By Daniel Cohen, ICB Reporter
What do Democrats, Republicans, Amnesty International members, Haitians, African Americans and Baptists all have in common?
At the University of Miami, they all join together to show support for Israel.
Sophomore Hillel intern Jordan Magid was behind this eclectic merger with a recent two-week series of events called “underSTANDforISRAEL.” Focused on diversity and democratic values, Magid built coalitions with groups not typically associated with Israel by appealing to their shared common ground.
Magid worked with these coalition partners to organize a series of three events designed to cater to a diverse audience. The series, which was promoted through a website and Facebook events, consisted of three very different programs that were linked by a common theme of “support of diversity and democracy.” The events featured:
• Reverend Oscar King III, an African American Baptist preacher from Detroit, who spoke about what Israel means to non-Jews.
• Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, recently selected as the Democratic National Committee chair, who spoke about the importance of the US-Israel relationship, especially in light of the changes sweeping through the Middle East.
• A screening of the feature-length documentary film ‘The Last Survivor,” which chronicles the stories of survivors of the Holocaust, Darfur and other modern genocides, followed by a student panel discussion.
The organizers strived to ensure that the series was perceived as the effort of a broad coalition of groups. “We didn’t want it to be like Hillel is putting on an event and having another Jewish speaker,” Magid, a Hillel intern himself, explained. “We tried to bring in as diverse a crew as possible to speak, staying as far as possible away from being related to Judaism, and trying to make Israel associate with everyone else.”
Tips for Building New Coalitions
1) Reach out to the group’s president
2) Find common ground; express interest in what they’re doing
3) Stress the universal themes and values that relate to Israel
4) Attend their events and encourage them to bring people to your events
5) Keep in contact
At the first event, the audience included many people who had never been to an Israel event before, demonstrating that the joint sponsorships and coalition building were succeeding.
Magid said that many Jewish students who attended Rev. King’s presentation said they were familiar with many of the points he made about the importance of the US-Israel relationship. But when it came to non-Jewish students, it was a different story.
He reported that many in the audience were surprised by King’s remarks. “It was a completely new idea and they had known nothing about it,” he said. “That was the perfect response I was looking for.”
Many Israel advocates look primarily to Jewish students as their base of support, but the success of underSTANDforISRAEL should serve as a reminder that many non-Jews support Israel. The importance of these coalitions cannot be overstated.
Junior Vincent Foster played a key role in building these new coalitions at the University of Miami. Foster, who is Jamaican and a self-described atheist, grew up celebrating Chanukah with friends and was eventually noticed by a rabbi on campus, where he was a frequent attendee at Shabbat dinners.
Foster learned about AIPAC from his Jewish friends, and after attending an AIPAC training seminar he became involved in creating a student leadership group that would advocate for Israel. Foster focused on transcending religious, political, and ethnic boundaries in garnering support for Israel.
“It’s definitely harder to get non-Jewish students involved,” he said, also adding that the small number of Jews in America makes it imperative that outreach focus on broadening the ranks of support beyond the Jewish community. “We need to expand boundaries and make Israel not a Jewish issue.”
Different messages and talking points should be used with different groups. For example:
*The only gay pride parades in the Middle East take place in Israel.
*Women serve in the armed forces in Israel.
*Jews helped co-found and support the NAACP.
*75% of the military aid assigned by the US to Israel is spent in the US, when Israel buys US-produced military equipment.
Coalition building is a two-way street. Junior Leah Danville of the historically African American service sorority Delta Sigma Theta was one of the speakers on the panel for “The Last Survivor.” She said the event made her think beyond Israel.
“It has opened up my eyes again and showed that I really need to put myself out there and involve myself more in a lot of these issues,” Danville said.
Since it was established in 1913, Delta Sigma Theta has been involved in civil rights issues. Early in its history, its member marched for women’s suffrage. Co-sponsoring underSTANDforISRAEL seemed like a logical continuation of the original mission, and the audience reaction to the movie screening underscored that the group had made the right choice.
By offering free sponsorship opportunities, Magid and Foster were able to get 12 student organizations to co-sponsor an Israel event for the first time. Foster is working to bring a Venezuelan speaker to talk to the Latin American organizations on campus, and he hopes to gain national publicity so that underSTANDforISRAEL can reach students on other campuses.
The coalition building, Foster and Magid say, has just begun.
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