Revealed during Diaspora Affairs Committee meeting: Due to fears of
anti-Semitism, Jewish students refrain from openly supporting Israel on
campuses in the US, Europe
Publicized: Knesset January 8, 2017
https://www.knesset.gov.il/spokesman/eng/PR_eng.asp?PRID=13327

Due to fears of anti-Semitism, Jewish students are refraining from
expressing support for Israel on campuses in the US and Europe, students
told the Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs on
Tuesday.

According to a survey presented by the Minister of Diaspora Affairs, in 2015
some 9,000 verbal anti-Semitic attacks were reported on Facebook; 11,354 on
Twitter and 4,468 on Instagram. In addition, 4,465 anti-Semitic video clips
were posted on YouTube. It was also found that 40% of Europe`s citizens are
anti-Semitic and 75% of Jewish students in the US were attacked for
anti-Semitic reasons.

Jewish students living abroad told the committee that anti-Semitism and the
BDS movement are causing them to conceal their Jewish identity (some keep
their yarmulkes in their pockets) and their pro-Israel positions.

Committee Chairman MK Avraham Neguise (Likud) said, ”Today, anti-Semitism is
disguised as excoriating and arsenic criticism towards the Jewish State,
mainly on academic campuses, which are dominated by an extreme liberal
spirit. Hatred towards the State of Israel is its fuel and engine”.

”When it is no longer polite and fashionable to hate Jews as they are”, said
Neguise, ”the hatred is disguised as criticism towards the Jewish State”.

Prof. Irwin Cotler, former Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada,
said the current level of anti-Semitism ”is the highest in 40 years, and
includes the rejection of Israel`s right to exist at all, and the portrayal
of Israel as a monster and enemy of mankind”.

He added that under the UN`s patronage, Israel is condemned more than any
other country. ”And the amazing thing is that the countries which lead the
condemnations under the claim of `damage to human rights` are Iran, China,
and Saudi Arabia”, said Cotler.

Gilad Kabilo, activity coordinator at StandWithUs organization, spoke of
their 15 years of activity also within the social media. ”We thwart
boycott-related activities while producing good results on the ground, and
we distribute accurate information about Israel, as well as promote
discourse on the right of the Jewish nation to its historical native land”.

Ido Daniel, Program Director at Israeli Students Combating Anti-Semitism,
spoke of the increasing anti-Semitic incitement on the web. The program`s
activists fight [anti-Semitism on the web] using 16 languages, and have
combated more than 30,000 anti-Semitic incidents on social media over the
last year.

”People in the world understand that boycott or criticism of Israel`s policy
means denial of the Holocaust, the demonization of Jews, and a permit to
murder Jews”, he said. ”The outcome is that Jews are afraid to openly
express their Judaism”.

MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) spoke of the UN-funded textbooks in the
Palestinian Authority. ”They are full of pathologic hatred towards Jews,
desire and aspiration for Israel`s destruction”, she said, while noting that
a Jewish friend of hers in Atlanta said that this year she refrained from
placing a Hanukkah menorah at her window.

According to Hagai Bar of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ”Today boycott
activists withdrew from attack to defense mode, and are currently fighting
over the right to boycott”.

Jonathan Elkhoury of the Christian Empowerment Council spoke of the change
in the position of many students after hear from a Christian Arab such as
himself about his defense of Israel. Juda Stone of the Jewish Agency warned
of the phenomenon of Jewish students who are afraid of anti-Semitism,
which ”leads them to escape their identity”.

Benny Fischer, president of the European Union of Jewish students, said that
not all those who support boycotting Israel are anti-Semitic, but they see
themselves as ”peace activists”, and warned against the use of phrases such
as ”Jews have no future in Europe”.

Hadar Farkash, a student at Berkley University, spoke of the phenomenon of
anti-Israel lecturers, as well as Palestinians and Americans - and even
Jews - who are anti-Israel, while Jonah Shipmiler of NGO Monitor spoke of
boycott movements which operate in Israel and encourage Israeli youngsters
to not enlist in the IDF.

Jerusalem Institute of Justice, in cooperation with CA-inspiration, operates
on US campuses using a unique method which incorporates campaign research in
the social media. A campaign which was presented as an example to the
committee showed figures related to exposure to content through the social
media. The exposure itself brought about a thorough change in the discourse
at the Indiana University and Purdue campuses, as well as a profound change
in the way organizations which promote inciting and violent discourse
against Israel operate on social networks.