StandWithUs: Fighting antisemitism and supporting Israel more than ever

by Sergio Carmona

FOUNDED IN 2001 , the non-partisan international education organization StandWithUs (SWU) finds that its core mission of supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism is needed now more than ever.

From its humble beginnings in the living room of co-founders Roz (CEO) and Jerry (COO) Rothstein together with Esther Renzer (international president), StandWithUs –headquartered in Los Angeles – now has chapters and runs programs throughout the United States, Canada, in Israel, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, South Africa, the Netherlands and Australia.

Antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment continue to grow rampantly worldwide, and are especially prevalent on college campuses. Roz Rothstein recalls that SWU did not start out as a campus organization, but students began bombarding the fledgling organization with calls for help when StandWithUs opened its doors. Students were upset by what they saw, and lost as to how to respond. Muslim Student Unions and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) student groups were hosting antisemitic speakers and bringing hateful displays to campuses to create ill will against Israel and anyone that supports it.

SWU responded immediately by creating educational materials, holding conferences, galvanizing students, and teaching them context and ways to respond. The Emerson Fellowship was created in 2007 to formalize a growing network of StandWithUs Zionist students, and the Saidoff Legal Department was created a few years later to help students "Know Their Rights" on campus and engage pro bono attorneys to help students who were being bullied by anti-Israel student groups and professors because of their Zionism.

On August 4, 2022, SWU sent a letter to 3,000 university administrators and stakeholders, alerting them to five issues related to antisemitism that may arise on campuses this academic year, and offering remedies.

In 2012 StandWithUs opened the high school department because the executive staff recognized that students were unprepared for the challenges they were facing in college and that education, inspiration, and support for students who love Israel needed to start earlier than college. The StandWithUs Kenneth Leventhal High School Internship empowers young Jewish leaders before they arrive in college. Both the Emerson Fellowship and the Kenneth Leventhal High School Internship select and train hundreds of students annually to confront antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric at their schools and communities while also bringing proactive, educational programs to their peers. In the last year, the campus and high school student leaders engaged over 250,000 students with programs across the US and Canada. The 2022-23 Fellows and Leventhal Interns just completed their respective August training conferences and are