Confronting Israeli bias on college campuses

As Jewish students prepare for college, Beverly Wachtel a Hewlett resident and member of the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre, said it’s important for them to understand the political landscape Israel and are prepared for any anti-Israel propaganda they may face at school.

In an effort to educate these students, Wachtel and the Hewlett-based Jewish centre’s Rabbi Andrew Warmflash put together an Israel advocacy program for high school juniors and seniors and their parents.

The Sunday, March 13 program will take place at 10 a.m. at the Jewish centre and begin with a presentation led by Aviva Slomich, a national student coordinator for Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America and two student fellows, a senior from CUNY Brooklyn and a freshman from Columbia University.

“Students need to know the facts in case they hear professors say something that’s not accurate or read false information in a textbook,” Wachtel said.

For the last three years, Slomich has worked with college students and has taught them how to confront anti-Israel bias on college campuses. She said the student fellows were chosen not only because they are in New York but because of their diverse colleges and different years on campus.

“Columbia is different than other campuses because they have an enormous amount of anti-Israel propaganda,” Slomich said. “While some campuses are fortunate enough not to have any, this is an important time in student’s lives where they’re going to be on their own and making their own decisions. They need to be aware that there are people out there giving the wrong information.”

Wachtel approached her about the idea for the program and wanted to gear it towards bat mitzvah age children but Slomich thought the program would be more beneficial for students heading off to college.

“Many freshmen students are shocked when they see any type of anti-Israel propaganda on their campuses,” Slomich said. “A lot of campuses bring speakers who distort views on the Middle Ease and Israel and when you hear information from a respected person you think you’re getting correct information when unfortunately it may not be true or it may be biased.”

The Executive Director of Student Leadership and Activities at Hofstra University, Sarah Young, said Hofstra’s Interfaith Center runs educational programs focusing on Israel and Judaism among the various other topics. “In general, we do a lot of events about anti-bullying, anti-racism and other diversity issues,” she said. “The Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre’s program is beneficial for any student on anti-bullying or anti-religious issues so they can counteract that.”

Following Slomich’s presentation, students will visit with the student fellows to hear about their experiences and ask questions, while parents can speak with and ask questions of Rabbi Warmflash and Slomich. “It would be very helpful for parents to know what experiences the students face,” Slomich said. “It wasn’t the same for our parents when they were in college.”

Wachtel, who wants to run this program every other year, is hoping to have more than 100 people attend the program but said the centre can accommodate more than 300.

“We’re hoping to engage a lot of students,” she said. “I hope the students also follow-up with us once they get to college to let us know if they’ve faced any Israel bias so they can come back and speak about it."