#Mizrahi Stories | CAMERA on Campus

Newsletter – October 2020

Join CAMERA on Campus’ #MizrahiStories Campaign

Beginning November 1st, CAMERA on Campus will be launching our #MizrahiStories social media campaign, led by our social media fellows! Everyone who has a social media account is welcome to participate by completing this form. The campaign is geared towards university students, so if you are a student, or have friends or family members in university, please make sure to share this exciting and educational campaign with them. This campaign is designed to highlight the voices of Mizrahi Jews as they share their own and their families’ experiences — stories that are overlooked all too often. This includes stories detailing mass expulsions of Jews from Arab and Muslim lands during the mid-20th century. The campaign will last throughout November and will feature original educational content, including infographics and videos. Throughout North America, the UK and Israel, CAMERA Fellows will be hosting online events — including panels — that will provide members of the Mizrahi community opportunities to share their stories with live audiences. Follow @cameraoncampus and #MizrahiStories for more updates.

Leila Khaled: The Hijacker Beloved by Anti-Zionists Around the World

Back in September, San Francisco State University (SFSU) made headlines when the news broke that terrorist Leila Khaled was invited to speak as part of an academic program. CAMERA’s Zachary Schildcrout c ritiqued SFSU President Mahoney’s support for such an event sponsored by one of her academic departments on the grounds that “there is —- and must be —— space for all viewpoints at SF State.” After Zoom, Facebook and Youtube shut down her scheduled lecture, campaigns spearheaded by anti-Israel student activists across North American and UK sprung up in Khaled’s defense. The attached flier exposes some of her past and very recent outlandish actions and remarks.

Brown University Professor Can’t Bear the Sight of Jews

Photo Credit: Elder of Ziyon

In response to Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning’s (AAP) October 5 event with Brown University professor Ariella Azoulay that featured brazen dehumanization of Jewish immigrants to pre-state Israel, our international campus director Aviva Rosenschein made the following statement: “Unfortunately, many US universities, including some of the most renowned, have propagated radical and inaccurate anti-Israel sentiment, often first introduced by professors. However, dehumanizing the Jewish people by blackening images of them during an academic lecture because the professor ‘can’t bear to look at them’ is some of the most grotesque and antisemitic behavior to occur within a university setting. Azoulay cannot hide behind her Jewish heritage to justify her virulently antisemitic propaganda that portrays Jews as subhuman, evil creatures.”

Black and Palestinian Solidarity?

To celebrate the creativity of our current students and alumni, CAMERA on Campus will be highlighting some of the new projects by our CAMERA Fellows and leaders of CAMERA-supported Israel student organizations. Ben Stone is a current graduate student at Duke University and is representing CAMERA for the second year in a row. His work has been instrumental in exposing Duke University’s SJP chapter’s radical activities and inaccurate online content. Below is an excerpt from his most recent piece. Many proponents of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement conflate the struggle for racial justice in the United States and the war against Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. Duke University’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, unsurprisingly, is no exception; they hide behind their social media accounts to promote outright falsehoods, attempting to paint anti-Zionist activism as a virtuous fight against colonialism. Read More

Watch: The New Antisemitism on US College Campuses

On October 16th, CAMERA on Campus hosted a conversation with the Executive Director of the Academic Engagement Network Professor Miriam Elman and Syracuse University CAMERA Fellow Justine Murray. They addressed multiple examples of the newest manifestation of antisemitism that Jews and Zionists alike are experiencing, focusing on the uptick of hateful messages spread on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Watch the webinar here.

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Watch: Leading Jerusalem: A Conversation with Fleur Hassan Nahoum

Throughout the month of October, CAMERA Fellows across North America, the UK and Israel held welcome events, sharing different opportunities with their peers to get involved with Israel activism and education on campus, including CAMERA’s campus programs! Some of the events included guest speakers who addressed pressing issues of concern to the university students. On October 22nd, CAMERA on Campus UK, the University of York JSoc, York St. John JSoc, Durham JSoc and Sheffield JSoc were honored to host the current Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Nahoum for a discussion on cultural and ethnic coexistence in Jerusalem. Please click here to watch the full discussion.

Exclusive CAMERA Fellowship Webinar Continued with Ibrahim Abu Ahmad

Throughout this academic 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.

CAMERA continued the series on October 18th with Senior Researcher Ibrahim Abu Ahmad of Alma Research and Education Center. Ibrahim addressed the challenges posed by Hezbollah’s takeover of Lebanon, the continued existential threat to Israel, and possible new opportunities as the people of Lebanon begin to revolt against the terrorist organization.

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SOAS University of London Hosts Noura Erakat

The latest of the SOAS University of London “Continuing the Conversations” online events series—“U.S. and Palestine: Shoot to Kill Policies and Transnational Resistance”—offered a platform for activist and professor Noura Erakat of Rutgers University to provide a heavily biased account as opposed to facilitating a conversation over these sensitive issues. Moderator Dr. Rafeef Ziadah, a SOAS lecturer in comparative politics of the Middle East, did not once challenge Erakat’s narrative, and, of course, no other speakers were provided to balance this noticeably one-way “conversation.” Read More

For CAMERA’s statement to the Jewish Chronicle addressing the event, follow this link.

America is not the Levant

On Oct. 8, the Jewish News online published an op-ed by IfNotNow Detroit activists Rebecca Driker-Ohren and Zak Witus titled “Palestinian Lives Matter.” Of course, Palestinian lives matter — that is not in dispute. What one can dispute is Driker-Ohren and Witus’ conflation of one-sided denunciation of Israel with the movement for racial justice in the United States. Indeed, the authors seem to believe that the Metro Detroit Jewish community’s alleged reluctance to sufficiently admonish Israel renders its leaders nothing more than moral hypocrites. Read More

#ThisIsWhatAZionistLooksLike

“My name is Sandra, I’m a second-year student studying government, diplomacy, and strategy at IDC Herzliya. I manage two student-run clubs and am a researcher at a counter-terrorism think tank. I love to negotiate, debate, and most importantly represent Israel. My biggest aspirations are to contribute to constructive dialogue in the Middle East and promote security and welfare in the region. I also like to hike, travel, and watch The Office on repeat.” –@sandramarc_ “This Is What A Zionist Looks Like” is a CAMERA on Campus Instagram project which 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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