February 2023: In 2023, Bring CAMERA on Campus to Your Alma Mater

Newsletter – December 2022

As we complete another successful calendar year, we invite our friends and allies to share that applications for next year’s Fellowship are now open! The CAMERA on Campus Fellowship is a prestigious program for students who are activists, have an in-depth knowledge of the history of Israel, current issues, and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and are excited to share this information, and correct misinformation, with their peers. CAMERA Fellows will publish articles in the campus paper, holding open educational events (online or in-person ) create and share material on social media platforms. Upon completion of their requirements, Fellows receive a stipend and attend our annual international student leadership training conference where they convene with over one hundred student activists from across the US, Canada, the UK, and Israel. To learn more about the CAMERA Fellowship and how to apply, follow this link.

Mizrahi Stories – Sharing Our Heritage and Refuting Myths

Click here to view CAMERA on Campus’ Instagram reel countering common claims about Mizrahi ancestry. This past November, CAMERA on Campus observed Mizrahi Heritage Month through the latest iteration of our Mizrahi Stories campaign. For the first time, the site, mizrahistories.com, included complete profiles of twelve major Mizrahi communities from across the MENA region. We thank our partners; JIMENA, Harif, SAMi, Sephardic Community Alliance, and the Institute of Jewish Experience for their contributions that greatly improved our campaign content. “By highlighting the story of Mizrahi Jews, CAMERA on Campus’s Mizrahi Stories campaign shows that Israel is not a colonial endeavor but the fulfillment of the ancient Jewish desire to return to our homeland. Zionism was essential not only for the persecuted Jews in Europe but also for the Jews of the MENA region, who also experienced intense persecution.” Read more about CAMERA on Campus’ Mizrahi Stories campaign.

The aim of the Mizrahi Stories campaign is to educate the average college student about Mizrahi history and culture; something they are unlikely to be familiar with. For example, Duke University CAMERA Fellow, Alexandra Ahdoot published an article that was published in the campus paper, the Duke Chronicle and CAMERA on Campus posted an Instagram reel that featured CAMERA on Campus UK Associate, Jasmine San who shared about her Iraqi Jewish and Indian Jewish heritage. Lyn Julius of Harif, was one of several speakers who addressed student audiences, sharing difficult stories of their family members who were forced to flee their childhood homes overnight due to threats of persecution. Please visit MizrahiStories.com or follow @CAMERAonCampus on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to explore our campaign materials.

Click Here to Support Students

Supporting British Students

In reference to the previous investigation of former National Union of Students UK (NUS) president, Shaima Dallali, KCL CAMERA Fellow Saul Levene wrote for the Roar last summer that, “It should disturb us that Dallali invokes a massacre of Jews as precedent for advancing the conflict. It should bother us that she has praised Yusuf al Quradawi, who was accused of inciting violence against Jews by the Anti-Defamation League. It should bother us that Dallali used the Muslim Brotherhood’s slogan on her Twitter profile, called a cleric critical of Hamas “a dirty Zionist” and supported CAGE, an organisation accused of extremist sympathies.” When NUS announced in early November that, “Following the independent KC-led investigation into allegations of antisemitism, specifically into the then-President Elect under the NUS Code of Conduct, an independent panel has found that significant breaches of NUS’ policies have taken place. As per this finding, we have terminated the President’s contract,” it would be fair to hope that everyone who takes a stand against any form of discrimination would welcome these findings. Unfortunately, not only have the obvious anti-Israel societies in the UK continued to pushback against the dismissal of Shaima Dallali, but Queen Mary’s Student Union, which is supposed to stand and support all of its university students, stood in support of antisemitic harassment and disaffiliated from NUS in support of Shaima Dallali. Thankfully, with the bad news, we also find good news. We welcome and applaud the arduous work of Begzat Mirayev, a SWU UK alumnus and City College Israel Society committee member and UK Lawyers for Israel for prompting the Board of Trustees of City University’s Students Union (CSU) to override an anti-Israel BDS motion that was passed by students on December 1, 2021 while Shaima Dallali was the then chair of the trustee board of City Students Union. We are also honored to announce that City College Israel Society is our newest UK member of the CAMERA on Campus Coalition. For more details about the BDS override, please follow this link. To stay updated, follow @CAMERAonCampus_UK on Instagram.

Support for Terrorism at Israeli Universities?

While Tamer Nafer’s performance at the University of North Carolina (UNC) was condemned by the UNC-Duke University Consortium for Middle East Studies for its spreading of antisemitic rhetoric and the Department of Education was called in to investigate the incident in 2019, in Israel, Tel Aviv University students hosted Nafer on campus without any qualms or concern from the university. A few weeks later, notorious anti-Israel activist, Noam Chomsky, was invited to share his expertise with Tel Aviv University faculty and students. For more details, please click here. Leading up to these events, Tel Aviv University CAMERA on Campus Israel Fellow, Miriam Blum, covered a TAU student-run protest in support of the Lion’s Den terrorist organization. “This protest was inspired by the remarks of Hadash-Ta’al member of Knesset, Aida Touma-Silman. After the funeral of five killed high-ranking Lions Den members during an IDF raid, Touma-Silman wrote on her Facebook, two days before the protest, “Nablus bids farewell to our martyrs today.” Touma-Silman is actively glorifying terrorism by making such remarks. These students should be ashamed of their public representatives who support terrorism and bloodshed of other Israelis, their fellow citizens. Instead of agreeing with Aida Touma-Silman, these students should have condemned her hateful rhetoric.” To read more, follow this link. In addition to covering biased rhetoric on Israel’s campuses, CAMERA on Campus Israel hosted several educational events on its own with Middle East expert Mordechai Kedar at Tel Aviv University and Iran expert Beni Sabti at Hebrew University as part of CAMERA on Campus’ Mizrahi Stories campaign. To stay updated with CAMERA on Campus Israel, please follow @CAMERAonCampusIsrael via Instagram.

Exclusive CAMERA Fellowship Event with Zachor Legal’s Marc Greendorfer

Throughout the academic school year, CAMERA will be providing exclusive webinars for CAMERA Fellows, allowing them to engage in in-depth conversations with some of the most renowned scholars on Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The 2022-2023 CAMERA Fellowship cohort had an intimate conversation with Marc Greendorfer, the founder of Zachor Legal. With the growing trend of university newspapers circumventing their journalist integrity by sharing publicly their support for the antisemitic BDS movements as well as seemingly censoring pro-Israel voices as noted by Ohio State University CAMERA Fellow, Alex Grosman in the Aglemeiner and by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and CAMERA in JNS, this conversation with Zachor Legal was all the more so necessary and urgent for our student activists.

Involved with an independent, student-run Israel group? Apply to become a member of the CAMERA on Campus Coalition!

Israel group and society members of the CAMERA on Campus Coalition learn life-long skills in debate, writing, and public speaking, and benefit from close collaboration with CAMERA scholars. If you are part of an independent Israel organization on your campus or want to start an Israel club, apply here!

#ThisIsWhatAZionistLooksLike

“I was born in Israel. My parents came to Israel from Yemen. They came in 1929 before Israel became a state. They came… they were exiled [from] Yemen, and they came with a big historical yearning to come to reach Zion, Jerusalem. My mother was a singer in Yemen; she sang in traditional weddings and parties, she sang religious songs, and when they came to Israel, she had to raise nine children; I’m the youngest, So she stayed at home and sang for us.” Ofra Haza was an extraordinarily brilliant and iconic singer. Not only was her voice incredible, but her blend of traditional Middle Eastern music and pop of her time revolutionized the Israeli music scene. Her creative contributions remain prevalent throughout Israel, Europe and the US. (Quote Source: Ofra Haza’s Johnny Carson Interview — https://cameraoncamp.us/48h9t )

“This Is What A Zionist Looks Like” is a CAMERA on Campus Instagram project that aims to show the world that Zionists come from diverse backgrounds and have diverse interests. We showcase different Zionists, their stories, their interests, and their beliefs.To be featured in our #ThisIsWhatAZionistLooksLike campaign, please follow this link.

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Happy New Year from the CAMERA on Campus Team