Counter 'Talk Israel' Tents to be Erected on 20 Campuses Today!

Students will be passing out small "What Tents Mean for Palestinians," describing the situation for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven out and attacked by Israel in the past 60+ years.

The If Americans Knew fliers

(SACRAMENTO) - Today and tomorrow over 20 Hillels will be setting up tents on American campuses to engage students on Israel. Hillel is a national organization that calls itself "the central address on campus" for pro-Israel advocacy. It has a budget of close to $30 million.

Hillel works in tandem with the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), created in 2002 to advocate for Israel on college campuses. ICC is an umbrella organization with a network of 33 organizations.

One member of the network, CAMERA, has an annual budget of close to $3 million (and net assets of $5 million). Another, Stand With Us, has an annual revenue of over $4 million. It is estimated that the combined budget of ICC's network could approach, or even exceed, $100 million.

On top of that, Hillel and ICC have created yet another entity, the Center for Israel Engagement (CIE), which is officially producing today's event (its budget does not yet seem to be publicly available).

Along with its Israel advocacy, CIE plans to "develop a cadre of influential, pro-active and knowledgeable staff."

Announcing the new venture, President of Hillel Wayne Firestone announced, “We are pleased that this new partnership between Hillel and ICC will bolster our communal efforts in Israel engagement, education and advocacy.”

CIE Director and Israeli citizen Sharon Ashley said that in the events today and tomorrow, “Hillel seeks to recapture the public forum for debate.”

According to the announcement about the events, CIE "will provide each of the 20 campuses with a furnished tent, educational materials and resources, speakers and the AV equipment to link them to all the tents and a Facebook page to connect the conversations of all Talk Israel participants. Each Hillel will adapt this paradigm to its own campus needs, partnering with university departments, groups and coalitions to bring added meaning and significance to this day-long event."

Attempting to balance the events is the organization If Americans Knew, founded by freelance journalist Alison Weir, who had visited Gaza and the West Bank in early 2001 and had seen immense tragedy and devastation, "far beyond anything being reported by US media." Weir, who recently also became president of the Council for the National Interest, points out that this was long "before any rockets had been fired toward Israel and before Hamas had been elected."

If Americans Knew, with a staff of about five (all part-time), has created small fliers for students to download and hand out at the events. The fliers have a picture of Palestinian refugee children on the front and text on the back that says, in part:

"In 1947-49 at least 750,000 Palestinian men, women, and children were violently forced from their ancestral homes. Many of these refugees lived in tents for three years or more.

In 1967 Israel forced out another 200,000 Palestinians... once again, the newly homeless lived in tents.

These refugees and their families are still waiting to return home, a right that belongs to all refugees regardless of race, nationality, religion, or ethnicity.

In Dec 2008 - Jan 2009 Israel attacked tiny Gaza with its powerful military (more powerful than others in the region combined), killing 1,417 Palestinians and making 100,000 homeless. When Israel prevented essential supplies, including cement, from entering Gaza for years, Palestinian families again were forced to live in tents.

Israel has ordered demolitions of 24,813 Palestinian homes since 1967. Still more lived in tents.

The If Americans Knew fliers conclude:

"When we all join together to call for an end to U.S. supported Israeli military aggression [American taxpayers give Israel over $8 million per day], then Israelis and Palestinians of vision will be able to sit down together and decide how they will share the holy land they inhabit... and their children will finally know the peace that all children deserve."

The Hillels reportedly erecting today's tents are:

• Brandeis University;
• University of Florida;
• Montreal - Concordia
• McGill Universities;
• Binghamton University;
• University of Arizona; Towson University;
• George Washington University;
• Tufts University;
• Columbia/Barnard;
• Toronto;
• Princeton University;
• University of Vermont;
• Goucher University;
• Cornell University;
• UC Berkeley;
• University of Miami;
• University of Maryland, College Park;
• University of Delaware;
• Michigan State University; and the
• Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh.

The Hillels of University of Michigan, Beach Orange County and others will also hold the event, but will not have tents. Hillel says that it plans to replicate the program in the spring semester.

Alison's story was originally published here:

http://www.councilforthenationalinterest.org/news/israellobby/item/808-hillel-talk-israel-tents

Alison Weir's goals are peace and understanding and the realization of a real multi-cultural place where people are not continually scrutinized and referred to as 'terrorists' in order for one side to further its difficult political position. As a former journalist, Weir has traveled throughout the West Bank and Gaza, and speaks widely on this topic; in the past having given two briefings on Capitol Hill, three talks at the Asia Media Summit in Kuala Lumpur (at the end of the month she will be speaking at the Summit in Beijing), presentations in Ramallah and Bethlehem, and lectures at numerous campuses across the US, including Harvard Law School, Stanford, Yale, UC Berkeley, MIT, Vassar, and the Naval Postgraduate Institute.

Weir has received awards from the Council on American Islamic Relations and the American Arab Anti-discrimination Committee, and she was asked to contribute a chapter to Project Censored's 2005 volume. She was inducted into membership of Phi Alpha Literary Society, founded in 1845 at Illinois College, the award citing her as a “Courageous journalist-lecturer on behalf of human rights." She was the first woman to receive an honorary membership in Phi Alpha history. Her writings on this topic have appeared in publications including The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, The Link, CounterPunch, the Bay Guardian, and anthologies published in the US and abroad. She was the narrator of the award-winning documentary "Occupation 101." Weir was the subject of the Public Access program "Off the Charts," produced by Alternate Focus, and is a member of the board of directors of the Council for the National Interest and New Policy. You can write to Alison Weir at: alisonweir@gmail.com

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