By Randy Kessler , , Mercer Island
I’m grateful to the JTNews for highlighting the wonderful work that StandWithUs is doing, training our college students to effectively counter the rhetoric of anti-Israel voices on our college campuses (“Fighting back,” Feb. 26).
While vigorous political debate has always been expected on campus, we are seeing criticism of Israel escalate into calls for Israel’s isolation and destruction, with unprecedented levels of the three D’s: Demonization, delegitimization, and a double standard. As the recent film Crossing the Line: The Intifada Comes to Campus, makes evident, it can be not only frightening, but dangerous to be Jewish or pro-Israel on campus these days.
The movement to brand Israel as an apartheid state, complete with boycotts, divestment and sanctions, hurts our brothers and sisters in Israel, and it damages our collective Jewish pride. It’s up to us as a community to expose the truth that in spite of its imperfections, Israel is a beacon for freedom, human rights, and democracy, and I applaud StandWithUs for taking a lead role.