Wednesday, Jan. 18, 7 pm Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus
To address the resurgence of anti-Semitism on American college campuses and to illuminate the nuanced relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda, the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Simon Family JCC, BBYO, and OSTY initiated a three-part educational series, Cause an Effect. The series’ goal is to increase community awareness of these issues and to provide tools and resources to respond effectively to such assaults.
The series kicked off last month with Kenneth Marcus, founder and General Counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Marcus offered an historical overview of anti-Semitism while stressing the importance of establishing a working definition of what constitutes anti-Semitism today.
The second event in the Cause an Effect series presents Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus. This 30-minute documentary reveals the rise of anti-Israel activity and anti-Semitic rhetoric on university campuses, and demonstrates when reasonable criticism of Israel “Crosses the Line” into anti-Semitism.
A discussion will follow the screening of the film with Chloe Valdary, a featured voice in Crossing the Line 2. A Tikvah Fellow at The Wall Street Journal working under Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bret Stephens, Valdary is conducting research on the state of Israel advocacy in America today—namely, what works, what doesn’t, and how to make it better.
Born and raised in a kosher-style Christian home in New Orleans, Louisiana, she became involved in pro-Israel activism as a college freshman. In 2013, her comments on the dangers of BDS went viral. In 2014, she wrote “To the Students for Justice in Palestine, a letter from an Angry Black Woman,” which was later published in Tablet magazine. Her work as a Zionist thinker and human rights activist has been featured in The Jerusalem Post, the Daily Beast and others. She is a consultant for the Committee for Accuracy in the Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), and assistant director for the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (ISBI). Valdary was named by Algemeiner Journal, one of the top 100 people positively affecting Jewish and Israeli life, and remains steadfast in her desire to educate and to combat bigotry, racism, and anti-Semitism in all it’s forms.
This event is free and open to the community with RSVP, required. Contact WWeissman@ujft.org or call 757‑965‑6107 for more information or to RSVP.