Shalom Life
By: ELAD BENARI
Published: March 1st 2010
The 6th Israel Apartheid Week started on Monday in campuses across Canada and around the world. Once again Jewish students will have to face anti-Israel propaganda as they walk to and from classes on campuses.
Noah Kochman, chair of Political Affairs and Advocacy at the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students, told Shalom Life that it is imperative that Jewish students come together against Israel Apartheid Week: “One thing that’s important for us as Jewish students on campus is to speak out against these types of initiatives, which not only demonize Israel but seek to destroy what the university environment is all about and what Canadian academic discourse is all about. Our responsibility it not only to combat IAW but to grab hold of the opportunity to educate students not only on prospects for peace or on our hopes to support movements towards the peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but also to help others discover the Israeli people. Just like we wouldn’t want to have Canadians be defined by the war in Afghanistan or Americans to be defined by the war in Iraq, we don’t want Israelis to be defined by the Arab-Israeli conflict and we think that IAW not only doesn’t speak to deal with prospects for peace, it doesn’t even speak to deal with the major impediments to Palestinian human rights; rather, it speaks to end academic discourse on campus. It’s definitely counter to the Canadian values that we hold dear when it comes to academic discourse on campus.”
According to Kochman, there is a high number of non-Jewish students who need to be educated on Israel: “We’re dealing with an audience of over 80 percent of students on campuses who haven’t made up their minds about Israel and who don’t know enough about Israel to make up their mind. That’s over three quarters of the students on a given campus.”
In order to respond to the events of Israel Apartheid Week, the Jewish organizations on campuses have come up with programs of their own which present Israel from many different points of view and are geared to both Jewish as well as non-Jewish students. All three Toronto universities – York, U of T and Ryerson – will be hosting programs this week, but as Hillel @ York president Matan Hazanov emphasized, programming takes place throughout the year: “The fact that we have a higher volume of programs during Israel Apartheid Week may be a direct result of IAW but we’re strong all year round. Our community expects us and rightfully so to be more present on campus during this week but in reality we’re constantly organizing programs and doing advocacy throughout the entire year.”
York students have already begun to table as of last week in what was called Israel Product Week, which was meant to show the many different sides of Israel. Hazanov said that the programs have attracted more non-Jewish students who are not necessarily interested in politics: “We got an entirely different group of students coming out to our tables who are more interested in medical developments or innovations. We showed them what Israel is doing and we got tremendous feedback.” However, the events at York will not ignore the political situation. “We’re not shying away from the conflict and we have several speakers and programs that tackle the conflict directly. It’s an issue which has to be addressed,” said Hazanov.
The situation for Jewish students at York University has not been easy. “Every time you walk around the campus you’re faced with an Israel Apartheid wall, and it’s uncomfortable because you know the truth and you know that there’s 90 percent of students that don’t know what that means and they’re being fed misinformation,” said Nathaly Schneider, a York University student who is involved with programs advocating for Israel. “It makes me very nervous for all the students that go to York and are misled.”
In order to respond to events such as the ones during Israel Apartheid Week, Schneider and her friend Tali Spektor have come up with Parallels for Peace, an initiative meant to cease the negative attention on campus while educating and informing about Israel. Schneider and Spektor have teamed up with groups such as Hillel @ York, CUFI (Christians United for Israel), Stand with Us and Aish Campus, and they work together to achieve their goals. One of the programs they will be running this week is called Peacemaker, which is an online game that can be played from the perspective of a Palestinian or an Israeli trying to achieve peace. The game will be available at York’s Vari Hall for students to play.
Ryerson University will also be holding events during Israel Apartheid Week. Only five percent of the university’s students are Jewish, and as Tal-or Ben-Choreen, Arts and Culture Chair, Hillel @ Ryerson explained: “The Ryerson Student Union runs a lot of education programs that have to do with anti-Israel issues. There’s a newspaper on campus called the Free Press and they tend to have anti-Semitic cartoons and at least one article on why Israel is a bad place in every issue. I feel a lot of it comes from the organizations.”
“Every campus has its different challenges and issues, but there’s always talk about Ryerson being the testing ground for a lot of the anti-Israel events that go on during IAW and throughout the year because of the population and demographics of the school,” said Esther Mendelsohn who participates in the city-wide Israel Affairs Council. “There aren’t as many Jews at Ryerson as there are at U of T or York so the anti-Israel organizers might see it as a safe place to try out what they want to bring to the other campuses.”
Ben-Choreen explained that since Ryerson is a commuter school, it is hard to get Jewish students on campus to participate in programs, but she encouraged everyone to take part and mentioned that Hillel @ Ryerson often partners up with other non-Jewish organizations. This makes for some excellent opportunities to reach out to non-Jews on campus. “We’ve been doing a lot of multi-faith programs this year. We had a multi-faith soccer game and there’s a dodge ball tournament coming up. This week we’re tabling with the LGBT organization on campus and they were really excited to table with us. I think we have a lot more in common with the other groups and people are interested in learning more about Israel,” she said.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the events that take place during the week is that they present Israel from all points of view, political and non-political. “Many students are sick of that uncomfortable, intolerant harassment atmosphere that we see on Canadian campuses and we give them an opportunity to learn a bit more about Israeli society and about Israelis,” said Kochman. “I think that the Size Doesn’t Matter campaign and a lot of the other projects which are done within it and focus on cultural innovations, the Israeli people and spirit is a good way to get the message across. We’ve received great feedback from non-Jewish students, and Jewish students are energized as well and they’re more than happy to sit at a table and talk about Israeli society, and what Israel is all about to them.
“Each campus in Canada is different and each group takes out a different approach. Some groups do more hard-hitting campaigns and others focus on campaigns like Size Doesn’t Matterand similar things and that’s the beauty of the way students work in Canada,” added Kochman.
“We’re taking a multi-tiered approach this year and we have a lot of innovative and fun aspects to the campaign. Size Doesn’t Matter is a big part of the campaign but we’re also running the You Can’t Play With The Truth campaign and that’s to really answer the questions, because people do want to know and we want to give them an informed, academic and well-rounded answer to those questions,” said Mendelsohn. “At the same time, Israel does so many wonderful things in terms of humanitarian aid, technology, business, culture, and music and it’s our responsibility to make sure people know about it.”
All the students emphasized the importance of the participation of the Jewish community in the programs.
“My personal message to Jewish students out there is that some of us who organize these events feel very alone sometimes and we need the Jewish students to come out and show everybody else that we have a strong and thriving Jewish community. It would be nice and essential to see Jewish students from all different backgrounds coming out and getting involved, especially during this week. If we show that the Jewish people are strong and are there for each other, then no amount of anti-Israel people or protests can harm us,” said Hazanov.
“I’d say that this week is the most important week to look at Ryerson not just as a school but as the bigger picture, because we’re really educating people towards the future. I think that it’s really important that we teach people about Israel and how it’s not just a conflict. We really need to work on getting our message across, because there are many people who are eager to learn on campus and we need to give them the tools and reach out to them. This is the week to come out to an event and bring a non-Jewish friend along,” said Ben-Choreen.
For more information on the programs taking place this week, visit Hillel of Greater Toronto’s website at www.hilleltoronto.org
