November 14–18 marked the first annual Israel Week at the University of Toronto.
Israel On Campus, a ULife-recognized student club, hosted a variety of events designed to “offer a different way to look at Israel,” according to organizer and fourth-year history student Esther Mendelsohn.
The week was meant to offer a broad, academically-oriented perspective on Israel because, according to Mendelsohn, “It’s easy to get caught up and only see [Israel] through the very narrow lens of politics.”
“Politics is relevant and important… No one’s shying away from politics, but there’s so much more, and we’d be remiss not to talk about it,” she said.
Humanitarianism was the focus of the group’s first Israel Week, and guests discussed a variety of the humanitarian causes that the country supports. Some of the guests included Dr. Gil Gross, a participant in the Save A Child’s Heart mission to Tanzania, and Zaki Djemal, the North American Representative for IsraAID.
Mendelsohn sat down with The Varsity to discuss the group’s goals and motivations for the week.
Mendelsohn repeatedly emphasized the need for “open, honest, and nuanced discourse, as long as it’s respectful.” She dismissed the notion that the week was merely “Zionist propaganda” or pro-Israel PR; rather, she said it was about getting the facts and engaging others in discussion.
Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), whose organizers were unavailable for comment, remains a contentious issue for Israel On Campus.
While stressing that she doesn’t see Israel Week as IAW’s polar opposite, Mendelsohn did criticize the group for being, “not pro-Palestinian [but] just anti-Israel.”
“I criticize Israel and I don’t consider myself anti-Semitic, but there is a line. And when you use certain words, certain rhetoric, and especially images that are in no way based in fact then, yes, it crosses a certain line and becomes anti-Semitic,” she argued.
Mendelsohn dismissed IAW and organizations like the “socialist newspaper at Sid Smith,” saying they’re “fringe” and “radical” groups that aren’t reflective of the majority of her peers. She also had harsh words for UTSU, which has reportedly supported IAW in the past, either directly or through its OPRIG affiliate.
“My issue is that my student fees pay for this, and [it’s] a body that purports to represent all students picking a side on such a divisive issue,” she said.“The UTSU has said this year that what’s happened in the past doesn’t necessarily need to happen again, so I’d call on them to reconsider their funding and their support [to IAW].
“I think the solution is not to lend their name or support, financial or otherwise, and to just say ‘You can have your week, and you can have your week’ … but not to make certain students feel like they don’t belong, because that’s exactly what it feels like.”
Israel on Campus plans for next year’s events to be better publicized through displays around the university, but they hope to continue the discussion in a “more moderate place.”
“When you have a lot of rhetoric, emotional grabs using certain words, it can polarize the discourse, and we don’t want that,” Mendelsohn said. “We want to bring it back to a place where we can disagree with each other but also find points where we agree, and that’s the only way to move forward on campus and in the Middle East as well.”
Student members currently fund Israel on Campus, though it will be looking for other funding sources in the future. It is independent of other Jewish or Israeli campus groups.
