The weekend of October 9-12 will mark a national gathering of Americanstudent leaders from across the country coming together on the RutgersUniversity campus in New Brunswick, NJ to rally in support of the Stateof Israel.

“The ‘Israel Inspires’ campaign is a campaign of peace,” said RutgersHillel Student President, Stephanie Schwartz. “Our immediate goal is tocreate an influential pro-Israel presence at Rutgers. College studentsand community members will converge on our campus to take part in thekickoff rally on Thursday October 9th and engage in a weekend ofeducation and celebration.This is going to be an amazing forum for Rutgers students and studentsfrom all over the country to empower themselves with the tools andresources they need to strengthen their support of Israel and their ownidentities, at a time when campuses throughout the country are beinglittered with extremist Palestinian propaganda.”

The “Israel Inspires” campaign will come head to head with thecontroversial Palestinian Solidarity Conference being held at Rutgersthe same weekend. “Our concern is that our campus will be flooded withhate and extremism by a group that openly rejects the Roadmap to Peace -the Roadmap that has been accepted by the President of the UnitedStates, the Prime Minister of the State of Israel, and the PrimeMinister of the Palestinian Authority,” said Andrew Getraer, ExecutiveDirector of Rutgers Hillel. “The Palestinian conference presentsenormous challenges, but also a unique opportunity. It is an opportunityto express our solidarity with Israel, our pride in ourselves and ourcommitment to peace.”

“Israel Inspires” responds to three days of hate and extremism with ayear of celebration, education, and inspiration. Political leaders,newsmakers, and celebrities are lining up to back the “Israel Inspires”campaign and will be key speakers for many of the events throughout theweekend.

Contact:

Rutgers Hillel 732-545-2407Stephanie Schwartz, Rutgers Hillel President, Rutgers University ’04Andrew Getraer, Executive Director, Rutgers HillelRabbi Esther Reed, Assistant Director, Rutgers Hillel

For info on the student initiative www.israelinspires.org

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2003 and is filed under action.