The Hasbara Campus Pulse
California Update
Mar 10, 2011
By: Jessica Felber
Hasbara Fellows throughout California have decided to quit answering to anti-Israel students and begun asking the questions themselves. As UC Santa Cruz activist Guy Herschmann puts it, "We will hold an Israel Peace Week regardless of whether or not there is an Israel Apartheid Week on campus. We should be discussing Israel's efforts for peace even when we are the only ones discussing Israel, because it gives us the opportunity to control the messaging on our campus! SCIAC Israel Peace Week is scheduled for next quarter.
Meanwhile UC Berkeley's Tikvah: Students for Israel is holding it 4th Annual Israeli Peace and Diversity Week this week alongside SJP's Israel Apartheid Week. Just yesterday Tikvah held it's annual Peace Rally, with music, flags, dancing, and performances by the Jewish a cappella group, Kol HaDov and the Israeli dance class. For those of you who are local, the schedule for today's events (3/10) are as follows:
- "The Path to Peace" (Sproul Plaza 11:00-2:00pm)
- "Forgotten Refugees: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa" (110 Barrows 8:00-9:30pm)
Over east at UC Davis Hasbara Fellows planned and executed the successful and well attended 4th Annual Israel Advocacy Conference last Sunday. This conference gave Hasbara Fellows and other student activists from around Northern California the opportunity to meet and connect. From now until next quarter UC Davis' Israel Committee is hard at work planning their first ever Peace Week as well. Israel 360, Iranium and much more is in store for students on this campus!
Down south, American Jewish University held their first Israel 360 last week on campus. Students had a great time, laughing, learning, and even teaching. Students participated in the interactive environment that Israel 360 creates, throwing out facts of their own about Israel and oohing and ahhing at the ones they didn't already know.
California Fellows have understood and embraced the concept of pro-active programming and the effect is obvious. By controlling the messaging on campus students throughout the state are responding with curiosity and interest.
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