Team of Experts on Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict. Additionally, she held positions as the UN and Regional Mechanisms Manager at the Committee for Justice and as a Legal Associate at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Omar earned an LLM in international law from Syracuse University College of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Cairo University.

Photo credit: WAFA/Wikimedia Commons

On April 3, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will begin his third term as president of Egypt following a rushed presidential election marred by a campaign of arrests, ongoing repression, and the elimination of any meaningful competition. During his first ten years as president, el-Sisi ruled through brutal authoritarian trial-and-error that has left Egypt in a precarious economic and political state. Now, as the strongman begins his new term as president, the war on Gaza is also exacerbating the existing economic challenges and providing cover for further oppression and abuse of power.  

Join the Middle East Democracy Center’s (MEDC) Democracy Matters Initiative for an expert panel discussion to examine the aftermath of a decade of autocratic governance under el-Sisi and to discuss current developments and implications for human rights and democracy in Egypt and the wider MENA region.

Welcome Remarks:

• Tess McEnery
  Executive Director, MEDC

Speakers:

• Shana Marshall
  Associate Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and Assistant Research Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs
• Nancy Okail
  President and CEO, Center for International Policy
  
• Hesham Sallam
  Senior Research Scholar and Associate Director for Research, Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law

Moderator: 

• Yasmin Omar
  Director of the Democracy Matters Initiative, MEDC

Additional Reading:

Hesham Sallam’s “The Autocrat-in-Training: The Sisi Regime at 10,” found in the January 2024 issue of the Journal of Democracy. 

About the Democracy Matters Initiative

The Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC) is thrilled to launch the Democracy Matters Initiative, MEDC’s visionary program dedicated to strengthening the foundations of democratic principles and values in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The initiative aims to build constituencies for democratic reform and human rights across the region through connecting pro-democracy actors across diverse sectors and countries to articulate visions for democratic progress, create shared strategies for reform, and develop clear and compelling public narratives for why democracy matters through research, policy, and bold advocacy.

About the Middle East Democracy Center

MEDC is a U.S.-based nonprofit and nonpartisan advocacy organization that works with the people of the Middle East and North Africa to challenge authoritarian systems and advocate for U.S. policies that protect human rights and advance a bold vision for democracy. MEDC was formed in 2024 from a merger of the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and the Freedom Initiative.