Bethany High School in Oklahoma City is a typical school in modern America. Then again, it isn’t.Sure, the homecoming banners fill the hallways, and throngs of young people laugh, drop their books and go out together for fast food during lunch.Yet there is also something disarming about these kids, and Principal Don Wentroth explains to a bewildered visitor just why a group of students down the street went out of their way to be helpful in giving directions to the school.“Oh, if someone loses $20 and it’s found, another student will bring it by the office,” he said. “They’re just good kids here, good people.”A group of the high school’s students also had a rare opportunity last year that few of their peers have experienced.Last November, a handful of Bethany High School students joined a contingent from the YASE (Youth Ambassador Student Exchange) program, and toured Israel with a group of their Israeli counterparts, witnessing firsthand how the country was bombarded with Hamas rockets during Operation Pillar of Defense.The YASE trips, first initiated in 1977 by the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL), help prepare American high school students for some of the challenges and rhetoric against Israel they will encounter once they get to college. AIFL is just one of many organizations working to counter campus anti-Israel sentiment, including StandWithUs, Christians United for Israel, The David Project, the Israel Action Network and Hillel.AIFL’s Cassia Anthony, who helps coordinate the YASE trips, recognizes the value and impact they have.“These students are unusually bright and gifted, and have been a delight to work with,” she said.Kaylee Powell, who went on the trip, realized quickly that Israeli students have much in common with their peers, recalling, “One night all the Israeli girls and American girls had a sleepover, but it wasn’t like we were from other countries!” Another member of the Bethany contingent, Jackson Sharp, discovered that the Jewish state wasn’t quite like it seems in the media.“Before, I thought [Israel] would be like Iraq,” he said. “I wasn’t picturing what it was at all. Going over there and seeing Israel, it’s totally different.”Such cultural exchanges can have a lasting impact, especially for students braving the challenging world of college campuses filled with Leftleaning professors.In its less than a dozen years in operation, StandWithUs, a nonprofit based out of Los Angeles, has provided myriad resources for students hit with anti-Israel invective at colleges across the country.Vida Velasco is the group’s central region high school program coordinator, and her experiences attending Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute were nothing like what she sees on campuses now around the country.“I went to Moody, where there’s no anti-Semitism happening; we’re all Bible kids,” she recalled. “But others are facing virulent anti-Semitism. Seeing what my colleagues are going through... we try to support them by doing our part.”Roz Rothstein, CEO and co-founder of StandWithUs, starts with a simple premise: “We want to make sure people know what they’re talking about with regard to Israel.”Initially, the group was doing advocacy in other ways, but Rothstein quickly realized another priority.“At the beginning, we didn’t intend to work on college campuses, but when students found out we were up and running, they began to contact us,” she said. “There were so many people weaving tales on campuses that were detrimental to Israel. We found anti- Israel propaganda, and students said we need informative pamphlets that we can give to our friends.“We began to study the options and realized the students were right,” she continued. “We wanted to change the narrative. Israel is such a superstar in the world of hi-tech and humanitarian aid and the environment, in medicine, farming. So we realized people just don’t know what the real Israel is about.”StandWithUs provides campus advocates with a wide variety of tools, including videos, flyers, signs, factsheets, postcards, booklets and brochures.Rothstein and her team know that Velasco is a key addition; her Christian background and perspective enhance her ability to relate to students on Christian campuses, yet she is flexible enough to handle any situation. Velasco is grateful for the resources and commitment made available for her work.“StandWithUs has a great training program, training 50-60 students at a time to be advocates for their campuses,” Velasco said. “They give us the support system to know what to do.”Christians United for Israel is also heavily committed to helping fight for the cause of Israel on American campuses. Campus coordinators Josh Ahrens and David Walker understand the efforts needed.“We work on secular and Christian campuses,” says Ahrens, who coordinates CUFI’s national efforts. “As far as I know, CUFI is the only organization pushing back on those attacks coming from the Christian world.“We do what we do because the anti- Israel movement is happening across the nation,” emphasizes Ahrens. “It’s not just isolated instances of individuals who happen not to like Israel. It’s been orchestrated all across the country.”At present, CUFI has 100 strong campus chapters, with another 100 in development. Within the next year, the group wants to bring the total number of campus chapters up to 300.“In the classrooms, it is really one-sided propaganda and student organizations argue passionately for the Palestinians...but our students are really champions in overcoming obstacles and odds,” explains Walker.CUFI brings hundreds of students each year to a glittering summit in Washington DC, where they have a chance to hear congressional leaders, ministry advocates, and media figures stand with Israel. An additional benefit is the inclusion of a deluxe traveling exhibit that CUFI on Campus has prepared, which arms students with a vast array of knowledge that counters the ubiquitous “apartheid” talk lobbed at Israel.One of CUFI’s strongest advocates works in the fiercest of political campus environments: UC Berkeley. Long known to be a hotbed of leftist ideology, the campus is a welcoming place for what many describe as classic PLO propaganda about the Arab- Israeli conflict.That’s what makes Viktoriya Mukha so invaluable for Israel advocates. From San Francisco (by way of Belarus in eastern Europe), Mukha has been campus chapter president for CUFI for several years. She has a special view of anti-Semitism on campuses.“My support for Israel is rooted in my Christian faith from the very beginning,” she says. “My church and family were very supportive of Israel. They originally came from the former Soviet Union and the same persecution my grandparents experienced in Russia was the same persecution the Jews experienced.”Mukha is also confident of the chapter’s outreach today.“CUFI has been a huge help, providing us with materials, including the Israel 101 project,” she said. “Students ask for book recommendations to read.“Even though there are anti-Israel students, the biggest problem we have is apathetic students. We want to bring more speakers, to get correct information out. Because of what I’ve learned and the help from CUFI, I know when I argue my side on campus, I can add legitimacy because I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
