By Abram Shanedling

It takes real commitment to spend a day of your weekend in a professional meeting. But this past Sunday over 50 pro-Israel student leaders from universities across DC, Maryland and Virginia showed it as they convened in DC to discuss strategy and pro-Israel programming at a meeting hosted by the Israel on Campus Coalition of Greater Washington.

The goal of Sunday’s session was for pro-Israel student leaders and professionals to analyze current attitudes on campus and to brainstorm pro-active strategies to deal with delegitimization efforts that include this year’s “Israel Apartheid Week” and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS).

In attendance were student leaders from universities including American, George Washington, University of Maryland, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and even one student who drove all the way from William and Mary in Wiliamsburg, Va.

In one break out discussion group I joined, students agreed that perhaps the best pro-active way to combat delegitimization of Israel is by cultivating partnerships with other groups on campus such as Indian student groups, the Black Student Union, environmental coalitions and LGBTQ organizations.

Leaders, including Hasbara Fellow and Hoos for Israel Vice President Shoshana Spiro (University of Virginia) said that highlighting Israel’s commitment to human rights and contributions to global humanitarian aid, such as with Save a Child’s Heart, also goes a long way.

Spiro and Hoos for Israel are already planning a fundraiser in February for the pediatric heart care organization on campus, as well as several other pro-Israel student organizations throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

Special thanks to ICCGW Director Judy Novenstein for organizing Sunday’s meeting, and to Hasbara Fellows Hallie Bondar (GW), Aaron Czinn (UMD) Garrick Weiss (American) and Shoshana Spiro (UVA) for attending!

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In other news:

For those in the DC area, I’ll be giving a special advocacy training workshop at GW Hillel tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb 2) at 6:15 pm, sponsored by the GW Student Alliance for Israel and GW Hillel. For more information, email SAFI President Jamie Albert.

Meanwhile, the local SJP at the University of Maryland also seems to be training its own members on campus activism. On Monday, UMD JSP co-sponsored a workshop to on how to “effectively plan a campaign, create a timeline, and make a strategy to win.”

According to the Facebook event and SJP organizers, “SJPs in other universities have begun BDS movements across the country [and] we need to learn how to bring such a movement to UMD.”