Message #64821

[Psalm 51:17]

In NJ, Students Prepare to Confront Virulent Campus BDS Movement
8/12/16
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/08/12/in-nj-students-prepare-to-confront-virulent-campus-bds-movement/

A concerned group of pro-Israel activists crowded into the social hall of Beth El Synagogue in East Windsor, New Jersey, Thursday night. The evening's topic was learning how to prepare college students in their families to combat the boycott/divestment/sanctions (BDS) movement growing on college campuses across the country.

BDS presents itself as a peaceful protest against Israeli settlements in the West Bank through economic sanctions on products produced in what Palestinian activists call “the occupied territories.” It isn't. The co-founder of the BDS movement, Columbia University Professor Omar Barghouti, has spoken openly about eliminating the entire State of Israel from the map.

Natan Sharansky, executive chairman of the Jewish Agency and human rights activist, has tagged the BDS movement as both anti-Israel and anti-Semitic for its use of what he calls the “three Ds”: delegitimization, demonization, and double standards.

In a program co-sponsored by the Beth El Israel Affairs Committee and the Princeton chapter of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, participants viewed two short films produced by non-profit Israel advocacy group Jerusalem U: Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus, and The Plight of the Palestinian Refugees.

Guests were then invited to query and comment during a student panel discussion led by Hillel Zaremba, the director of community relations & new media at Consulate General of Israel in Philadelphia.

Crossing the Line 2 details the experiences of a number of pro-Israel student activists on campuses including NYU and Brigham Young University, where the rise of the BDS movement resulted in violent protests, walkouts, and various forms of student harassment. Two Ohio University students, Rebecca Sebo and Gabriel Sirkin, feature prominently in the film. Their role as pro-Israel advocates on campus landed them in jail thanks to a pro-BDS student body president.

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