As climate rallies spread, Israelis to bring protest to sukkahs

With grassroots protest against climate change growing in Israel, inspired by Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg and swelling demonstrations across Europe, several related events are set to take place during the upcoming Sukkot holiday.

The Israel chapter of the worldwide Extinction Rebellion movement will be hosting a climate sukkah at the First Station promenade in Jerusalem, from Tuesday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., with workshops, lectures and films.

The events kick off Tuesday with sukkah decoration and a lecture at 7 p.m. by Dr. Lia Ettinger, a longtime advocate of sustainability, who teaches the subject at Tel Aviv University and serves as academic supervisor at the Heschel Center for Sustainability, among other roles.

At the Carmel Center in Haifa, the public invited to dress in black for an event on Tuesday, October 15,  at 8 p.m., and to gather soil in a bag for another event on Monday, October 21, for climate change protest-related activities.

At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 22, Extinction Rebellion will host a screening and discussion in Haifa at Robin Food, a pay-what-you-think, volunteer-run “food rescue” social enterprise that uses fruit and vegetables that would otherwise be wasted from farmers, markets and stores.

Last Thursday, Extinction Rebellion Israel drew several thousand people to climate change “awakening” happenings throughout the country and helped organize lessons in around 40 schools.