Israel in Focus 2008
Over 100 students from across the United States and Canada attended the annual Israel in Focus conference, which was held at the Tower Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
The unofficial standard bearer of a StandWithUs Israel in Focus conference on Nov. 7-9 was Hillel Kook, a Zionist activist who faced enormous obstacles in sounding the alarm in the United States during the early stages of the Holocaust. Cited first in the opening speech by Esther Renzer, the organization’s president and co-founder, Kook’s story of persistence and solitary struggle became a theme echoed by the speakers throughout the daylong symposium at Sinai Temple.
Itamar Marcus, founder of Palestinian Media Watch, pioneered the practice of monitoring and reporting on various Palestinian media sources and presented a disturbing slew of video clips and excerpts from Arab television, school textbooks and newspaper articles.
A rapid-fire, joke-riddled seminar by communications expert Neil Lazarus offered a crash course in how to advocate for Israel more effectively – one person at a time.
In Kook fashion, investigative author Edwin Black railed against United States inaction in addressing the looming oil crisis. Best known for his book, “IBM and the Holocaust,” Black discussed his latest publication, “The Plan: How to Rescue Society the Day the Oil Stops – or the Day Before,” which lays out a detailed strategy for surviving a sudden, potentially catastrophic shortage of oil, a fate he warns is imminent.
Looking toward the future, Micah Halpern, a Middle East columnist and terrorism expert, offered a brief analysis of what’s next in U.S. and Israeli politics: “In Israel you can often predict what will happen in four days, sometimes guess at what will happen in four weeks and never know what will happen in four months.”
Heading in the opposite direction, historian and StandWithUs consultant Roberta Seid whizzed through 3,060 years of Israeli history, pointing out overlooked or misunderstood facts about the contested region.
Learning from all of these speakers, from StandWithUs’s campus staff, and from each other, students walked away with a wide breadth of knowledge about Israel, and how to properly advocate on campus.
Ohio Loves Israel Summit
Brett Cohen, SWU’s Midwest Regional Coordinator, was invited to give a workshop on campus anti-semetism at the Ohio Loves Israel summit at Ohio State University on Sunday,
November 2nd. Integral to the planning of this event was SWU Emerson Fellow Daniel Bier. The day-long summit allowed students the opportunity to network and engage with Israel advocacy organizations.
Neil Lazarus educates students in NY & Georgia
On November 2nd, two days before the U.S. elections, StandWithUs and NYU’s Gesher Club brought Neil Lazarus to speak to the NYU campus about what is currently happening in Israeli and American politics at this time. Many students had questions about how each American candidate might affect Israel, especially in regards to the Golan Heights. Neil dynamically addressed all the students concerns. Everyone enjoyed the event extensively and we wish to see Neil Lazarus back at NYU soon.
StandWithUs partnered with the Hillels of Georgia on Nov. 3rd to bring Awesome Seminars director Neil Lazarus to Emory University and Georgia Tech. All of the members of the audience really enjoy the program and want to know when he is coming back to speak again.
Itamar Marcus exposed Palestinian Hate Education @ DePaul U, U of Chicago, & UPENN
The DePaul Conservative Alliance and DePaul Hillel hosted the event: “Teaching Truth or Preaching Hate: Education in the Palestinian
Territories” on Tuesday, November 11th, featuring the founder of Palestinian Media Watch, Itamar Marcus. Marcus was also hosted at the University of Chicago by the Chicago Friends of Israel the night before. Both events highlighted the need for change in the Palestinian educational system and showed clips from Palestinian television, highlighting the issues of hate education, and the promotion of violence through orchestrated propaganda.
Marcus also presented @ UPENN, an event organized by Emerson Fellow Brandon Paroly and PIC, the Penn Israel Coalition.
Nonie Darwish visits Ohio
SWU Emerson Fellows Leo Nayfeld and Debbie Karmel championed free speech in a Midwest tour for SWU veteran speaker Nonie Darwish. On Wednesday Nov. 12th Darwish spoke to a crowd of over 300 at Miami University of Ohio. On Thursday, Nov. 13th she spoke to a large audience at the University of Cincinnati. The UC event was overrun by anti-Israel protesters, but SWU Midwest Regional Coordinator Brett Cohen, in conjunction with other campus staffers, were able to keep the event under control and facilitate a post-lecture dialogue. Darwish’s tour was a definite success as new channels of
dialogue were opened on each campus.
JSU “Anti-Zionism” Discussion
The Jewish Students Union (JSU) and StandWithUs (SWU) partnered this week on November 13th, @ Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, IL, to discuss anti-Zionism and how high school students can prepare for this before they reach the campus. This is the third collaboration between JSU and SWU in the effort to engage high school
students in the discussion of campus anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.
Noam Bedein from Sderot Media tours the U.S.
learn israelStandWithUs is proudly supporting events across the U.S. hosting Noam Bedein, a photo-journalist and Director of Sderot Media Center. SMC publicizes the voices of the residents of Sderot and the Western Negev who suffer daily from the terror of Kassam attacks.
StandWithUs has sponsored events in November @ Brandeis University & Wellesley College on November 11th, @ UMASS Amherst on November 13th, @ Case Western Reserve University on November 21st. Bedein will be speaking @ Kent State University on November 24th.
Dr. Jonathan Adelman @ Univ. of Texas, Austin
Dr. Jonathan Adelman, a professor at University of Denver spoke on November 13th about the U.S.-Israel relationship in the new administration to UT campus leaders including members of Young Conservatives of Texas, University Democrats, College Republicans, AEPi Fraternity and Texas Hillel board. This is Texans for Israel’s major event of the Fall semester, and serves as the largest coalition building program of the year so far. The lectured served as a dessert reception, as well as a forum for many groups to meet and network while learning about something that is interesting to the whole community.
This event was organized by Emerson Fellow Maayan Kaplan.
“The Bubble” pops up @ Northeastern, Loyola (Chicago), & UVic
“The Bubble” is a movie which talks about the difficulties of the Jewish and Palestinian day-to-day life through the eyes of 4 young people in Tel-Aviv. These events were run by Emerson Fellows Ruth Wyshogrod @ Northeastern University, Lee Afgin @ Loyola University in Chicago, and Matan Levanon @ the University of Victoria.
Hadag Nachash @ Tulane University
Israeli hip-hop band Hadag Nachash will be performing this Saturday evening November 22nd @ Tulane University. StandWithUs is sponsoring the campus wide concert and a discussion with the band about Israeli society.
