StandWithUs

The organization has brought complaints against college and university faculty, and has opposed movements such as boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). ³

Background

StandWithUs is an international education group that focuses on promoting Israel’s side of the story to the public, college and university campuses, libraries, and the media through brochures, speakers, conferences, and missions to Israel. ¹ StandWithUs contends that anti-Zionism is the modern manifestation of antisemitism. ⁴

The group says it reaches hundreds of thousands of students every year in 18 different languages. ^{5 6}

In 2001, StandWithUs was co-founded by Roz Rothstein, a daughter of Holocaust survivors, who became the CEO; Jerry Rothstein, who became the chief operating officer; and Esther Renzer, who became the president of the organization. They said they founded it in response to the misinformation about the Middle East, as well as what they consider antisemitic language used about Israel and about Jewish people worldwide. ^{7 4 8}

StandWithUs stresses it does not support political parties or advocate for public policy and says it is open to all perspectives including “Zionists who vocally call for Israel to give up the West Bank, along with those who vocally argue that Israel cannot do so until Palestinian leaders are willing to make peace, those who believe Israel can’t be secure without the IDF having a presence along the border between the West Bank and Jordan, those who believe Jews have inalienable rights to live in Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank), and more.” ⁹

Although the group does not take political positions, it has opposed J Street, a U.S. liberal organization that routinely criticized the Israeli government. ¹⁰

The organization says it helps students combat boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel (BDS) resolutions or referenda, bias in the classroom, Israel Apartheid Week, Deadly Exchange campaigns, bullying or harassment in-person or online, and other challenges. ³

The organization has regional-based experts to address various campuses and assist students that encounter hate or bigotry. The group also has partnerships with on-campus professionals through Hillel, Chabad, and faculty members at various institutions. ³

To counter antisemitism on social media, the StandWithUs research and strategy department created TruStory, which is a platform that provides students with immediate, vetted, and sourced social media content about Israel. ¹¹ The organization is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States and a Section 46 charity in Israel. ²

The group says more than 87 percent of its donations go directly into educational programming each year, and less than 13 percent is dedicated to administration and fundraising. ¹²

Holocaust Education

StandWithUs brings Holocaust education into the classroom for Jewish and non-Jewish students with the StandWithUs Holocaust Education Center. ³

The group tries to bring International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance education to campuses, including the organization’s definition of antisemitism. StandWithUs launched Students 4 IHRA: United to Define, which is a database of content for students about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. ³

Locations

The organization, based in Los Angeles, has 18 different offices spread across the world, including its Israel Education Center in Jerusalem. ⁶

StandWithUs has offices in Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. ¹³

StandWithUs also has U.S. locations in Chicago, serving the Midwest region; in Seattle, serving the Northwest region; in San Diego, California; 29 high school chapters in Florida serving the Southeast; the New York metropolitan area for the Northeast; in the Mid-Atlantic region; and in the Palm Springs-Coachella area of California. ¹³

Programs and Events

The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation says it is the sole sponsor of the StandWithUs International Student Conference, which is an annual gathering of about 160 pro-Israel student leaders from campuses all over the world to gain skills and knowledge. Conference experts teach students about speech skills, history, and the dangers of radical Islamism. Students are provided films and printed materials to take back to their campuses. They are also mentored by StandWithUs after the conference. ¹⁴

The Herzl Dinner is when StandWithUs members and donors host private dinners and events at their homes to increase momentum in the lead-up to the annual Festival of Lights gala in December. Herzl Dinners are hosted by board members, donors, or local members, gathering a small group of StandWithUs supporters to discuss the StandWithUs efforts. ⁶

StandWithUs has a Rabbis United program that is aimed at bringing together rabbis of all Jewish denominations to educate their synagogues and communities, and provide them with educational materials, newsletters, and invitations for conferences. ¹²

The organization provides a middle school curriculum to help Jewish children ages 11, 12, and 13 years old feel connected to Israel through IsraelLINK. It is hundreds of schools, and trains hundreds of teachers. ¹²

In 2006, StandWithUs established an Israel Fellowship at Israeli universities. ¹⁵

In 2007, StandWithUs established the Emerson Fellowship on North American college and university campuses. ⁴

In 2012, the group created the Kenneth Leventhal High School Internship for high school juniors and seniors to learn about Israel and take the lessons back to their schools. ⁴

The StandWithUs Center For Combating Antisemitism was established in 2019 and provides legal help for middle school, high school, and university students bullied for their Jewish identity. ¹²

Activism

In 2015, StandWithUs teamed with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law in a letter to University of Minnesota President Eric W. Kaler objecting to the campus environment after Moshe Halbertal, an Israeli scholar and professor at New York University School of Law and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was invited to speak at the University of Minnesota Law School. Students heckled him with racial slurs, and chanted, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.” ¹⁶

In June 2020, Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs; Yael Lerman, the director of StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department; and Carly Gammill, director StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism, wrote to Florida State University President John E. Thrasher and FSU Board of Trustees noting they were “appalled at the blatant discrimination and antisemitism occurring” at the Student Government Association, particularly with the student senate president who had posted anti-Israel messages and messages about a “stupid Jew” on social media, and created a website comparing Israel to Nazis. ¹⁷

A 2023 report by the left-wing anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace claimed StandWithUs is among groups that “intervene on campuses in efforts to muzzle political criticisms of Israeli policies.” ¹⁸

In September 2023, StandWithUs led a Jewish coalition in a letter asking American Jewish law firms to withdraw their financial sponsorship of the American Branch of the International Law Association’s “International Law Weekend” in October of that year, which was set to honor with its Outstanding Achievement Award Navi Pillay, head of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Israel and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who has been routinely critical of the State of Israel. ¹⁹