J Street U Takes Sides on Campus

Joel Pollak/Alex Jakubowski
American Thinker
05 December '10

Jewish students in particular, and pro-Israel students more generally, confront a battle of ideas when they arrive on college campuses across America. Over the past decade, Jewish educators and pro-Israel activists have worked hard to give students the intellectual tools they need to stand their ground.

Recently, J Street --the new left-wing lobby group in Washington -- has entered the fray through its campus affiliate, J Street U.

Last October, J Street U dropped the term "pro-Israel" from its slogan, apparently fearful that "pro-Israel" would alienate some of the group's members. (The parent organization describes itself as "pro-Israel, pro-peace," though there are no Israeli symbols or any other manifestations of positive identification with Israel on the group's website.).

This fall, J Street U is sponsoring a campus lecture tour by John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) chief in Gaza. At a lecture on November 12 at Northwestern University, J Street U director Daniel May introduced Ging by declaring that Jewish students needed to learn that Israel's creation brought "tremendous cost...upon so many who had lived in the region for generations."

May added that Israeli occupation has "denied democratic freedom and basic human rights to Palestinians," and warned that those denying that "reality" are complicit in it. J Street, May argued, was founded to correct the social injustices the American Jewish community has ignored -- and hence assisted -- in Israel.

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