Our Speakers Portfolio
Our speakers are all experienced presenters that provide a variety of perspectives including Palestinian and Anti-Zionist Jewish narratives.
All of our speakers have a thorough understanding of the Palestinian led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and can lead presentations and discussion of BDS.
We can also speak from a legal perspective about the Minnesota antiboycott laws and provide updates on the state-wide campaign to repeal those laws.
The descriptions below provide some insight as to the particular experiences and knowledge each brings when they present to groups.
Mohammed Mayaleh
Palestinian American attorney and activist in the Twin Cities who has lived in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. His last visit to Palestine was in September of 2024.
Mohammed is a BA in political science and philosophy from Minnesota State University – Mankato and a JD (‘Juris Doctor’, a graduate law degree) and MBA from University of St. Thomas.
Ruben Slomianski
Ruben is a Jewish American whose family members include people who died as a result of the pograms of the early 20th Century and the Holocaust, and also now includes family members who suffer under occupation in the West Bank.
He is an artist and advocate for human rights and justice for Palestinians and has been active with Jewish Voice for Peace – Twin Cities Chapter and the MN BDS Community for several years.
Ashraf Ashkur
Ashraf is a Palestinian native who discusses growing up under occupation in the West Bank. Through personal stories and deep experience, Ashraf discusses how power relations and the total lack of Palestinian rights under apartheid led him to student organizing, civil disobedience, and working on water management in the West Bank.
Ashraf has worked with the UN on water rights, and he can speak firsthand about how control of water is a central pillar of environmental injustice in Palestine.
Deah Kinion
Deah is the co-founder of the Rochester Solidarity with Palestine. She is retired, an activist and passionate about public education, street protests, encouraging conversations and action in Rochester, MN.
Deah is a member of the MN BDS Community. She was introduced to occupied Palestine injustice during the 1st Intifada, while living in Chicago.
Deah is also part of the Rochester Repair Community and makes connections with Native American land theft, genocide and injustice and Israeli apartheid. She links fascism here and abroad and advocates for 1st Amendment Rights and exposing hasbara/colonial propaganda.
Bob Goonin
Bob shares his journey from being raised in a Jewish family not long after the holocaust, when Israel was viewed as a ‘safe refuse’ to coming to terms with the ethnic cleansing and violence upon which the state of Israel was based. He tells the history of Israel as a Zionist, settler colonial project from its origins up through today.
Bob is a member of the MN BDS Community and Jewish Voice for Peace. He visited Palestine in 2019 as part of an environmental justice delegation.