{"id":15963,"date":"2015-11-20T00:14:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T08:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=15963"},"modified":"2015-11-17T16:42:11","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T00:42:11","slug":"first-israel-on-campus-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/11\/20\/first-israel-on-campus-event\/","title":{"rendered":"First Israel on Campus event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yael Steinberg, left, and Zina Rakhamilova at Israel on Campus\u2019 first event of the year at the University of British Columbia. (photo by Zach Sagorin)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOften Jewish students on university campuses struggle to express any kind of pro-Israel sentiment. They are intimidated to do so and they don\u2019t have the tools to articulate or engage in productive conversations,\u201d said Ariella Karmel, president of Israel on Campus (IOC) at the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n

Karmel spoke to the Independent<\/em> after the closing of the IOC\u2019s first event of the year, called Israel Unlimited: Exploring Israel at UBC. Held on Oct. 29, its purpose was to teach effective communication skills and ways to address anti-Israel bias. It was led at Hillel BC by Zina Rakhamilova, StandWithUs Canadian campus coordinator, and Yael Steinberg, Hasbara Fellowships\u2019 West Coast director.<\/p>\n

\u201cIOC is a student-run group \u2026 relating to Israeli culture, media, food, and we are also a pro-Israel group,\u201d explained Karmel to the approximately 25 attendees. She said the club gives \u201ca platform to engage with Israel\u201d and is a resource for students who want to learn more about Israel.<\/p>\n

With the exception of BDS (boycott, divestment and sanction) last year, Steinberg said anti-Israel propaganda on campus is minimal. However, she said, \u201cWhen situations go down in Israel it becomes a lot more stressful on campus for those Jewish students, who somehow are held accountable for every action the state of Israel might possibly have ever done.\u2026 By virtue of Israel being the Jewish state, being a Jewish student means that you are the representative for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Screened at the event was the film Crossing the Line<\/em>, which, Steinberg explained, \u201cis about when anti-Israel propaganda gets out of hand and crosses into the realm of antisemitism, which even though you may not see huge amounts of it at UBC \u2026 this can spring up in a moment\u2019s notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The short film emphasized hasbara<\/em> (public relations), efforts to spread positive information about Israel, to stand up for Judaism and Israel: \u201cA Jewish person not secure enough in their Jewish identity and [who] doesn\u2019t know enough about Judaism, about Zionism, about Israel is going to be much more exposed, much more vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rakhamilova warned, \u201cJust because your campus climate is quiet for the most part, apathetic, doesn\u2019t mean necessarily you shouldn\u2019t do any sort of Israel engagement or Israel education because universities \u2026 across the country are dealing with BDS and are dealing with anti-Israel activity\u2026. You are not immune to that kind of stuff\u2026. It means you need to find a way to showcase a positive association with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rakhamilova suggested holding events on topics such as Magen David Adom or Israeli humanitarian aid, as a means of \u201cnipping\u201d anti-Israel activity \u201cin the bud before it hits campus,\u201d and \u201cnot only being reactive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are situations when people are allowed to be legitimately critical about Israel,\u201d she stressed, \u201cbut there is a distinction between being fair about Israel and when it becomes antisemitic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The line between the two can be measured, she said, by the three Ds: demonization, delegitimization and double standard. \u201cThat\u2019s how you can pinpoint when this is no longer legitimate criticism of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an example, Rakhamilova offered a chant from the Students for Justice in Palestine: \u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free\u201d \u2013 this is delegitimization, she explained, as it is \u201cindicating from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, so that entire land is Palestine and not Israel.<\/p>\n

So, claiming [that] the Jewish people, unique among all national or ethnic groups, have no claim to sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rakhamilova described the BDS movement as encompassing all three Ds, noting particularly its emphasis only on Israel, and ignoring any other body bringing harm to the Palestinians, as well as ignoring all of the contextual information. \u201cAnd a lot of the imagery can be looked at to be demonizing towards Israel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the real issues? Occupation, excessive force, racism?\u201d Steinberg asked. In addressing any of these issues, she said, \u201cEach anti-Israel message has a corollary pro-Israel message.\u201d Regarding excessive force, for example, \u201cthe Israeli government sent the IDF in with foot soldiers to Gaza to eradicate different terrorist cells when they could have sent the air force and turned Gaza into a parking lot because Israel values human life so much and they were trying to protect civilian casualties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rakhamilova gave another example: the assertion that Israel is an apartheid state. \u201cApartheid is a system of racial subjugation to benefit one race over the other,\u201d she said. \u201cDoes that happen in Israel? Do Arab Israelis have the same human rights as Jews in Israel? … Arab Israelis have equal rights in Israel.\u201d She recommended including the message: \u201cUntil the Palestinians can accept the right for a Jewish state to exist, peace will be elusive. Peace can only come through mutual recognition and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to a question about how pro-Israel students should handle Jewish students who support BDS in the name of social justice and human rights, Rakhamilova said, \u201cJust because you are Jewish doesn\u2019t mean what you are saying is any less antisemitic,\u201d and whether the criticisms are antisemitic or not can be gauged using the three Ds.<\/p>\n

A member of the Jewish Defence League (JDL) asked how to respond to an event such as the one held by the Progressive Jewish Alliance, who hosted Israeli conscientious objector Yonatan Shapira on campus on Nov. 3. Some 125 people attended that event, including about eight protesters.<\/p>\n

Rakhamilova began to respond, \u201cWhen you come in and you look like you are demonstrating against someone\u2019s right to speak\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are demonstrating against their spreading antisemitism and anti-Israel propaganda on campus,\u201d interrupted the JDL member, adding, \u201cWe are just giving a positive message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinberg suggested \u201cnot giving the event more publicity,\u201d to which the JDL member countered, \u201cWe need to address it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinberg responded, \u201cWhen we spoke about going rogue against the Jewish community\u2026.\u201d The JDL member interrupted again, saying, \u201cIgnoring it will not make it go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinberg said, \u201cBy virtue of being a minority, one represents the whole and that\u2019s unfortunate, and it sucks, and that\u2019s racist, and it\u2019s awful, but that\u2019s the way this works. We have no choice but to work together \u2026 to figure out the best way to handle anti-Israel activity on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked for alternatives to demonstration, Steinberg suggested writing an op-ed after the fact, \u201cso you can control the messaging,\u201d working with the administration, or sending students to take notes of what has been said to use in the future.<\/p>\n

Rakhamilova noted that Hillel or the IOC could take action. \u201cThey never do,\u201d contended the JDL member.<\/p>\n

The event wrapped up soon afterward. Karmel described it as having been \u201creally productive\u201d and \u201chelpful in improving\u201d the ability of students to effectively communicate pro-Israel sentiments.<\/p>\n

Zach Sagorin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yael Steinberg, left, and Zina Rakhamilova at Israel on Campus\u2019 first event of the year at the University of British Columbia. (photo by Zach Sagorin) \u201cOften Jewish students on university campuses struggle to express any kind of pro-Israel sentiment. They are intimidated to do so and they don\u2019t have the tools to articulate or engage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4867,4871,4873,4872,4869,4870,4868],"class_list":["post-15963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-ariella-karmel","tag-hasbara-fellowships","tag-ioc","tag-israel-on-campus","tag-standwithus","tag-yael-steinberg","tag-zina-rakhamilova"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}