Israel_on_Campus_Coalition

Israel on Campus Coalition

Israel on Campus Coalition

American pro-Israel umbrella organization

The Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) is a United States pro-Israel umbrella organization founded in 2002 with funding from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. ICC's chief executive officer since 2013, Jacob Baime, is a former national field director for AIPAC.[1][2][3]

Quick Facts Abbreviation, Formation ...

History

ICC coordinates groups and students to respond to perceived anti-Israel activism.[4][5]

The ICC collects and publishes data on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. It publishes an annual campus trends report on this topic.[6] According to promotional material distributed to potential donors ICC monitors progressive Jewish student groups.[7]

In 2016, ICC campaigned against Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi by secretly funding Facebook pages that appeared under the names of fake student organizations.[8] Asked in 2018 about the pages, Facebook removed them for violating their "policies against misrepresentation".[8][9]

In November 2018, undercover footage from the censored Al Jazeera Documentary “The Lobby USA” revealed extensive conversations between ICC executives and Al Jazeera's undercover reporter.[10] An ICC executive admits the organization “coordinates” and “communicates” with Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs.[11][12][13] The footage also revealed the ICC includes the Ministry of Strategic Affairs on the organizations “operations and intelligence brief.” Despite the admission that Israel on Campus Coalition coordinates with the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, an Israeli government ministry, records show the ICC is not registered under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.[14][15]

Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation revealed further evidence of surveillance and smear campaigns conducted by the Israel on Campus Coalition.[11][12][10] An executive outlines in the undercover footage the organization’s intelligence gathering and surveillance capabilities which the organization claims are directed towards pro-Palestine and BDS advocates. Executives describe the organization's surveillance efforts as a method of “psychological warfare.”[11] The film ultimately reveals the ICC coordinates closely with and may operate Canary Mission.[10][16] The organization has previously received criticism from progressive Jewish student organization Open Hillel, after the ICC recognized the Canary Mission blacklist "for deterring BDS activism and causing students to drop their support for pro-Palestine groups out of fear of repercussions.”[17]

In October 2023, the organization led petitions to multiple universities in an effort to defund organizations that supported Hamas.[18] In November 2023, it was circulated online that the ICC paid thousands of pro-Israel college students, up to $250 per individual to attend the November 14, 2023 March for Israel rally in Washington D.C., funded through its microgrant reimbursement program, which was aimed at encouraging turnout at initiatives hosted by the pro-Israel organizations.[19][20][21]

The Nation claimed to link link the organization to Israeli intelligence and AIPAC.[1] It gathers information on pro-Palestinian students and groups in the US, including through the use of student informants in Jewish and pro-Israel student organizations, to pass on to the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs.[1]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Bamford, James (17 November 2023). "Israel's War on American Student Activists". The Nation.
  2. [2]
    Leibovitz, Liel (31 March 2016). "BDS, Inc". Tablet Magazine. New York, NY. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  3. [3]
    "A New Wave Of Hardline Anti-BDS Tactics Are Targeting Students, And No One Knows Who's Behind It". The Forward. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
  4. [4]
    Wisse, Ruth R. (23 March 2016). "March Madness, the Anti-Semite Bracket". The Wall Street Journal. New York, New York. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  5. [5]
    "Jewish students grapple with lack of support on campuses". Jewish Insider. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  6. [6]
    Stoil, Rebecca Shimoni (24 August 2015). "BDS gains campus cred in US, but pro-Israel efforts improving, report says". The Times of Israel. Jerusalem, Israel. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  7. [7]
    Josh Nathan-Kazis (September 25, 2018). "Campus Pro-Israel Group 'Monitored' Progressive Jewish Students". The Forward. Retrieved September 25, 2018. The monitoring of Open Hillel adds to an emerging picture of how the ICC has quietly used its $9 million budget, supplied by major Jewish donors like Lynn Schusterman, to discretely build a sophisticated political intelligence operation on U.S. campuses
  8. [8]
    The Forward and Josh Nathan-Kazis, Justin Elliott/ProPublica (September 12, 2018). "Pro-Israel Group Secretly Ran Misleading Facebook Ads to Target Palestinian-American Poet". Haaretz.
  9. [9]
    Forward, "Campus Pro-ISrael Group 'Monitored' Progressive Jewish Students," Sept 25, 2018
  10. [10]
    "Un documentaire interdit sur le lobby pro-israélien aux États-Unis". Orient XXI (in French). 2018-11-02. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  11. [11]
    Gresh, Alain (2018-08-31). "How Israel Spies on US Citizens". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  12. [12]
    Elliott, Justin; ProPublica; Nathan-Kazis, Josh; Forward, The (12 September 2018). "D.C.-Based Pro-Israel Group Secretly Ran Misleading Facebook Ads to Target Pro-Palestinian Activist". ProPublica. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  13. [13]
    "blocked page - Haaretz - Israel News | Haaretz.com". www.haaretz.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  14. [14]
    Oresharski, Plamen (January 2014). "The Strategic Dimension of the Bulgarian—Israeli Partnership". Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs. 8 (3): 87–89. doi:10.1080/23739770.2014.11446605. ISSN 2373-9770. S2CID 142056845.
  15. [15]
    "What Does a Censored Undercover News Investigation Reveal About the Israel Lobby in America?". WRMEA. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  16. [16]
    "Canary Mission's Veil of Anonymity Pierced". Palestine Legal. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  17. [17]
    Nathan-KazisOctober 3, Josh; Zaltzman, 2017Lior (3 October 2017). "Shadowy Blacklist Of Student Activists Wins Endorsement Of Mainstream Pro-Israel Group". The Forward. Retrieved 2020-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. [18]
    "Jewish groups demand US schools defund pro-Palestinian group for lauding Hamas attack". Times of Israel. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  19. [19]
    Ettinger, Marlon (9 November 2023). "'So embarrassing for them': Pro-Israel organization outed for offering $250 'microgrants' to pay college students to attend upcoming D.C. rally". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  20. [20]
    "Photo shows $250 offer for college students to attend 'pro-Israel' rally". Jordan News.
  21. [21]
    "Israel Bribes US Students to Take Part in Pro-Israeli Rally". Morocco World News.
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