Jewish student leaders learn to combat BDS at Israel conference

Seventy Jewish student leaders from all over the world came together last week to learn about Jewish social justice and to develop practical skills for becoming campus activists. Held at Kibbutz Tzuba outside of Jerusalem, the congress was hosted by the World Union of Jewish Students, the umbrella organization of 48 worldwide Jewish student unions.

At a track on the future of Israel, the topic that dominated the discussion was the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) against the Jewish State and how to combat it at their respective universities.

The scourge of BDS was felt on every campus, varying only in the way it presents itself.

In Australia, most of the universities do not have “campuses.” Thus, the BDS is manifested at the university and student government level rather than through anti-Israel events on campus. Nevertheless, there are still anti-Israel rallies that often blur the line between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment. Congress participants reported various BDS actions, from protestors yelling at Jewish students, “go back to Europe,” to waving bank notes at them. A non-Jewish student was thrown off of a student board for visiting Israel. When Colonel Richard Kemp, the former British Army General, visited a school in Sydney, anti-Israel protestors (mostly members of Students for Justice in Palestine) stormed into the lecture hall, and Col. Kemp was unable to speak.

In Mexico, Jews attend a few major universities and their main problem is not knowing how to explain the situation in Israel. They want to learn to use “hasbara” (explanation and advocating for Israel) but lack the training.

In the UK, “direct action” BDS has been decreasing, a trend that encompasses “die-ins” (where anti-Israel activists act as if the IDF has just shot and killed them, and lay on the ground in the middle of campus) and “mock checkpoints” (where anti-Israeli activists bar entry into a dining hall or school facility, and ask for their IDs, standing with fake AK-47s, pretending to shoot Jewish students). However, the following BDS actions were reported: At Kings College, the student union supported BDS, which was “very scary for the Jewish students.” UK scholars boycotted Israeli academic institutions, as reported in The Guardian. At the London School of Economics, water bombs were thrown at students, fake checkpoints were erected, and students used legal definitions as a tactic to bash Israel so students could not refute the statements unless they understood the jargon.

In South Africa, during Apartheid Week on campus, the head of the BDS campaign sang, “kill the Jew” to a familiar Afrikaans tune. Fake rocks made of paper were thrown at Jews, and many Jewish students did not want to attend classes that week in order to avoid the BDSers

The students pledge to continue combatting the BDS movement at their universities in 2016. Many of them will organize an “Israel Peace Week” to counter Apartheid Week, or provide alternative programming based on coexistence and peace building. Another popular event mentioned was “Less Hamas, More Hummus,” a CAMERA initiative in which the students “buy-cott” Israeli hummus and show videos that illustrate the ills perpetrated by Hamas against Israel as well as the Palestinian people. The students also plan to host debates that will debunk the BDS myths. They hope to build relationships with other student groups on campus so that if others have a question or concern, they will turn to the Jewish students for the answers. Last, the students hope to be able to take part in the decision-making bodies of their schools by being voted into leadership roles.

After a violent ending to the year in Israel, the students from around the world are braced for a more brazen BDS in 2016 and an Apartheid Week on campus that will glorify the violence and terror that Israel has seen in the last three months. Hopefully, the WUJS congress has fortified and equipped them to meet the challenge.

Eliana Rudee is a Jerusalem based fellow with the Haym Salomon Center and the author of the “Aliyah Annotated” column for JNS.org. She is a graduate of Scripps College, where she studied international relations and Jewish studies. Her bylines have been featured in USA Today, Forbes, and The Hill. Follow her column on JNS.org.