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By Alexandra Ahdoot
(MAY 16, 2022 / JNS) I am a Persian Jew who has lived all of my life in America. Yet at the same time, Israel is my home. I get the chills every time I sing “Hatikvah” because even though I live thousands of miles away, my heart lies and will always lie in Israel. The small things in my daily life are a constant reminder of this: the mezuzah on my doorpost, the way I pray facing Jerusalem, the necklace I wear every day that bears my last name, meaning “unity” in Hebrew.
As a proud Jew and Zionist, Israel is not only part of my identity; it is also my duty to support it in any and every way. Especially upon beginning my college years, I realized that if I am not physically serving in the Israel Defense Forces like my 18-year-old Israeli counterparts, the least I can do is defend Israel my way—by receiving an amazing education and making it known that I will be a strong, unwavering pro-Israel voice on campus.
That is why when I started at Duke University last fall, I was so excited to be selected as a Zionist Organization of America Campus Fellow. As such, I work with the ZOA’s Campus department to plan and host educational pro-Israel programs for Jewish and non-Jewish students. Together, we work to challenge the anti-Israel falsehoods that some students and student groups promote on campus. Arming students with the facts about the Jewish state and its history, we encourage them to become informed advocates while at Duke and beyond.
One of my most impactful collegiate leadership activities has been the founding of Duke’s Students Supporting Israel (SSI) chapter, a grassroots movement led by students for students. By starting SSI with a good friend of mine, I hoped to create an opportunity to help combat false narratives about Israel, educate those who don’t have any background knowledge of Israel and help people understand why supporting this tiny country is so crucial to the world.
This past November, the Duke Student Government (DSG) vetoed our SSI chapter a mere four days after the DSG Senate officially approved it. After making a social media post calling out a student’s antisemitic remarks and inviting her to engage in a civil dialogue, our chapter was vetoed because we allegedly failed to engage in “good faith behavior.” DSG hadn’t exercised its veto power in over five years. After being gaslighted into believing we had done something wrong—though afterwards digesting the extent of this double standard—my co-president and I realized with complete clarity that we had nothing to apologize for. Instead, we were more motivated than ever to put an end to anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric. “Good faith behavior” is a completely subjective term; in our eyes, we had, in fact, acted in good faith by standing up against antisemitism.
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