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 Greetings!
In case you haven't yet heard the news, ICC and supporters of study abroad to Israel scored a major victory late last month with the announcement that the California State University (CSU) system will be reinstating their program as of fall of 2012. With over 400,000 enrolled students across 23 campuses, the CSU system is the largest university system in the US, and it had suspended the Israel study abroad opportunity for its students in 2003, citing security risks and the US State Department concerns surrounding the Second Intifada. But through the efforts of the ICC's "Let Our Students Go!" campaign, and in collaboration with a coalition of interested parties, including San Francisco Hillel, the Jewish Public Affairs Committee (JPAC), the Jewish Community Relations Councils (JCRCs) of San Francisco and Los Angeles, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), and a range of local and global community members, these voices were able to help convince CSU to re-examine its policy and reach the decision to resume their study abroad program in Israel. According to CSU System Director of International Programs Leo Van Cleve, the decision sets in motion a review process aimed at assessing the risk involved in study in Israel. By December, CSU will issue a policy statement outlining guidelines for students who wish to study in Israel despite the continuing State Department advisory, and the first CSU students will enroll in Israeli classes in fall 2012.
Since 2004, ICC has worked with and urged institutions of higher learning across the U.S. to reinstate their programs in Israel and allow their students to study there, unhindered. With this positive decision in hand, we look forward to continuing to support the CSU system as they take the next steps towards reestablishing their academic presence in Israel.
This decision has been many years in the making, and it feels appropriate to be coming now, near the end of the academic year, as a demonstration of how hard work and the power of networks can really pay off. The ICC is proud to have played a role to this end, and we are eager to keep fighting for other students who are still without access to study in Israel and a positive environment on campus in which to learn about Israel.
Stephen Kuperberg Executive Director |
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ICC circulates both a monthly newsletter of updates about ICC programs, and a collection of announcements about programs from our Partner Organizations.
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ICC Positions Open
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We are still accepting applications for the following positions:
Communications and Development Associate
Responsibilities include:
-Managing all facets of ICC's online news website, Israel Campus Beat (ICB), including news and website operations, marketing and the student internship, in partnership with the Editor-in-Chief
-Updating and implementation of ICC's strategic communications plan
-Oversight of ICC newsletters and development of relationships with the media to best represent ICC to the public
-Working with the ICC's Director of Development and Planning in a fundraising and support capacity
Please click here for application information.
Israel Campus Beat Reporter Intern
Responsibilities include:
-Researching, reporting and writing articles about Israel activism on campus
- Attending a 2-day training program in late summer and weekly story meetings during the school year
-Working with a team of interns to coordinate coverage of events and issues
A $1500 stipend will be paid upon successful completion of the internship.
For more information and to apply, please visit www.israelcampusbeat.org/intern.
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Global Gathering Focuses on International Collaboration and Strengthening the Campus Israel Network
With over forty influential leaders in the pro-Israel global community gathered in one room to discuss community preparations for anti-Israel threats on campus in the fall, the significance of the meeting was clear from the outset. At the first joint meeting of the Global Coalition for Israel Campus Advocacy Working Group and the Israel on Campus Coalition's (ICC) Countering Delegitimization, professionals from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel and the United States discussed the topics of Opposition Research, Information Collection, Sharing and Dissemination, as well as how best to mobilize support for Israel on campus. Stephen Kuperberg, ICC's Executive Director, moderated the meeting.
Moving from discussion to tangible next steps, each organization in attendance committed to work collaboratively on several focused tracks over the summer in order to prepare for the fall. Some organizations expressed interest in developing a long-term engagement strategy, and the tech-savvy participants suggested working together to create an online community forum for best practice sharing and to provide a venue for students from across the globe to connect. A final suggestion arose to create more programs that allow personal engagement with individual Israelis on college campuses in the diaspora, as well as organizing additional missions to Israel.
The ICC thanks all of the participating organizations for their continued commitment to furthering collaboration among our groups. We look forward to working together in order to combat the assault on Israel's legitimacy on college campuses worldwide.
For further information about the meeting and task forces, please be in touch with Andrea Sorin, ICC's Senior Israel Education Initiatives Associate at 202-449-6583.
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ICC Israel Advocacy Grants Help Campuses
This write-up was provided by student grant recipient Adina Roussos, an ICC Grinspoon-MZ Foundation Israel Advocacy Intern. The Israeli Film Festival at UC Berkeley this spring was the second annual Film Festival. The idea of the Film Festival as an annual initiative is to have positive Israel advocacy and education during the spring semester at UC Berkeley when there tends to be a lot of anti-Israel sentiment in the form of Israel Apartheid Week and other anti-Israel protests. The film festival, with movies and speakers touching on important issues in Israel, is part of the overall initiative to broaden the conversation about Israel on campus. This year, each film was hosted by a different group and was accompanied by a speaker. Having a speaker complement the film served to connect the issues in the film with real events in Israel and created a dialogue about Israel that was not previously taking place. The films were an opportunity to showcase Israeli culture and examine issues that are not necessarily conflict-related in order to broaden the dialogue. Especially when there are so many negative things about Israel being publicized, it is important to have programs that are positive and educational.
The Film Festival was also an opportunity to build relationships with other student groups and get more people involved in pro-Israel programs. Five groups hosted films in the film festival and two of those groups were not Israel groups, never having been involved in Israel programs before. These organizations helped to attract new students to participate.
The money from the ICC grant allowed the film festival to take place outside of Hillel, at the Pacific Film Achieve Theater on campus. This venue attracted a lot of students and community members that are not active in Hillel. It allowed us the freedom to choose exceptional films and invite interesting speakers to our campus. The film festival generated excellent feedback from the students who participated as well as the community members that attended, finding the films to be interesting, informative and entertaining. Israeli cinema serves to frame Israel as a country that has culture, tourism, technology, and not just conflict. I hope that programs like this continue and expand to bring more positive views about Israel to campus.
For more information about the ICC's Israel Advocacy Grants, please contact ICC Field Director, Tracy Altman.
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Next ICC Interactive: Wednesday, May 25th @ 2 pm EDT
Israel Advocacy Over the Summer Suggestions, Strategies and Goal-Setting to prevent Israel from getting lost in the shuffle of Welcome Week
RSVP and share your tricks for keeping Israel on the agenda during summer break! |
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Makovsky and al-Omari return to Southern California Campuses
 Later this month, David Makovsky and Ghaith al-Omari will be returning to Southern California. Scheduled to visit the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California, Irvine (UCI), this will be the pair's second visit to the area in the 2010-2011 academic year. Building on momentum established in the fall semester when the pair visited UCI, the ICC hopes that their repeat appearance will continue to spread a message of coexistence and peace. UCI is ripe for change and students there are preparing to welcome the pair back with excitement, as there is much to discuss. Since their initial visit, the Middle East has experienced the turmoil of the Arab Spring with revolutions taking place in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria, with growing unrest elsewhere. Makovsky and al-Omari will be addressing, among other topics, how the current atmosphere in the greater Middle East has affected Israel, the Palestinians and the larger peace process.
At UCLA, students are hard at work planning Makovsky and al-Omari's first visit to their campus. UCLA has seen much divisive discussion about the Middle East in recent years. It is Makovsky and al-Omari's hope that their visit and shared message of constructive dialogue will permeate the campus attitude and encourage students to embrace the middle ground.
Makovsky and al-Omari will be at UCLA on Wednesday, May 25 and UCI on Thursday, May 26. For further information about their visit, please contact Andrea Sorin, ICC's Senior Israel Education Initiatives Associate at asorin@israelcc.org or 202-449-6583.
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Check out Israel Campus Beat for news, opportunities and analysis! 
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