Wake Forest University Student Government passes pro-Israel resolution

This is a welcome change, amidst increasing anti-Israel sentiment at so many universities in both the United States and Canada; Wake Forest University is in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

As reported by Jewish News Service, December 18, 2018 (link in original):

The student government at Wake Forest University passed a pro-Israel resolution this month.

The main clauses state “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, and denying Israel the right to exist,” and “the Student Government recognizes that some, but not all, criticisms of and attacks on the State of Israel can be anti-Semitic dog-whistles and condemns such criticisms and attacks.”

Philip Yurchenko, vice president of Wake Forest’s chapter of Students Supporting Israel, said in a statement: “We are extremely excited that all of our hard work has paid off. This resolution has made a powerful impact in the Wake Forest community. The passing of the legislation shows the strength of Wake’s community supporting the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.”

“We are proud to see Wake Forest simultaneously support free speech and draw a clear line against anti-Semitism when it comes to Israel,” he continued. “It is important to talk about anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry; education and dialogue [are] the only way to expose and correct it.”

“This is the proof that when people work together, change and justice will come. Anti-Semitism is timeless; it has no ideology or colors,” said Gabriel Frank of Wake Forest Hillel in the statement. “It is an irrational behavior which expresses itself in different ways. By passing this resolution, the Wake Forest community embraces its Pro Humanitate spirit.”

AMCHA Initiative director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin told JNS that the need for a resolution like the one passed in the student government.

“On campus, Jewish students are threatened by intolerant behavior from two different sources,” she explained. “The first is classical anti-Semitism—a hatred of and desire to harm Jews individually or collectively. The second is extreme Israel-bashing that all too frequently devolves into acts that harm Jewish and pro-Israel students.

“And our research indicates that Israel-related anti-Semitic incidents are the ones considerably more likely to contribute to a hostile environment for Jewish students than incidents involving classic anti-Semitism,” she continued. “More and more anti-Israel campus activities are not just intent on harming Israel, but alarmingly, they are also intent on harming Jewish members of the campus community. Yet despite this reality, university administrators rarely recognize anti-Israel anti-Semitism as a form of unlawful discrimination because they excuse it as politically motivated.”

Rossman-Benjamin said “we commend the Wake Forest students for helping university leaders understand this frightening reality for Jewish students, and that they must address both the anti-Semitism that comes from the extreme right and the extreme left.”

StandWithUs also applauded the resolution’s passage.

“Student government resolutions like this one send an important message to the campus community and beyond,” Max Samarov, the organization’s executive director of research and campus strategy, told JNS. “We congratulate Jewish and pro-Israel students at Wake Forest for their success and will continue to encourage similar legislation at universities across North America.”

SSI has written similar resolutions and introduced them at the University of Minnesota, University of Georgia, Indiana University, Texas A&M University, Kent State University, Chapman University and Capital University. It has also been proposed at Ryerson University in Toronto.