Today is the second day of the United Nations' World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, where tens of thousands of delegates from around the world are discussing ways to deal with the world's ecological problems. Many Jewish students are there for another reason, however: to head off the expected public manifestations of strong anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment.
"We learned our lesson from last year," Peleg Reshef, Chairman of the Union of Jewish Students, told Arutz-7 today. "At the Durban conference last year, pro-Palestinian groups simply took over [the podium] to express their anti-Israel platform, and we decided that this year, as Jewish students who care, we would not let that happen."
Reshef said that his group numbers about 30 Israeli students, "plus another 30 'hard-core' student activists from South Africa, as well as from the U.S., Australia, and elsewhere. They're all doing great work getting the message out, and are even getting a sympathetic hearing in the media here. We're working from morning to night, and we have prepared different types of approaches… Yesterday, for instance, a pro-Palestinian group tried to take advantage of the summit to hold a press conference with Marwan Barghouti's wife. They stood with giant signs saying that Israel was an apartheid state and a terrorist state… Our counter-message was clear, and our T-shirts stated it clearly as well: 'Don't hijack the convention!' We said that they should not introduce the controversies of the Middle East at this summit dealing with other important issues, and I believe that the message was accepted very well…"
The Jewish students were not allowed to speak at the Barghouti press conference, and held their own demonstration outside. They plan to remain in Johannesburg until the end of the conference, a week from tomorrow.
"We learned our lesson from last year," Peleg Reshef, Chairman of the Union of Jewish Students, told Arutz-7 today. "At the Durban conference last year, pro-Palestinian groups simply took over [the podium] to express their anti-Israel platform, and we decided that this year, as Jewish students who care, we would not let that happen."
Reshef said that his group numbers about 30 Israeli students, "plus another 30 'hard-core' student activists from South Africa, as well as from the U.S., Australia, and elsewhere. They're all doing great work getting the message out, and are even getting a sympathetic hearing in the media here. We're working from morning to night, and we have prepared different types of approaches… Yesterday, for instance, a pro-Palestinian group tried to take advantage of the summit to hold a press conference with Marwan Barghouti's wife. They stood with giant signs saying that Israel was an apartheid state and a terrorist state… Our counter-message was clear, and our T-shirts stated it clearly as well: 'Don't hijack the convention!' We said that they should not introduce the controversies of the Middle East at this summit dealing with other important issues, and I believe that the message was accepted very well…"
The Jewish students were not allowed to speak at the Barghouti press conference, and held their own demonstration outside. They plan to remain in Johannesburg until the end of the conference, a week from tomorrow.