“People are apathetic. They don’t know. They don’t care. But they still have opinions.” This reality, presented by Michelle Rojas, the Diaspora Education Director for Stand With Us is a direct obstacle to Israel, and to all Jews. That includes us. Specifically for Jewish teens planning on college. They will encounter people who know little about Israel, but certainly have strong and often negative opinions about it. For these students, ignorance is no longer bliss. Jewish teens that are not informed about Israel and the conflicts there are not safe. In fact, they are more at risk. They lack the facts and statistics to defend themselves against Anti-Israel protesters, and remaining uninvolved is no longer an option. Anti-Israel and even Anti-Semitic movements have made their way onto college campuses, gaining easy access due to the heavy focus that many students have on social action.
There is a difference between being Anti-Israel or Anti-Semitic, critical or discriminatory. A movement crosses the line to Anti-Semitism, according to the U.S. State Department’s definition, when it delegitimizes a Jewish state’s right to exist, enforces double standards on Israel in comparison to other countries, or demonizes Israel as absolute evil. Unfortunately, some Anti-Israel movements are moving in this direction, arguing with prejudice instead of facts, and it is college campuses that are the battlefields.
One Anti-Semitic group gaining support in U.S. colleges is SJP, Students for Justice in Palestine. This group practices discrimination under the guise of social action; many groups take advantage of this dangerous front. Despite SJP’s seemingly peaceful objective, justice, there is clear proof of their true nature, overwhelmingly violent. The founders and members of SJP encourage violence among their members. One speaker calls for an intifada, an uncontrolled riot, in the United States. Another asks his audience, “Who among you is the next suicide bomber?” These are not words to end a conflict, but to intensify it.
SJP is a real and present threat. Jewish students attending UC Berkeley are one example of a population faced consistently with this malevolent presence. Through a video interview, students there have expressed feelings of being unsafe on their campus, and alienation from their peers. Unfortunately this is not an isolated instance. Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel sentiment is affecting many campuses.The first speaker that our group heard, journalist Gil Hoffman, encouraged us to abandon our American colleges, with their high tuition rates and growing Anti-Israel and BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel) movements. But if all Jewish students flee from American colleges, antisemitism wins. If we aren’t there to speak up for ourselves and Israel, who will? What the students at UC Berkeley need, what all Jews need, is dependable resources to advocate for Israel, and speak up against the opposition.
Stand With Us is an excellent resource to do so. An international, nonprofit organization, they have the information and support that students need to successfully speak up in their colleges, and even the world outside of this microcosm. Their purpose is to provide information that will combat the extremism and anti-semitism that spreads misinformation, and correct prejudices that result. They don’t want to shut down any opposition, but to encourage peaceful, respectful discussions and eventually policies that will lead to a resolution to the Israel-Arab conflict . This brings us back to the purpose of icnext and the trip itself- to be informed and prepared to advocate for Israel, and by extension, ourselves.
As Michelle Rojas described, Israel is “a country that is dealing with a conflict, not a country that is defined by a conflict”. Many people don’t care to see the difference. But Israel is an aid, not a burden to the international community. Israel is always among the first to send relief to the site of international disasters. Some Israeli responders reached those in need after Hurricane Katrina before the US’s own relief squads. Israel sent twice the amount of responders to Nepal as the U.S. It is tragic that so many people are too apathetic to inform themselves, to know more about Israel than its problems. Stand With Us seeks to change that. Each student that is educated about Israel can spread this information, to their peers, coworkers, friends, and more. This alone won’t create peace, but it is an essential step along the way.