Zionist movement on campus, me?

I sent the following message to one of the new leaders of the Jewish Student Organization:

Hey, I just looked at the JSO page, and it's nice we have some new leadership. I think it'd be great if the JSO promoted birthright on campus.

Also, it seems to me that there has been a great deal of anti-Israeli sentiment on campus. especially since Gaza/Israeli war. I don't know how you feel about the issue, it only makes sense to me that the JSO provide some real information, support Israel and show the other side. It's easy to flash a bunch of pictures of suffering Palestinians, but what about the Israelis whose towns were getting hit by missiles for months before the army took any action?

Once again, I don't know how you stand on this. I feel like I'm the only one on campus upset by all of this

The response I got:

Hi Bella,

So sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. Yeah - it's good to have new leadership. By the way, we're having two major upcoming events. On Saturday March 7th, the JSO is hosting a Purim Party in Manor, starting at 9pm and ending at 1:30am. Then on Monday, March 9th, we're hosting a Purim Spiel in the MPR starting at around 8:30. It'd be great to see you there!

I agree - there has been a lot of anti-Israeli sentiment on campus, particularly coming from the Just Peace in Israel/Palestine group - In my opinion, the group isn't interested in a just peace - they're interested in what's best for Palestine (I just got back from one of their meetings - no pro-Israel speakers - only left-wing people, like Noam Chomsky).

The JSO is going to be having an Interfaith dialogue with the MSO, with the Rabbi and hopefully the Bard Imam about Israel and Palestine. Hopefully, we'll show the film "Promises," then have a discussion. Some select people from the JSO will be meeting some time this Saturday to discuss our views about it with the Rabbi - I'm going to invite you, since you obviously seem passionate about the issue. Once I get more details, I'll let you know. Believe me - I'm upset about this too. I do know that there has been some talk about starting a progressive Zionist movement on campus - I'm going to talk to Alyssa Goldstein about this (she's the other Co-Head of the JSO). There has been some talk of getting the Israeli Lobbying group Jstreet to campus - they offer a more progressive opinion.


Anyways, stay in touch! I'll give you the info about the Israel/Palestine meeting and dialogue.


And, thanks for contacting me! Great to see you're interested.


K.



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Anyway, I'm really glad he got back to me. I think it's great that there are others on campus angry about the issues at hand, and the lack of Israeli support from our fellow Jewish population.