Hillel is the international organization dedicated to Jewish students on campus and with a
pro-Israel policy.
Among Hillel's policies is that its space on campus is not open to those who argue for the destruction of Israel or support the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement. Hillel does not argue that anti-Israel speakers be barred from campus, just that its specific space and the use of its name not be used to further that anti-Israel agenda.
As readers know from the
hundreds of posts we have written about the campus BDS movement, there is no shortage of places on campus and sponsoring groups and departments at which anti-Israel messaging takes place. Hillel often provides the one place on campus at which pro-Israel students can feel at home.
Because Hillel provides the home on campus for pro-Israel students, Hillel has come under attack seeking to destroy that role.
In the past year or so, some "progressive" Jews at Northeastern liberal arts colleges started an "Open Hillel" movement, refusing to abide by Hillel's pro-Israel guidelines, and demanding that anti-Israel speakers and events be hosted at Hillel. The first group to go "Open Hillel" was at Swarthmore College.
The movement held a national conference recently in Boston, at which anti-Israel, pro-boycott (including academic boycott) speakers such as Judith Butler
were featured.
Open Hillel was viewed by the pro-Israel community as just another attempt to divide and conquer, forcing the most visible pro-Israel group to do what no other private campus group is forced to to -- sponsor speakers and groups hostile to its mission.
Much like the viciously anti-Israel "
Jewish Voice for Peace," Open Hillel was viewed by the pro-Israel community as a Trojan horse, using a Jewish identity to provide cover for the most vicious anti-Israel (and often anti-Semitic) voices.
Now a former Open Hillel insider has blown the whistle on the Open Hillel fraud.
Writing in The Times of Israel, Holly Bicerano recounts her experience,
Standing athwart lies: Why I left Open Hillel:
Those who lie about themselves are not in a position to judge others.
Ron Coleman