Students Supporting Israel

Students Supporting Israel
Formation2012
FoundersIlan Sinelnikov (President of the Organization)

Valeria Chazin (Chairwoman, Board of Directors)

Naor Bitton (Senior Advisor, Board of Directors)
Type501(c)(3) non-profit
FocusPro Israel Campus Activity
HeadquartersMinneapolis, MN
Leaders
Valeria Chazin, Ilan Sinelnikov & Naor Bitton
Websitehttp://www.ssimovement.org/

Students Supporting Israel (also known as SSI) is a Zionist international student activist movement that supports Israel as a Jewish and democratic nation-state. "SSI mission is to be a clear and confident pro-Israel voice, and to support students in grassroots activism". As of June 2024, SSI has more than 130 chapters across campuses in the United States, Canada, and Argentina.[1] SSI was founded in 2012 in Minnesota, in March of 2014 Indiana University and DePaul University students registered SSI chapters on their campuses turning SSI to a national movement. The first university to open an SSI club in Canada was the Toronto Metropolitan University (previously Ryerson University) on April of 2014. By October of 2014 and the new fall semester, SSI was approved as a 501c3 non-profit organization and operated on 27 campuses. From October 2023 until the end of the 2023/4 academic year, more than 50 schools started an SSI club on their campus. SSI national offices are in Minneapolis. The founders of the organizations are Ilan Sinelnikov, Valeria Chazin, and Naor Bitton.

Campaigns

  • Palestinian Apartheid Week: Students Supporting Israel highlights the apartheid policies of the Palestinian government - including the systemic ethnic discrimination against Jews in Palestinian-controlled territories - in a campaign called Palestinian Apartheid Week.
  • UNDENIED: The “UNDENIED” project is a unique Holocaust memorial and awareness initiative where during International Holocaust Remembrance Day Students Supporting Israel chapters and activists hand out free books on the Holocaust on college campuses across North America.
  • Lt. Col, Eyal Dror Reserves Tour: Chapters of Students Supporting Israel located on various California campuses hosted Lt. Col, Eyal Dror Reserves, the commanding officer of Israel's Operation Good Neighbor that treated thousands of Syrian civilians in hospitals along the border. He presented Israel’s humanitarian efforts, and the story of this important mission.[2]
  • "Never Forget" 09.11.2001: This campaign was established to show solidarity with the families of the victims and remember the attacks on America, Israel's greatest ally, on September 11, 2001, while simultaneously drawing the parallels of America's alliance with Israel against terrorism.[3]

Awards and achievements

As a student group, it has demonstrated influence in student government bodies on several occasions including the Israeli Academic Cooperation position statement at the University of Minnesota, which paved the way for a similar Israeli Support Resolution at the University of Georgia followed shortly by Texas A&M University.[6][7][8][9][10]

References

  1. ^ "List of Chapters". Students Supporting Israel.
  2. ^ "Lt. Col, Eyal Dror Reserves Tour".
  3. ^ "Never Forget Campaign". SSI Movement. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  4. ^ "Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration for Israel's 67th Independence Day". embassies.gov.il. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18.
  5. ^ "Students Supporting Israel at the University of Minnesota Honored at CAMERA's Annual Gala | In Focus". Camera on Campus. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  6. ^ {{cite In the last 12 years, SSI has passed more than 30 resolutions in student governments across North America, calling for an increase in academic collaboration between Israeli universities and American universities and calling for the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance rolling Definition of Antisemitism. In 2023 SSI President Tessa Veksler was elected as a student body President of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). In 2024 SSI Columbia Board member Maya Platek was elected as a student body President of the Columbia University School of General Studies. web|last1=Ghermezian|first1=Shiryn|title=2015′s First Resolution Calling for More Investment in Israel Passed by University of Georgia Students|url=http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/02/25/2015s-first-resolution-calling-for-more-investment-in-israel-passed-by-university-of-georgia-students/%7Cwebsite=algemeiner.com%7Cpublisher=The Algemeiner|accessdate=1 May 2015}}
  7. ^ Duke, Michael. "Anti-Israel divestment defeated at University of Texas". Jewish Herald-Voice. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  8. ^ Reid, Kylee. "Israeli support finds home at Texas A&M". The Battalion. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  9. ^ Jacobs, Michael. "Dawgs Pound Home Support for Israel". Atlanta Jewish Times. Southern Israelites. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  10. ^ Jakobs, Barry. "The Minneapolis model: Innovating Israel advocacy". Times of Israel. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 1 May 2015.