Big Jew on Campus: New Israeli activism

Four years ago wearing an IDF t-shirt or other Zionist paraphernalia around Rutgers University might have been uncomfortable for pro-Israel students. For many Jewish students, openly showing support for Israel or even Jewish identity was an act of bravery. Today College Avenue in New Brunswick is often witness to green IDF t-shirts worn by many college students, as well as other openly Zionistic pins and stickers on book-bags and elsewhere. All over campus, flyers and posters are being put up for the third Israel Culture Festival, ICFest ’07, which is being held on November 11th.

A large banner flutters over College Avenue inviting students and guests to hear the Idan Raichel Project at ICFest ’07. Although Rutgers is now a more comfortable place for many students to express their positive feelings for Israel, it was not always this way. Things have changed for Israeli activists and Jewish students at Rutgers in a few short years. One of the main causes for this change is the different approach Israeli activists have taken in supporting and publicizing Israel.

In 2003, when tension on campus was at its highest point and the anti-Israel groups were most active, the groups supporting Israel took a reactive attitude towards protests and events against Israel. Most pro-Israel events were politically, not culturally based. The leading pro-Israel group on campus was the Rutgers Hillel which oversees the Israel Committee, a student-run organization. An anti-Israel protest on the steps of Brower Commons, a main point on campus where the ICFest ’07 banner now flies, was almost immediately met with a pro-Israel counter-rally across the street organized by students from the Israel Committee. What eventually developed was a volley of rallies, protests, and arguments in support of and against Israel.

Although the Hillel was able to garner pro-Israel supporters when they were needed, Jewish activists on campus hardly felt comfortable. Rabbi Esther Reed, Associate Director of Jewish Campus Life at Rutgers Hillel, said that Jewish students “had a perception of fear” during this period. Rabbi Reed said “it got to the point where individuals who were at the rallies were intimidated by verbal harassments from the anti-Israel side. Those encounters caused the level of tension on campus to be very high.”

Unfortunately, the Jewish students were not overreacting when they feared that the anti-Israel sentiment on campus would manifest itself into anti-Semitic acts. Their fears became a reality when swastikas were spray-painted outside the Rutgers Hillel and the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi.

Even more recently, in 2006, anti-Semitic remarks have been made to Jewish students at Rutgers.

As tensions were reaching a boiling point, and the anti-Israel voice was growing both in its strength and in its viciousness, something in this political battle had to give. Seeing no way out of the battle of rallies, the pro-Israel camp decided that a change from the reactive support was necessary and a more effective campaign was needed. Ironically, what caused this strategic change for the Israel Committee was the Third National Conference of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement which was to be held at Rutgers. International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a large pro-Palestinian organization not affiliated with any college, was sponsoring the conference. Instead of having a counter-protest opposite the conference’s registration tables, a new form of proactive support of Israel was chosen. Thus, the Israel Inspires Block Party - the precursor to what is now ICFest ’07 - was born. A few hundred people attended and like ICFest ’07, there was music, food, and smiles instead of shouts and slogans. “This was the seed of what today is the ICFEst ’07 which is going to have over 1,000 people,” said Rabbi Reed.

What makes the Israel Inspires brand of activism different than rallies and protests is that it is proactive not reactive, and culturally-focused, not politically-based. “ICFest gives a positive of Israel beyond the conflict and violence. It focuses on multi-culturalism, humanitarian aid, and the art and music of Israel,” said Eytan Morgenstern, Director of ICFest ’07. Morgenstern points out that what is unique about ICFest ’07 is that it shows that there is more to Israel than the Arab-Israeli wars and politics. “There is an Israeli culture that everyone can enjoy,” said Morgenstern. 

For now the political battles at Rutgers are a not-so-distant memory. The letters and editorials in the daily newspaper at Rutgers, rallies, counter-rallies, slogans and shouts are all in the past. It seems as if the Israeli activists are the only ones making noise these days at Rutgers. This noise is not of clashing ideas or of students marching against one another down the streets of New Brunswick. The noise that students at Rutgers hear today is of culture, music, and peace. Today, the only noise about Israel are the positive and rhythmic beats of Idan Raichel inviting all to come and experience what Israel has to offer.

For more information about ICFest ’07 go to www.icfest.com