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J Street UVM In Quarrel With Maccabee Task Force

[additional-authors]
February 15, 2019
Screenshot from Twitter.

The Maccabee Task Force (MTF) and J Street’s University of Vermont (UVM) chapter have been at loggerheads since the University of Vermont’s (UVM) J Street chapter criticized its Hillel campus for partnering with MTF earlier this month.

In a Feb. 1 Facebook post, J Street UVM accused UVM Hillel of a “structural right-wing bias” in recruiting student leaders to go on MTF’s Israel Fact Finders Trip, which takes students to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

In the post, J Street UVM stated, “We believe the trip to Israel for student leaders, while appearing to be educational and inclusive, will in reality obfuscate the reality for many Palestinians by omitting the narratives of Palestinians living in Gaza and Area C of the West Bank who bear the brunt of Israeli military occupation and blockade.” the post read.

Area C inhabits Jewish communities and Israeli military bases, as well as swaths of empty desert, according to Jewish Virtual Library.

J Street UVM also objected to MTF being funded by billionaire businessman Sheldon Adelson, stating, “By closely associating Hillel’s brand with right-wing, one-sided discourse on Israel, Hillel will alienate progressive students both Jewish and non-Jewish who will not identify with an institution that does not fit their values.This will weaken the Hillel community and create unnecessary divides between Hillel and the rest of the campus community.”

https://www.facebook.com/jstreetuvermont/photos/a.293495791119998/547709039032004/?type=3&theater

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UVM also posted a statement criticizing the UVM Hillel-MTF partnership, stating, “While Israel may decide that student leaders can enter its borders even as Palestinians who were born there cannot, walls and barriers can no longer contain calls for an end to oppression and testimony of human suffering.”

https://www.facebook.com/uvmsjp/posts/554019925067761?__tn__=K-R

Highlighting Adelson quotes such as “There’s no such thing as a Palestinian,” and “So Israel won’t be a democratic state, so what?” J Street U—the campus organizing arm of J Street—retweeted a tweet from MTF with a tagline that read:— Sheldon Adelson, the bankroller of @MacTaskForce (and @Birthright)

J Street UVM also posted on Instagram a modified quote from MTF Executive Director David Brog, changing it from “The truth is on our side. We will never shrink from it and we insist on sharing it” to “The money is on our side. We will always shrink from the truth and we insist on obfuscating it.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtuGxHwhT8X/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1f0zzcj98kcw6

In a statement sent to the Journal, Brog said, “For years J Street has told the American Jewish community that the only way to convince students to support Israel is to embrace their critique of Israel.  We’ve proven them wrong. We’ve shown that sharing the reality on the ground—warts and all— persuades any reasonable student to shun the one-sided scapegoating of Israel behind BDS.”

Brog added that the MTF Israel Fact Finders Trip “has proven to be extraordinarily effective, probably the most effective tool our community has, in combating BDS. What I can’t figure out is why J Street, which claims to be against BDS, would so actively oppose our most effective tool combating BDS.”

“For years J Street has told the American Jewish community that the only way to convince students to support Israel is to embrace their critique of Israel.  We’ve proven them wrong.” — David Brog

In a statement sent to the Journal UVM Hillel Executive Director Matt Vogel said the MTF trips is one “that many students have asked us for, to hear from people with a wide range of perspectives and experiences, including Jewish, Muslim, Israeli and Palestinian leaders and scholars.More than 80 campuses have participated in this trip over the last three years with more than 1,500 student leaders engaging in complex and nuanced dialogues.”

He added, “[MTF] is one of many organizations across the spectrum of perspectives that support diverse Hillel programming on Israel. Hillel works with a range of partners that support various aspects of our work engaging students in Jewish life, learning and Israel.”

J Street did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.

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