Next week, dozens of college campuses throughout the United States (and the world) will become sites for anti- Israel propaganda. For the fifth consecutive year, Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) will sponsor lectures, rallies, and demonstrations that aim to equate Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and Israeli Arab citizens with the malicious system of apartheid that oppressed the non-white majority in South Africa. The goal of IAW is to build boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns against the State of Israel.
In an opinion piece published in the Jerusalem Post, Gideon Shimoni, Professor Emeritus at Hebrew University and author of Community and Conscience: The Jews in Apartheid South Africa, writes that the apartheid analogy is unfounded. “The historical context of white-black relations which spawned apartheid,” he argues, “differs fundamentally from that in which conflict developed between Zionist Jews and Palestinian Arabs.” Read his well reasoned and balanced article here.
This year, the Jewish community is responding to IAW with its own series of events. Israel Peace Week (IPW) is a coordinated effort to “educate students about the true nature of Israel: a democratic, peace seeking nation attempting to coexist with neighbors of all religions, ethnicities, and political affiliations.” Organizers say IPW isn’t a vehicle to defend the political policies of the Netanyahu government; rather, it’s an effort to demonstrate the country’s democratic and egalitarian values.
Israel education is the main goal of IPW. It’s crucial because many Jewish college students arrive on campus without knowing basic information about Israel. For a summary of the challenges facing Israel education in the U.S., see Julie Weiner’s article, “Teaching Israel to U.S. Kids Poses Extra Challenge for Educators.” Although it’s two years old, it’s still relevant.
The take-away for Jewish educators at every level is that we must get better at teaching Israel’s complicated history. Certainly we want to instill a love of Israel (Ahavat Yisrael ) in our students, but we don’t need or want propaganda. We want students to understand the complex issues of today.
Important resources for any Israel curriculum:
