Guest Commentary: Israel Advocacy on Campus – It’s Easier Than You Think
January 2, 2013 13:52 by GuestPostGrowing frustration with cookie-cutter national campaigns and a desire for a grassroots, student-led Zionist movement has spawned an increasing number of independent, autonomous pro-Israel student groups on campuses across North America. While refusing to take orders from a central organization, these clubs often work hand-in-hand with Hillel to promote Israel, relying on their familiarity with the student body and ability to say and do what they want without waiting for orders from abroad. I expect this sophisticated form of micro-targeting to become the face of university Israel advocacy over the next decade, replicating similar developments in the American political arena.
3. It’s Easy to Lend a Hand
Perhaps the best news about Israel advocacy on campus is that it’s easy to get involved, regardless of your academic status or income level. On most campuses, there is a small core of dedicated Israel activists, who regularly skip class, stay up late, and even postpone vacations in order to better combat anti-Israel demonstrations. Meanwhile, the university’s larger Jewish student population cheers them on from the sidelines, but declines their invitations to get involved.
This ought to change, for a variety of reasons. Obviously, Israel advocacy becomes increasingly effective as more and more students lend a hand. The effect is exponential, because each passionate Zionist who openly joins the cause will have tens or even hundreds of non-Jewish, non-committed friends on campus, who might receive their first serious exposure to the problems plaguing the Middle East via their friend’s advocacy.
But most Jewish students don’t become heavily involved in pro-Israel activity, which leads us to the heart of the problem. Anti-Israel forces on campus have failed miserably in achieving their stated goals: despite years of campaigning, no North American university has actually divested from Israel or companies that do business with it, and anecdotal evidence suggests that most non-committed students are frankly repelled by the gruesome, over-the-top verbal attacks staged against the Jewish State and its friends on campus.
As a practical matter, the BDS Movement and its fellow travelers have no effect whatsoever on the Middle East or domestic politics – but they are causing damage here, at home. On Canadian campuses where anti-Israel activity is most virulent and commonplace, Jewish students, even those not formally involved with Zionist clubs, become frightened and demoralized. Friends have told me that they feel unsafe wearing kippot or Star of David necklaces at York and Concordia Universities, for fear of anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist assault and persecution.
In truth, Israel advocacy on North American campuses is less about fighting for Israel than fighting for the right of Jewish and Zionist students to speak freely on campus, without being ashamed of their identity or beliefs.
Everyone can pitch in for this all-important struggle. Jewish students who wish to avoid the limelight can still contribute, whether by designing posters off-campus, writing pamphlets, or soliciting donations. Parents can help by encouraging their sons and daughters to seek out pro-Israel groups when they arrive on campus.
North American Jews are accustomed to fielding hundreds of financial requests from community organizations each year. While donating to your local Hillel branch is always a great option, more donors should consider lending money to the aforementioned grassroots, campus-specific pro-Israel organizations. These start-ups typically require far less money – as little as fifty or a hundred dollars can fund their activities for an entire semester. Better yet, these small clubs are extremely transparent, lacking the costly but necessary bureaucracy of a national organization.
***
Israel advocates are winning the battle on campus, rendering the melodramatic antics of anti-Zionist instigators irrelevant with confident displays of logic and poise. In my three years on campus, I’ve seen the BDS Movement tangibly lose steam year after year.
But the battle is not yet won. If we are to continue the struggle, and return the genie of campus anti-Israel sentiment to its bottle, we need the help of people like you.
Image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com, Wikimedia Commons/Krzysztof Szyma?ski.
Asher Garber
2:19 pm
Jan 02, 2013
To suggest Israel is not a Left Wing cause ignores how and why Israel was created. What can be said is that Israel haters have tried to manipulate Left Wing thinking and debate. There are some parallels in this regard, but in reality, when people discuss the Left Wing supporting the Palestinian Cause, we’re talking a bunch of Middle East neophytes combined with an actual Jew-hating public combining forces and, say, voting for thousands of UN resolutions that have nothing to do with reality.
Israel is a multi-ethnic country that that is economically part Socialist, and environmentally, the only country with more trees now than 60 years ago. 3 examples right there.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
24 
4
Mark
11:29 pm
Jan 02, 2013
Asher, your preposterous claim that poor little innocent lefties are being ‘manipulated’ into hating Jews and Israel is pure bunk. Old and new leftists have been singing hymns to the damnation of Israel since before the ’67 war, nearly fifty unbroken years of leftist ‘anti-Zionism’…so mentioning support from the left for the founding of Israel as some kind of evidence is misdirection at best, willful deception at worst. Was the majority at the 2012 DNC convention, booing inclusion of a platform plank weakly supporting Israel, a “bunch of Middle East neophytes” infiltrated by a few Jew haters? Israel-hating, and Jew-hating, IS mainstream leftism, in the US and all over the world.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
14 
1
Guest Commentary: Israel Advocacy on Campus – It’s Easier Than You Think | The Conservative Papers
5:31 am
Jan 03, 2013
[...] January 2, 2013 13:52 by GuestPost [...]
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0
Study: Iranian Meddling Hijacked Bahraini Uprising | Blogs about Israel aggregation
9:58 am
Jan 03, 2013
[...] 4. Israel Advocacy on Campus: It’s Easier Than You Think [...]
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0
Fred Leitner
6:46 pm
Jan 03, 2013
A well-written and cautiously reassuring article. We can’t be complacent – we have to speak up and stand up for what is right. I would like to know how to go about finding about these grass roots campus organizations so we can support them.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
8 
0
M Boxenbaum
8:38 pm
Jan 03, 2013
Anti Israel info war has escalated 4 years Lng before 911 I knew of Left Jewish Berkeley Prof scared to death after a propalestinian demonstration No moral support fm fellow nonJewish profs I knew the tide had turned I emailed Knesset to alert them The info war was being lost Warned them putting their faith in a US President or Congress was big mistake Go to the people Constantly use a massive PR campaign
Use attractive women sorry to you feminists Use eloquent speakers like Netanyahu
Now w/ massive support of misinformed Jewish Liberals we have an Anti Israel President
Unless we ovetake this left effort Israel is in deep trouble
Must use their own Alinsky type warfare against them.shalom
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
10 
1
Michael T
9:35 pm
Jan 03, 2013
The US President is certainly no friend to Israel.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
10 
1
M Boxenbaum
10:46 pm
Jan 03, 2013
No. He is no friend to Israel. As he graciously entertained members of the Muslim Brotherihood in the Castle…errr..Whitehouse who received a gift of $1.5 Billion of our tax dollars..no wait..is that fiat capital from the Fed or debt your grandchildren will pay to China..no matter..8 Israelis died in a terror attack in Eilat..by the very same friends of Obama…
G-d help those Jews that are still too blind to see what they have helped put in our Whitehouse..
Obama is NO FRIEND of Israel..
Wake UP!
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
8 
1
John Jaffe
6:31 am
Jan 04, 2013
Of course you’re exactly right about Obama. How stupid can some Jews be in their blind allegiance to some vague liberal mindset that it blinds them to the beyond obvious conclusion regarding Obama’s negative bias toward Israel.
Who do they think approved that plank in the Democratic convention platform removing support for Jerusalem as Israel’s capital? Who do they think appointed notoriously Israel Administration representatives like Susan Rice, Chuck Engel, Brezhinski, Suzanne Power, etc., etc.?
If you need any more proof of this Administration’s animus toward Israel, just check out the YouTube video of Susan Rice’s vile anti-Israel rant @ the UN Security Council!
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
7 
0
Ron
1:16 am
Jan 04, 2013
Despite the protestations of some, the left’s very roots are virtually identical with terrorist regimes that included the former Soviet Union and the nazi machine. There wasn’t a deutschemark’s worth of ideological difference between them. Nor are there between those and the pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist gang of college thugs. It’s fact that the leftists have done a better job in the modern era of communications, and have wrapped their arms around a willing media infrastructure that has turned its back on journalistic ethics. Hence, a continual assault by campus Islamists against Jewish and pro-Israel students on campuses across North America.
A very well-done article by this young man.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
6 
0
Alfred Neuman
6:21 am
Jan 04, 2013
Thanks to Aiden Fishman for his well-researched and reasoned piece. There’s no question the the Left has decided that the Palestinians and Islamists are the “victims” in the Mideast conflict and will stop at nothing to promulgate their hateful lies and antiIsrael propaganda.
While i generally agree with Aiden that education is the best tool to combat this very serious demonization of Israel (with usually a thinly disguised antiSemitism included), i also think that pro-Israel and pro-Western values people need to be more aggressive in showing how truly destructive the world’s jihadists and radical Islamists are.
This could include exhibits of Islamic murderous terrorism with photos for exa
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
6 
0
Alfred Neuman
6:24 am
Jan 04, 2013
…for example, i.e. a counter-protest labelled “Islamofascist Murder Week”. I really don’t think anything less than dramatically demonstrating exactly what Israel (and the rest of the world!) is up against is up against currently will catch the necessary attention.
These counter-demonstrations could also include loud picketing of BDS events with signs like “stop the lying”, “no more Islamofascist murder”, “say no to antiSemitism”, etc. Jews don’t have a great track record when it comes to being passive in the face of persecution.
Well-loved. Agree or Disagree:
6 
0
Mark
8:25 am
Jan 04, 2013
Alfred, the actions you propose have long been needed. But I believe that education must be the initial priority, as absent a proper analytical framework, I fear the actions would be futile, even counter-productive. The knee-jerk response from those who hold the big megaphones – media, academics, pundits, NGOs, foundations – will be the same braying accusations of islamophobia and racism used to shut down debate and stifle free thought. Speaking the facts about Islamism and defending Israel elicits the drooling Pavlovian response of ‘hate’ speech. That conditioning, which has poisoned the minds of millions, must be broken before people can listen to, and actually hear, the truth.
Agree or Disagree:
1 
0
Miriyam
10:26 pm
Feb 12, 2013
Alfred, I speak from the campus where Rachel Corrie’s teachers set her up to be a suicide martyr. I am a very liberal, even left, person. But the echo-chamber left has gone off the deep end in the past 30 years, betraying its constituents. Many of us are not following it there but looking for reason and adult discourse.
Mr. Fishman is exactly correct: although BDS and other anti-Semitic movements get magnified by the anti-Israel newsmedia they exploit so well, the hearts and minds of rank and file people are won with reason, decency, and occupying higher ground. That debars orchestrated outbreaks of reaction formation disorder. Stay calm. Trust diversity. In any room, be the adult.
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0
Anton Alexander
10:42 pm
Jan 04, 2013
A problem for many is that 100 years ago, Palestine was either thinly populated or uninhabitable in many areas. Why? See http://www.eradication-of-malaria.com
Agree or Disagree:
1 
0
Weekly Meanderings
8:12 am
Jan 05, 2013
[...] may soon rival print subscriptions if the trend continues.”Twelve (almost) historic speeches.Defending the State of Israel on campuses: “For far too many people, any mention of the words “Israel” and “university campus” [...]
Agree or Disagree:
1 
0
Jim
7:13 am
Jan 06, 2013
This world is divided – thank God for ‘the tower of Babble’ incident (Genesis 11:1-9)!
If the whole world supported Israel, I’d be concerned that Israel might become arrogant, and become lax. Likewise if the Palestinians were mostly accepted by the international community; the Palestinians might enact what it perceives as vengeance towards Jewish settlers/businessmen, in such a way that brings later regret (upon later reflection or judgement).
Call me crazy but I think it is good to have separation. About the comment of ‘the tower of Babble,’ I must say it doesn’t relate perfectly; but what I am trying to say is it prevents massive conglomerates, which could end up as a greater evil.
Agree or Disagree:
0 
1
Mark
7:31 am
Jan 06, 2013
“Likewise if the Palestinians were mostly accepted by the international community….” IF???? The UN, EU, OIC, Non-Aligned [sic] Movement, ad nauseum are firmly in the Palies’ pockets…so who’s left? A mere handful of nations, sometimes, not always, in Israel’s corner. So you were saying?
Agree or Disagree:
0 
0