By: Abram Shanedling

Pro-Israel awareness groups at campuses across the East Coast have been keeping busy this past week, facing a growing and more visible BDS movement, but remaining pro-active with several unique programs for students to learn the truth about Israel.

At George Washington University last Monday, students walking through University Yard were treated to a visual protest against Israel by members of the local Students for Justice in Palestine. The group erected a giant wall, seemingly to demonstrate Israel’s presence in the disputed territories, which was featured prominently the next day in the campus’s daily GW Hatchet.

Hasbara Fellow and President of Student Alliance for Israel Rachel Goldrich said the main worry was the publicity that the SJP protest received. “It was less the actual wall the group put up that scared us, but the fact that the Hatchet gave it so much publicity, giving it the main photo on the front page and having a video clip as well,” she said.

In response, Goldrich and fellow Hasbara Fellow Emily Alloy have contacted the newspaper editorial staff to voice their disappointment, and are planning to hold a Hasbara Fellowships activism training session next Monday about how to deal with the most anti-Israel claims.

University of Virginia

At UVA, pro-Israel activism group Hoos for Israel, led by President Carrie Filipetti and Hasbara Fellow Shoshana Spiro, have been bringing a jam-packed calendar of events. Here are some of the highlights:

• Israel in the Media with Neil Lazarus (7 pm, Wednesday, Oct 27 at Newcomb Hall)
• The Beginnings of Zionism: Basic Ideas and Debates: A Presentation by Asher Beieman (5 pm, Thursday, Oct 28. at Gibson 441 South Lawn).
• Iran: A Nuclear Threat to Israel and the World: A Presentation by Former Knesset Member Effie Eitam (7 pm, Tuesday, Nov. 2 at Ruffner G004C).

For more information, check out our calendar.

University of Maryland

At UMD last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of bringing in human rights expert and director of Media Central. The event, co-sponsored with The David Project and the ZOA at University of Maryland brought in around 50 students, and looked at human rights and freedom in the Middle East.

Special thanks to ZOA Maryland Dan Berdugo for planning the event with his team, Hasbara Fellow Aaron Czinn and Rabbi Ozzie Burhum of the Maryland Jewish Experience for helping publicize.

In other news from Maryland, Hasbara Fellow Traci Siegal published a thoughtful guest column last week in the Diamondback, discussing the protests outside of a recent event with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren.