CLOSE-UP
Public Opinion
Continued from preceding page
David Olesker tells
University of Michigan
Hillel about anti-Israel
propaganda.
against Palestinians," and ad-
mits that "we have put up
some questionable showcases
ourselves. We try to respond
to the propaganda directly;
that's the best way to do it."
Chudnow believes Palesti-
nian propaganda "is getting
more vicious. They do a lot of
`Jews Yes, Zionism no."
Despite their efforts,
Jewish student groups re-
main outnumbered, under-
financed and lacking the
organization to present a
coordinated response to
Palestinian propaganda.
Richard Lobenthal, Michigan
region director of the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith, said that on campuses
like WSU, "the vast majori-
ty of students are not involv-
ed" because most are corn-
muter students and are not
compelled to participate in
26
FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1990
campus life. "And part of that
may be intimidation."
Moreover, Lobenthal said,
Jewish students are educa-
tionally unprepared to debate
the complex issues of Middle
East politics.
"I think it's fair to say that
across the board in the
Jewish community, when it
comes to talking about the
Middle East, the vast majori-
ty of Jews, no matter how
passionately they feel about
Israel, will tend to shrink
from any confrontation on
the grounds that they don't
have enough information!'
Parents and Jewish educa-
tional institutions must corn-
mit to teaching young
children about Israel's
historic and cultural role in
the Middle East and in the
world community, he said.
Without an educational
background Jewish students
will come to campuses un-
prepared to respond to anti-
Israel and anti-Semitic
propaganda.
"I can answer a question
about a particular event that
was brought up in an Arab
propaganda session;' Loben-
thal said. "But if a kid comes
to a college campus without
an education about Israel
and the Middle East, I can't
give that child a pamphlet
that will make him capable
of being a competent respon-
dent."
Goldstein said that Jewish
students who lack an educa-
tion about Israel
I
and the
Middle East are easily
swayed by Palestinian
students who use "simplistic
and emotional appeals?'
Palestinian students say
"How can you oppress a peo-
ple? You are a Jew, a
freedom-loving people. You
know what oppression is."
And if the Jewish students
are uninformed and they
stand there for 10 minutes
with the Palestinians, they're
going to walk away thinking:
`You know, they have a point.'
"They have their schtick for
the Jewish student who
doesn't know very much, and
most of the Jewish students
don't know very much and
they're very swayed.
"It's emotional manipula-
tion. There's a definite emo-
tional button they push for
every group — for the black
students, the white students,
the Chinese students?'
Part-time WSU student
Chaim Finkleman believes
that students are forming
opinions based only on Arab
propaganda. "A lot of people
I've talked to that don't have
a real understanding of
what's going on form their
opinions based on the pro-
paganda, and it makes it
very hard to explain their
views; they've got this little
chunk of information and
they've already made up
their minds about the issue."
"I think a lot of people
aren't aware of the total
situation," student Cheryl
Adelman added. "And the on-
ly information they're get-
ting are from those
showcases?'
Lobenthal warned that the
cumulative effect of Arab
campus propaganda will
have a long-lasting impact on
students.
"The concern is that what
you may be doing is produc-
ing a generation of students
who, 10 years from now, will
be policy makers and deci-
sion makers. And they had
their views on the Middle
East shaped or affected by
college campus politics. And
the pro-Israel forces did not
make an adequate response?'
He also believes that the
Palestinian message is being
embraced by many students
due to the image of Israel as
an "aggressor?'
"The nature of left-wing
college campus protests is
always on behalf of the
underdog population, the op-
pressed population. And the
campus doesn't see Israel as
the underdog population.
"When Israel, some years
ago, was seen as the weak
underdog facing a strong,
organized Arab military
establishment, Israel was the
darling. Israel had a sort of
romanticism about it — the
Entebbe raid, for example.
But that image of Israel has
changed?'
Most Jewish community
organizations publish
material to educate Jewish
students about Israel and to
help them deflect the effects
of Arab propaganda on cam-
puses, Lobenthal said. But he
concedes that Arab student
groups have greater access to
subsidized materials and
speakers. "The resources are
always an issue for Jewish
students, and presumably
not as much of an issue for
the pro-Arab groups.
"The Jewish community is
a small community that
fights a variety of battles and
doesn't, therefore, have in-
finite resources to devote to
any one battle. There are ef-
forts now underway to look
at this problem and say:
Should we be doing more?
Should we be doing things
differently? And I think
that's going to be an ongoing
process?'
An ADL campus commit-
tee determines financial
allocations to area colleges
and universities. The com-
mittee also serves as a cam-
pus liaison that maintains
contact with Jewish faculty
and Hillel groups.
Goldstein, in cooperation
with the Detroit Zionist
Federation, is organizing a
statewide coalition of student
groups "of any and all
ideologies that do pro-Israel
work" on Michigan cam-
puses. The coalition, called
the Michigan Alliance of
Students for Israel (MASI),
hopes to share resources, in-
formation and speakers
among participating cam-
puses. Goldstein said the
MASI currently has
delegates from Michigan
State University, University
"We're always
responding to
someone else's
actions rather
than going on an
offensive."
Stuart Sherman
of Michigan, Wayne State
University,
Eastern
Michigan
University,
Western Michigan Universi-
ty and Oakland University.
Adelman said the Jewish
community would have a
greater awareness of the pro-
paganda problem on campus
if the Jewish student popula-
tion at WSU was bigger.
Brenner also believes the
community would have a
greater interest if more
parents sent their children to
WSU. "If this kind of thing
was going on at Michigan
State, there would be a lot
more support from the
Jewish community," Brenner
said. "You need personal in-
volvement; I think they need
a personal stake in what is
happening to really get emo-
tional about it. You need a
kid who goes to school here."
I
n Ann Arbor; the student-
newspaper, The Michi-
gan Daily, continues to be
the focus of tension. Since the
intifada, the paper has taken
a pro-Palestinian editorial
position that many Jews in
the university community