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Posted By admin on March 1, 2017

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The apartheid wall at Columbia University. Photo: Columbia SJP/Facebook.

Anew Israeli initiative to prepare high school students to deal with and confrontanti-Zionist activity that they are liable toencounter when they get to college was laudedby Jewish advocacy groups this week.

Opportunities that expose young people to Israels people, history and culture are incredibly important in developing educated, engaged students who can stand up for Israels right to exist when threatened on campus. We welcome programs that educate students about Israel and build love and respect for the Jewish homeland before students arrive on college campuses, Hillel International spokesmanMatthew Berger told The Algemeiner on Tuesday.

Berger, speaking for the worlds largest Jewish student organization, was referring to the joint Jewish Agency for Israel-Strategic Affairs Ministry endeavor first reported on by The Jerusalem Postto equip Jewish studentsabout to enter universities with the tools tobetter cope with propaganda smears, antisemitism and boycotts, according to JAI Chairman Natan Sharansky.

March 1, 2017 2:38 pm

EducationalgroupStandWithUs Executive Director of High School Affairs Miri Kornfeld told The Algemeinerthat preparing the many high school students who may not know how to respond articulately to the ideological assault on the Jewish state will shift the emphasis from putting out fires to preventing them before they even start.

Gilad Skolnick, director of campus programming for the campus bureau of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, saidthat anti-Israel activists and professors are more organized than ever before at spreading lies and disinformation about Israel. He said that students especially those not coming from the Jewish day school system, and therefore have greater challenges when it comes to understanding the complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict can always benefit from more training to counter hostilenarratives.

But a lack of knowledge is not the mainproblem that Hasbara Fellowships Executive Director Elliot Mathias said he hopes the initiative will take into account. The key, he said, is first teaching kidswhy they should care about Israel beforetraining them in how to advocate for it.

He explained: Students must be engaged in why Israel is so important to the Jewish people; how they can have a personal connection to Israel; and why standing up for their brothers and sisters in Israel is an integral part of their Jewish identity.They must be given the tools to understand the mission of the Jewish people to make the the world a better place, and the central role that Israel plays in this. If they understand these things, they will be receptive tolearning how to advocate for the Jewish state.

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, head of campus watchdog group the AMCHA Initiative, told The Algemeinerthat many Jewish students, regardless of their personal or political affiliations are being singled out, harassed, intimidated and sometimes even assaulted by anti-Israel activists. As a result, they are thrust into the role of Israels foot soldiers simply because they are Jewish. Preparing high school kidsfor this intolerant climate, which we are working hard to change, is critical.

The announcement about the launch of theinitiative comes amid a sharp increase in anti-Israel activity often crossing the line intoantisemitism on campuses around the world. In February alone, images of a Nazi gas chamber and nearby crematorium were scrawled in the room of a Jewish student at the University of Minnesota; pamphlets accusing Jewish terrorists trained by Israeli Zionists of orchestrating last months deadly shooting at a Montreal mosque were found atCanadas Western University; and a speech at Trinity College in Dublin by the Israeli ambassador to Ireland was cancelled at the last minute,due to protests outside the lecture hall.

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New Israeli Initiative to Equip Jewish High School Students With ... - Algemeiner

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