Concerned by what it views as a deepening anti-Israel crisis at Montreal colleges and universities, the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR) is developing a program to teach students how to represent Israel’s case on campus.
A series of training seminars are being planned for launch this fall by CIJR, a 19-year-old independent research and advocacy group, founded and directed by Concordia University history professor Frederick Krantz.
“Our long-term objective is to reinforce our youths’ Jewish pride and solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people, and their knowledge, skills and self-confidence, enabling them to translate that pride and knowledge into action,” said Krantz.
The curriculum will be heavy on Jewish history, Zionism, Israeli politics and the nature of anti-Semitism, as well as developing skills in debating and writing, organizing meetings and working with the media.
The seminars are to be given by academics associated with CIJR and invited personalities.
The CIJR has worked with students since its inception, organizing educational programs and providing internships in its office. It also initiated and supported the student-produced quarterly magazine Dateline: Middle East. A number of its alumni have gone on to become activists and writers, including Hillel Neuer, Dov Smith, Ron Singer, Elliot Kramer, Justin Korda and Miriam Shaviv.
But these activities have been sporadic, Krantz said. The envisioned training seminars will be regular, taking place from two to four times per semester, inter-related and ongoing.
He says nothing like this is now being done.
“Jewish groups frequently avoid conflict, allowing anti-Israel propaganda free rein on campus. And when they do bring the occasional speaker to campus to talk about the Middle East, such efforts are often non-political.
Even when a Jewish campus group holds a pro-Israel talk or discussion, there is often poor public relations, no follow-up, and no occasion for students to learn how to counteract the views of the opposition.”
Each seminar is to include a 50-minute formal presentation, a one-hour group discussion, and an informal reception afterward. Students will have to commit to a certain amount of required reading on their own. Sessions will be held at McGill and Concordia universities to start with.
Once a sufficient number of seminar participants and graduates has been reached, Krantz foresees the convening of an annual three-day Israel Activism Conference in Jerusalem or a North American city on an alternating basis.
CIJR is also working on a Community Colloquia series to be launched in tandem with the student Israel activism program. It will focus on “the renewed phenomenon of global anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, as a springboard to understanding how racism and prejudice are threats to all ethnic and minority communities,” Krantz said.
CIJR would organize two such colloquia per semester to be given again by CIJR academic fellows and visiting speakers, ideally leaders of other communities affected by prejudice. Krantz hopes the series will encourage inter-cultural and interfaith exchanges.
CIJR fellow, McGill University political science professor Harold Waller, said there is a definite need to formally train students in Israel activism.
“There is a constant din of pro-Arab propaganda on the campuses. Jewish students need a solid grounding in the facts and confidence in that knowledge to counter it. There is a common perception among many academics today that the Arab-Israeli conflict is one of competing narratives, but I believe that certain historical facts can’t be spun.”
Waller sees a widespread ignorance about Israel and its history among Jewish students, even those who are graduates of Jewish day schools. “I teach a course in Israeli politics every two years, and spend the first month just talking about the background.
The Jewish schools do not teach Israeli history in any systematic way. I think this is a great shortcoming.”
Funds raised at CIJR’s annual cocktail June 6 will help get these programs off the ground. The guest speaker is veteran Washington insider James Woolsey, who was director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1993-1995 and a strong proponent of the war in Iraq. He is currently vice-president at Booz Allen Hamilton for global strategic security.
Assistant director Jacqueline Douek said CIJR made contact with Woolsey when he recently used its computerized data bank for research on anti-Semitism.
In April, he endorsed Republic presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and is serving as his national security and energy adviser. Woolsey is an advocate of new technologies that will decrease the United States’ dependence on imported oil.
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