10 | AUGUST 24 • 2023
PURELY COMMENTARY
column
At CAMERA on Campus Conference,
Learning Tools to Battle Jew-Hatred
O
n college campuses
today, hearing false-
hoods like “Zionism is
racism” and “Israel is an apart-
heid state” is a
reprehensible but
inevitable reality
for most Jewish
and pro-Israel
students. What is
to be done about
it? CAMERA on
Campus believes it
has an answer.
In light of the increasing chal-
lenges posed against students,
CAMERA on Campus hosted
its 13th annual International
Student Leadership Conference
in Boston from July 28-30.
Forty top student leaders from
across the United States, the
United Kingdom and Israel gath-
ered for a weekend of intensive
training with the goal of foster-
ing a tight-knit community of
battle-ready Zionists.
Diverse perspectives were rep-
resented at the conference, with
attendees from across the politi-
cal and religious spectrum.
Speakers included members of
the CAMERA on Campus team
and a selection of CAMERA
’s
research analysts. Experts in
journalism, media monitoring,
law, history and political science
lectured at the conference and
held essential discussions with
students.
The topics discussed included
the legal rights of students on
campus; addressing calls for
divestment in student govern-
ment; responding to the apar-
theid libel; and how to navigate
difficult conversations about
complex geopolitical issues,
domestic policy in Israel and
international law.
Among those who attended
were the incoming cohort of
2023-24 CAMERA fellows and
CAMERA on Campus coalition
members — a cadre of students
committed to the fight against
the deluge of anti-Israel propa-
ganda on college campuses.
Fellows publish articles in
their campus papers, host events
and speakers, and provide the
study body access to reliable
information about Israel and
Zionism.
CAMERA fellows, CAMERA
researchers and staff constituted
53 out of the 73 publications
featured on the CAMERA on
Campus blog during the 2022-23
academic year. Many were fea-
tured in the Jerusalem Post, the
Algemeiner, Times of Israel and
other major outlets, including
JNS.
CAMERA on Campus coa-
lition members routinely hold
events on campus and receive
funding for programming. They
also participate in three annual
campaigns: Mizrahi Stories,
Apartheid Week Exposed and
This Is Zionism.
Sessions at the conference
emphasized ways to address
misinformation and antisemi-
tism on the digital frontlines —
namely, social-media platforms
like TikTok, Instagram and
Facebook. A recent study con-
ducted by researchers at Brandeis
University found “a 41% increase
in antisemitic posts, a 912%
increase in antisemitic com-
ments and a 1,375% increase
in antisemitic usernames” on
TikTok between February and
May of 2020 and 2021.
Attendees learned effective
strategies to use social-media
platforms for the greater good, to
raise awareness about the prob-
lem of antisemitism, and to share
accurate information about Israel
and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The challenges students face
were also discussed at the con-
ference, as pro-Israel and Zionist
students are often silenced,
harassed and singled out by
anti-Zionist groups on campus.
For instance, at the University
of Vermont, a federal investi-
gation revealed lapses in how
university administrators han-
dled allegations of antisemitism,
including one example where
a teaching assistant claimed to
withhold course credits from
Jewish students, subtracted
points from Jewish students,
praised the theft of an Israeli
flag from a Jewish student’s res-
idence and even wrote the word
“Kristallnacht” above a photo
of a damaged storefront with
Hebrew writing on it.
To help students get an under-
standing of what their rights are
on campus, CAMERA senior
research analyst David Litman,
an alumnus of Case Western
Reserve University School of
Law, gave students comprehen-
sive insight into invoking their
First Amendment rights and
understanding anti-discrimina-
tion laws in the United States,
both of which have become
increasingly important in pro-
tecting Zionist student voices on
campus.
These sessions are a window
into the tremendous effort that
CAMERA on Campus places
in developing comprehensive
resources for student leaders.
While attendees come in as
Zionists, they leave with confi-
dence, knowing that the facts are
on our side and a reliable net-
work of peers, researchers and
professionals are behind them.
Adam Gordon is a senior campus adviser
at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle
East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA),
where he works with students across the
United States and Canada.
Adam
Gordon
JNS.org
Students from the 2023 Student Leadership Conference.
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