Step Up for Israel fights Israel Apartheid We
Step Up for Israel fights Israel Apartheid WeStep Up for Israel

As anti-Israel organizations are planning activities designed to vilify Israel as part of “Israel Apartheid Week” in campuses across the world, JerusalemOnlineU.com’s ‘Step Up for Israel’ initiative is planning a counter-attack.

The initiative will be running an educational campaign to strengthen parents’ and students’ support for Israel. As part of this effort, the award-winning film “Crossing the Line: The Intifada Comes to Campus”, will be available free for a limited time at http://www.stepupforisrael.com/ctl/.

Step Up for Israel is an international, grassroots campaign that connects individuals and communities to Israel by providing a strong foundation in Israel education and activist opportunities. The campaign is chaired by Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold.

Israel Apartheid Week is a well-organized political assault designed to delegitimize and demonize Israel by falsely portraying it as an apartheid state and applying double standards of moral conduct.

During this week, which will be held for the eighth time this year, events will be held on dozens of college campuses and in cities around the world in an attempt to build support for the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The film “Crossing the Line” details shocking hate-filled acts by Apartheid Week activists and identifies actions and resources students can utilize to counter these disturbing anti-Semitic activities.

“Parents assume the universities they send their children to, provide enlightened educational environments that promote honest and open debate,” Amy Holtz, President of JerusalemOnlineU.com, said. “Yet students are often confronted with a biased one-sided and hateful perspective on Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.”

She added, “Parents and students alike must first recognize and understand the nature of this disturbing anti-Israel trend, if we are to strengthen our resolve and ‘Step Up for Israel.’ We urge individuals, schools, synagogues and communities to watch Crossing the Line, and to engage in the Israel educational initiatives offered by StepUpForIsrael.com.”

According to Professor Dershowitz, “Films like Crossing the Line play a critical role in the information process by spotlighting basic truths about the Arab-Israeli conflict that are often ignored. When students hear false allegations of apartheid or human rights disasters that don’t exist, they will now have the resources to respond in an informed and effective manner.”

“Propaganda against Israel and its right to exist as a sovereign Jewish state has become the norm on many college campuses, not the exception,” said Eric Schorr from Columbia University and President of LionPAC. “If students don’t have the resources to defend against such hateful rhetoric before they first arrive on campus, the battle for the truth is extremely difficult to win.”