Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 6, 2008 Page: 5 of 44
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Jewish Herald-Voice
November 6, 2008
World
Son of Jewish escapee from Nazism
eyes premiership in New Zealand
Up Close
Fellows to_ educate about Israelon
North American college campuses
Two Texas students selected for
StandWithUs Emerson Fellowship
Two student leaders from Texas
universities have been designated
2008-2009 StandWithUs Emerson
Fellows, a unique campus initia-
tive entering its second year from
StandWithUs, the nonprofit, interna-
tional Israel education organization.
The two Texas students are seniors
Susan Eva Perry from University of
North Texas and Ma’ayan Kaplan
from The University of Texas at
Austin.
The fellowship selects and trains
students from campuses across
the United States and Canada to
run events that teach about Israel.
Thirty-seven student leaders from 37
campuses have been hired for the
2008-’09 school year. The fellowship
is funded by philanthropists Rita and
Steve Emerson.
Majoring in political science,
Perry also is president of UNT’s
Hillel, an Eagle Ambassador, SGA
supreme court justice and president
of Eagle Mensches for Israel. “I am
thrilled to have been chosen as a
StandWithUs Emerson Fellow,” she
enthused. “As a fellow on the North
Texas campus, I hope to educate our
student body with facts about Israel
and what they can do to help. This
is going to be a great fall semester
and, thanks to StandWithUs, we now
have more resources to bring great
programming to our campus.”
Majoring in English, Kaplan
is also a member of the University
Theater Guild and the education
director of Texans For Israel. “I have
always felt that a pro-Israel presence
is necessary on any campus,” she
maintained. “After visiting Israel last
year and seeing what a wonderful,
rich and exciting culture it has, I felt
that I had to be that pro-Israel voice.
I am lucky to have a great resource
with Texans for Israel, StandWithUs
and my Hillel.”
The students began by attending
an August conference in Los Angeles,
geared towards training them as
StandWithUs Emerson Fellows.
Through workshops and lectures by
SWU campus staff, they learned skills
and facts to help them clarify Israel’s
image and combat anti-Israel rheto-
ric and stereotypes. They learned
coalition building and event planning
and received media training.
Throughout the year, the SWU
Emerson Fellows will build relation-
ships with their campus groups and
individuals to create informative, bal-
anced and educational events. They
will report back to SWU campus
staff to evaluate program effective-
ness and network among themselves
to ensure consistency.
They also will distribute, for free,
Campus Post, a new monthly news-
paper about Israel from StandWithUs
and the Jerusalem Post, written by
and for students. The 32-page color
paper provides students and faculty
with an open forum to express
thoughts, experiences and perspec-
tives about Israel and Judaism, and
to expose anti-Israel rhetoric on
campus and student response.
SWU Emerson Fellows receive
a stipend. They are eligible to join
the StandWithUs Taglit Birthright
Israel trip, or be chosen to intern at
the StandWithUs office in Israel in
summer 2009.
“We are thrilled by the astound-
ing success of the initial Emerson
Fellowship. It will strengthen Israel-
related programming on these cam-
puses,” stated Ron Kutas, Emerson
Fellowship director, adding that SWU
plans to run more programs this year.
“We chose campuses with par-
ticular anti-Israel sentiment, and
the fellows are our eyes and ears on
the ground. They can best articulate
their needs and work with SWU to
formulate an optimal response.” He
explained that more than 100 candi-
dates applied and were interviewed
for this year’s fellowship. “We decided
on the strongest ones, based on proven
leadership abilities, passion and the
regional and campus climate.”
Thirty-eight students from U.S.
and Canadian campuses participated
in the first SWU Emerson Fellowship
during the 2007-’08 semester. They
brought speakers to their campuses,
screened films, organized programs
for Israel@60 and responded to anti-
Israel@60 events and rhetoric.
StandWithUs hosts speakers and
conferences, offers website resources
and creates brochures and materi-
als widely distributed in universities,
libraries, high schools, religious insti-
tutions and communities that teach
about Israel. Based in Los Angeles, the
organization has offices in New York,
Denver, Michigan, Seattle, Chicago,
Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Orange
County (Calif.), Israel and the U.K.
SWU was founded in 2001 in response
to the second Intifada and the misun-
derstandings about the challenges that
By DAN GOLDBERG
SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) - It may
be known as the “Land of the Long
White Cloud,” but the forecast for New
Zealand appears to be bright - at least
for Israel and the small Kiwi Jewish
community.
Major polls show that Prime
Minister Helen Clark’s Labor Party
will likely lose the Nov. 8 election to
the National Party led by John Key,
the son of an Austrian Jewish mother
who escaped the Nazis in 1939.
It is possible that Key will receive
the most votes but be unable to form
a majority government. If he wins,
few if any Kiwi Jews or Israeli offi-
cials would likely mourn the defeat of
Clark, who has been in power since
1999. Many still point to the diplomatic
meltdown sparked by the “passport
affair” in 2004, when two apparent
Mossad agents were accused of trying
to obtain a Kiwi passport illegally.
In the wake of the scandal, Clark
suspended high-level relations for
more than a year until Israel apolo-
gized. Days later, vandals burned a
prayer house to the ground at a Jewish
cemetery, in what was described as
the worst anti-Semitic attack in Kiwi
history. In 2006, an arrest warrant for
“war crimes” was issued for former
Israeli army chief of staff Moshe
Ya’alon, who was traveling in the
country. It was later rescinded.
Despite Clark’s hosting a kosher
dinner in parliament in September to
acknowledge the contribution of the
country’s Jewish community, her era
has been synonymous with the nadir
of relations between Wellington and
Jerusalem.
Key, 47, told JTA that it was
“understandable” that relations with
Jerusalem were “a little bit strained”
after the passport affair, but there
was “no use in reliving it.”
Clark has not visited Israel while in
office, though her former foreign min-
ister, Phil Goff, incensed then-Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003 when
he greeted Yassir Arafat in Ramallah.
Key, in contrast, said he hopes to visit
the Jewish state, where he has cousins.
And, he wants to pay tribute at Yad
Vashem to those of his mother’s family
who did not survive the Holocaust.
It would be a poignant moment,
he said. “I very much want to go
there, in part because obviously I’m
interested” and also “as a mark of
respect for my mum.”
Key’s mother, Ruth Lazar, owed
her life to her aunt, who arranged a
marriage by convenience in Britain,
enabling Ruth and her mother and
grandmother to escape Austria on
the eve of the war. Key, who criti-
cized Clark for not supporting the
war against Iraq, said Israel and New
Zealand have many similarities.
“We are small in nature, and we
are entrepreneurial, and Israel has
achieved some amazing things in
terms of its high-tech pace,” he said.
“I think there’s a lot that New Zealand
can learn from Israel.”
Key and his two elder sisters were
brought up in poverty in a govern-
ment-run house, largely devoid of
See New Zealand on Page 6
Israel faces. StandWithUsCampus helps www.standwithuscampus.com. For
college students fight anti-Semitism information about the SWU Emerson
and anti-Israel bias on campuses. Fellowship, visit www.emersonfel
For information about SWU, visit lowship.com. □
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Samuels, Jeanne F. Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 32, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 6, 2008, newspaper, November 6, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth544115/m1/5/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .