By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

“Today marks 409 days since October 7,” Shira Bach, a Leventhal intern with the Jewish education organization StandWithUs, told the audience gathered at Congregation Keneseth Israel for the presentation “The Fundamentals of Israel Activism” on November 18. “I’m uneasy, to say the least.”

A student at Kohelet Yeshiva High School outside Philadelphia, Bach was introducing the featured speaker for the StandWithUs-Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley event, Charlotte Korchak, who has been with StandWithUs for 14 years and travels the world educating groups on issues related to the organization’s advocacy for Israel and mission to combat antisemitism. 

“This event wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of Shira Bach, who has done an amazing job at spreading the word these past few weeks, as well as college advocates like Sam Bitterman, who serves as a StandWithUs Emerson Fellow at Muhlenberg College,” said Connor Hayes, director of community programming for the Jewish Federation. “We need to support and empower the students in our community, because at the end of the day, they are on the front lines of Israel activism.”

Charlotte Korchak was born in Los Angeles and moved to Israel with her family when she was 9 years old. She later returned to the United States and ended up studying at the University of Southern California. It was there that she had her first up-close encounter with antisemitism and anti-Zionism, running into a group claiming that Israel was an apartheid state. 

“I didn’t like that I didn’t know how to defend myself that day,” she said (speaking very quickly throughout her presentation and packing in lots of information!). “I also didn’t like that I ended up screaming at people. It’s not very effective.”

That incident was vivid in her mind when she received the opportunity for the educational role she now fills for StandWithUs. Every day, she has the chance to prepare others for encounters like that one she had in college. And, preferably, less heated encounters, where there may be legitimate hope for changing someone’s mind about something.

She starts her talk on activism with the story of the Jewish people—a problem in itself from the get-go. “It’s way too long,” she said. “And we’re dealing with a (young) generation that has the attention span of an ant.”

Part 1 of the story sounds simple enough. “The Jews come from the land of Israel,” she said, harking back 3,000 years to when the Jews became the Israelites under King David. “That is the beginning of the story.”  

Part 2 is exile from that land, with Jews being scattered all over world, mostly to Europe, which gave us the Ashkenazi Jews. 135 CE was the last time ancient Jews had the land of Israel.

Part 3 fast-forwards through centuries of continual persecution to the 1880s. “After 1,800 years,” Korchak said, “Jews decided enough was enough.” The solution to the history of exile and persecution was Zionism, “the belief in a Jewish state in the land of Israel.”

Zionism has become a point of particular contention since the State of Israel responded to defend itself in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the capture of more than 200 hostages. Korchak referred to the anti-Zionism, and antisemitism, that seems to be just about everywhere. 

Despite that, it’s neither true nor productive to assume that if someone tells you they’re not antisemitic, they’re lying. “Believe them,” she said. “They’re probably telling you the truth.” 

Most people don’t even realize that their thoughts and actions may lean toward antisemitism, she said. And they usually don’t understand how anti-Zionism, which might seem like a purely political position, could be antisemitic in that the existence of the State of Israel is essential to the security of Jewish people across the globe. 

Korchak believes that about 5% percent of the American public is Zionist, while 5% is anti-Zionist. That leaves 90% in the middle who don’t really know what they think about the issue.  “Let’s be honest,” she told the audience. “Most of them just don’t care.” Still, that’s a lot of people who might be convinced one way or the other. 

“The average person walking down the street doesn’t understand why Israel, needs to exist,” Korchak explained.  “If Israel no longer exists, are you going to be there to protect me? People who do have a problem with Jews are going to come and get me. 

“What happens in every generation? The right-wing antisemites hunt Jews down.” 

One method of trying to persuade people on some of your points is to ask questions. If they say they’re anti-Zionist, ask what that means. “People don’t like to be challenged,” she said. “They don’t like to be wrong.” They may be open to your explanations as a way to clarify their own thinking.

That said, criticism of Israel isn’t necessarily anti-Zionism. Criticizing politics and policies is OK, for Jews and for anyone else. “Most Israelis do it all the time,” Korchak said. “Welcome to the club.”

Of course there are plenty of bona fide anti-Zionists and antisemites out there. You can’t change the mind of someone who wants to get rid of Jews, she said. If you’re explaining something to a person and they respond with comment like, “You’re all propaganda,” walk away. Invest your efforts elsewhere.

One way to promote positive attitudes toward the Jews and Israel with people whose minds may not be completely closed is to open up yourself. “Be more outwardly Jewish,” she said. “Be more outwardly Zionist. The more visibly Jewish you are, the more people can express support. 

“We’re not perfect. Israel is not perfect. But we’re pretty damned good.”

Some of all this might strike you as raising questions as much as supplying answers. Dimas Guaico, senior campus regional manager for StandWithUs in the area that includes the Lehigh Valley, said that’s fine. “If you don’t leave one of our talks with more questions than answers, then we really haven’t done our job right,” he said.

“We hope that this sparked some more curiosity, more questions from high school or college students or community members wanting to learn more, wanting to get their hands on more resources.”

To get your own hands on some of the resources StandWithUs provides, visit standwithus.com.