Responding to Anti-Israel Apartheid Week

Hillel Fendel
A7 News

The annual climax of international anti-Israel propaganda, Israel Apartheid Week, has begun, and the Jewish Agency is stepping up its response on U.S. campuses.The anti-Israel campaign is centered around university campuses throughout the United States, and the Jewish Agency is using it as a trigger to greatly increase its force of PR speakers during the course of this year.
Israel Apartheid Week, accusing Israel of behaving towards Arabs as South Africa did towards blacks, features not only lectures at universities, but also public events and demonstrations in Europe and North America.

The Jewish Agency is interested in college graduates with experience in education and hasbarah (Israel advocacy). Together with the on-campus Hillel organizations, they are to bring Israeli perspectives to students, hold Israeli cultural events, initiate visits to Israel in the framework of programs such as Discovery, invite Israeli speakers to the campuses, and the like.

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky denies the very premise of Israel Apartheid Week. “The comparison between Israel and the apartheid regime in South Africa is totally groundless,” he said, “and is an example of modern anti-Semitism [whose purpose is to] demonize Israel. With our enemies doing everything they can to distance young Jews abroad from Israel, the objective of the Jewish Agency is to bring them closer to Zionism and Israel, and to build up their Jewish national pride and solidarity.”

Sharansky noted that the Agency has “long identified American campuses as a main front in our enemies’ war against Israel and Jewish national awareness, and therefore we will double in the coming months the number of emissaries on campus dealing with hasbarah.”Sample information for hasbarah can be found here.
http://www.israelcc.org/resources/Israel_Gaza_Campus_Resource.htm