By: Stephanie Aziz

It’s difficult trying to explain Jewish and Pro-Israel life on campus. It’s important to remember that most students do not feel anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment on a day-to-day basis.

It’s something that sometimes occurs behind the scenes, and is high in intensity on certain days or weeks. Most importantly, it’s extremely easy to avoid, to walk past, and to pretend like it’s not happening at all. This is what really makes it all the more dangerous.

For a whole semester I walked the same path to campus and in my last month my roommate and neighbor mentioned a swastika that was supposedly carved in the driveway of Hebrew Union College right next door to USC.  She claimed it had been there all semester. I decided to pay attention on my walk, and I noticed it immediately. I took a picture with my blackberry, sent out one email and by the next morning on my walk to campus I saw that it had been removed.

However, it was there for months, unnoticed by some, and ignored by others. Those who did notice it did not bother to do something to have it removed. It was all too easy for them to close their eyes and pretend like it meant nothing, or didn’t exist. Anti-Semitism exists. It exists in all different forms and most specifically it exists through Anti-Israel sentiment on the college campus. Some may think that it’s not a big deal, and even worse, some may choose to believe that anti-Israel sentiment has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. There is nothing further from the truth. Holding Israel to a double standard, ignoring the constant terrorism that exist there is anti-Semitism.

It is easy to ignore and to pretend as though it is something minimal, but as Jews, when we look at even our most recent history, how can we believe that any sign or form of anti-Semitism is minimal?

But a new generation of Jews and others are fighting back, and that's why we are excited to start a new year of pro-Israel activism in Southern California. We will be implementing many of Hasbara Fellowships' new initiatives such as the Friend Request Pending campaign to combat the Palestinian Authority's intransigence on the peace process.  We'll be participating in the Hasbara Fellowships Op-ed Ultimate Challenge, and will be building bridges with diverse groups of people on campus.