ADL will vote to admit J Street to Conference of Presidents

Abe Foxman cites the need ‘to ensure the integrity and credibility of American Jewish advocacy’

BY RON KAMPEAS April 30, 2014, 4:36 am

TA — “There is more tolerance for dissent in Israel than in the Jewish community,” Abraham Foxman told me yesterday at the Anti-Defamation League’s annual Washington conference.

That’s one reason the ADL’s national director gave for why it makes sense for J Street to be admitted to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

“We will support the admission of J Street not because we agree with them, not because we support their views, but in order to ensure the integrity and credibility of American Jewish advocacy and of the Conference of Presidents,” he said.

The ADL nod swells mainstream, centrist support for the admission into the community’s foreign policy umbrella of J Street, a group that calls itself “pro-Israel, pro-peace” and is often critical of Israeli government policy.

Backers of J Street’s admission say they have reached “critical mass” for J Street’s entry — 34 of the conference’s 51 members.

Also favoring entry in the secret ballot that may take place Wednesday afternoon are the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the community’s domestic policy umbrella; the Union for Reform Judaism, and the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly. “The RA will be voting affirmatively for J Street to become a member of the COP,” its executive vice president, Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, told me in an email.

I understand that the Jewish Federations of North America also likely will vote in favor.

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Read more: ADL will vote to admit J Street to Conference of Presidents | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/adl-will-vote-to-admit-j-street-to-conference-of-presidents/#ixzz30Ka70Yjn
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Empowering Jewish Students to Address Bias on Campus

ADL Launches New Interactive Education Program

This week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) launched a new interactive education program in Florida called“Words to Action: Empowering Jewish Students to Address Bias on Campus.”  As part of a nationwide initiative for the League, the ADL Florida Office provided its first training on February 23rd to over seventy 12th grade students from Broward County.  The two and a half hour training took place at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie, Florida, as part of pre-trip education sessions for students who are about to embark on the Broward County “March of the Living” – a two week trip for Jewish teenagers to Poland and Israel in memory of the Holocaust.

“Words to Action” is designed to empower and equip college and college-bound students with constructive and effective responses to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias on campus. The program is based on ADL’s Confronting Anti-Semitism program, which was created in the 1980’s in response to a comprehensive survey of Jewish youth in New England, conducted by the League. The findings revealed that middle and high school youth frequently experienced anti-Semitic comments, taunts, harassment and graffiti in their schools, neighborhoods and communities. Rather than standing up to this prejudice, many youth remained silent, both in the face of oppression and later, when they returned to their homes and families.

“Decades later, ADL has tracked the continued existence of this same type of anti-Semitism, along with another form of anti-Semitism – fueled by anti-Israel sentiment – that turns up on college campuses,” stated Hava Holzhauer, ADL Florida Regional Director.  “We believe that “Words to Action” will help Jewish young adults and college-bound teens address the current face of anti-Semitism by increasing their comprehension and awareness of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in their lives, by refuting anti-Semitic stereotypes and anti-Israel myths with accurate information, and by teaching skills for responding effectively to anti-Semitism.”

ADL’s inaugural training in Florida included an interactive activity engaging students to define and understand the terms: anti-Israel, anti-Zionism, and anti-Semitism; a PowerPoint presentation on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement and how anti-Israel campus groups adopt such tactics as a deliberate strategy; and an “Assess and Act” segment during which the students viewed three vignettes – “Anti-Israel Bias in the Classroom,” “Apartheid Wall,” and “Headlines.”  The students were provided with ADL materials to serve as a resource for them and their friends.

To request an ADL “Words to Action” training, please call: (561) 988-2900.

ADL in the News

Sun-Sentinel: Students being trained to fight anti-Semitism

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Major Arab Newspaper Publishes “Anti-Jewish Slogans Are Not Islamic”

from ADL Blogs

from the article:

The deci­sion to re-publish a cri­tique of anti-Semitism by Al Quds Al Arabi, the third largest cir­cu­lated off­shore pan-Arab news­pa­per accord­ing to the Carnegie Endow­ment for Inter­na­tional Peace, could sig­nal a move toward greater plu­ral­ism and diver­sity of views in the Arab press, which is often dom­i­nated by anti-Jewish and anti-Israel narratives.

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