At the beginning of the year it is important to reflect on why do we need SSI on campuses, because true activism is when the vision and the purpose of what we do is always in front of us, guiding our actions. Here are some of the reasons why SSI is so important:
We need SSI because the pro-Israel community needs a united grassroots student movement ON-CAMPUS that empowers students and helps them own and be proud of their success. Because students on college campuses across North America are the future leaders of the free world, and they need to know Israel's story. Because American and Canadian campuses became so poisoned with anti-Israel rhetoric that what you hear in classes and out on the lawn starts to sound like the lies dictators say in the UN's General Assembly.
Because SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) is turning campuses into a hostile place for Jewish & pro-Israel students, and guess what? SJP is also hostile to anyone who doesn't agree with their one-state "solution".
Because Israelis can't, but SSI'ers can. Millions of Israelis see the US and Canada as their great allies, but they cannot do anything when someone slanders Israel, the IDF, or Israeli citizens thousands of miles away. SSI gives Israelis a voice on the ground.
Because we want a TRUE LASTING PEACE, and nothing can make things worse than having Israelis hear that people wish to boycott our country because we are Jewish and/or Israelis. These actions just fit perfectly to the false narrative that everyone hates Israel and that nothing we do can changes that, so why should Israel offer any more concessions?
Because if we don't act, SJP will. SSI leaders use the power of an international movement to highlight hateful incidents that otherwise would never be exposed. Together we can expose SJP's real goal - destroying the only Jewish State, not helping the Palestinians. FACT: SJP never drafted a Pro-Palestinian resolution, only Anti-Israel ones, to be proposed in front of student governments.
Together with our partners, SSI leaders are changing the reality on college campuses. We also fight terror on campus, because supporters of the BDS movement on campus, and members of SJP simply use terror against other students, and terror is not only when things explode. Terrorizing students is when one group does not let others host events on campus, like at the University of California, Irvine. Terror is when a group shuts down an Israeli speaker at the University of Minnesota. Terror is when a group harasses the student body President that is not even Jewish until he leaves his position and is afraid to do anything with Israel, like in UCLA. And the universities and the administration? They are often weak and afraid to act, so it is in our hands – the students’ hands - to change that, because no one will change the situation for us.
We want to wish the best of luck to all the students, both in North America and in Israel in their new school year. The next generation of Israelis should know that the next generation of leaders here in North America is looking after you and cares about you. From coast to coast with our SSI'ers in New York and L.A., and from north to south with our SSI'ers in Texas, Georgia and Minnesota, from our Canadian chapter, high school chapter, and our community college one, we will represent Israel on campuses this year with much pride. With clear eyes and full hearts, we will win our fight for Israel on American campuses. One student movement, one common goal, one team. Students Supporting Israel is a rapidly growing Pro-Israel international campus movement that supports the State of Israel. Founded at the University of Minnesota in early 2012 by Ilan Sinelnikov and Valeria Chazin, it currently has multiple chapters across the United States and Canada.