A USF Student Senate Bill on Israel Results in Rare Collaboration

The University of Southern Florida student government passed a resolution last month entitled “New Hope,” critiquing President Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

But what makes this bill different from all other controversial student government bills? Drafters and campus Jews worked on it together.

The resolution came out of more than 20 hours of conversation – and many cups of coffee – between Rabbi Ed Rosenthal, the executive director of University of Southern Florida Hillel, and pro-Palestinian students.

Student senate resolutions on Israel are rarely much of an opportunity for dialogue, and at first, this resolution process seemed no exception.

Rosenthal and 50 Jewish students piled into a USF Senate meeting to speak out against the original version of the resolution. The first bill, called “Hands Off,” condemned both Trump’s decision and “Israeli atrocities the State of Israel has committed against the Palestinian people.”

“While I prefer to stay out of such situations and allow the students to be the voice of Hillel, I felt it was important enough to speak,” Rosenthal wrote in a report to Hillel board members.  He told student government that the resolution was anti-Semitic. Later that night, it was tabled.

After the meeting, one of the resolution’s authors came up to Rosenthal and asked where he saw anti-Semitism in the bill. It was midnight, but they sat outside talking for two hours, drawing the attention of other senators who joined the conversation.

“I explained to them the U.S. State Department’s definition of the 3 “Ds” (Delegitimization, Demonization and Double-Standards) and discussed how legitimate complaints against policies of the government of Israel can cross the line and become anti-Semitism,” Rosenthal wrote.

The student authors decided to craft a new resolution, and over the following week, repeatedly reached out to Rosenthal for advice on how to make the language palatable to both the Palestinian and Jewish communities on campus.

“[Senators] worked like three hours a day for four days, working with the rabbi in order to make the resolution not alienating to anybody,” said Amani Taha, the USF senate president. She said, the day of the meeting to introduce the new resolution, student senators went to breakfast with the rabbi for four extra hours to discuss final touches.

The revised intent of the now “New Hope” resolution was to “recognize the suffering of the Palestinian people, express on behalf of students everywhere the desire for peace and stability in Palestine and Israel, and convey our rejection for measures contrary to this goal.” It passed with a vote of 39-3.

While the resolution’s core message – condemning the U.S. embassy move – remained unchanged, the tone had clearly shifted.

Rosenthal wrote that while he found the new bill one-sided, “For the first time on any American campus (to the best of my knowledge) a student senate… has a) recognized Israel’s right to exist, b) acknowledged that Israelis too have suffered because of the conflict, c) condemned terrorism, d) called for a two state solution, and e) told Israeli and Palestinian leaders to put aside their difference and negotiate peace for both of their peoples.”

Still, the collaboration didn’t come without backlash.

Early the next morning, Rosenthal received a call from the Israeli Consul General in Miami. He had heard from the Ministry of Affairs in Jerusalem that Rosenthal sponsored a pro-BDS bill. The two quickly cleared up the misunderstanding.

“The Consul General said that he, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows the difference between an anti-Israel resolution and a pro-Palestinian resolution,” Rosenthal wrote.

Hillel International, however, was less understanding. The organization issued a statement stating that Hillel International appreciated the USF student government’s attempts to remove anti-Semitic language, but “believes the final resolution is anti-Israel and unacceptable.”

A vocal Jewish student leader also wasn’t pleased. Spencer Tate, a former Jewish senator, accused the student government of having “a hidden agenda of Palestinian and Arabic causes.” He described the rabbi’s conversations with senators as a situation in which “SJP essentially infiltrated what’s supposed to be for Jewish students.”

Shortly before the “New Hope” bill passed, and after his position was suspended due to senate academic requirements, Tate permanently resigned from student government, citing an anti-Semitic “toxic environment.”

“It is clear to see that being Jewish and a zionist comes with repercussions in Student government ranging from death threats to being alienated in all aspects,” Tate wrote in his letter of resignation. (Tate did receive a threatening Facebook message written in Hebrew, though from a foreign account not clearly affiliated with anyone at the university.)

According to Taha, other Jewish students came away with a more positive experience. “We’d never seen that kind of collaboration,” she said.

Jewish students told Taha that after the meeting, they were approached by Palestinian students for the first time and got to talking.

One Hillel member invited senators to come to their weekly ice cream socials. “We got into a conversation about ice cream flavors,” Taha said. “It was all smiles, definitely a rare sight.”

Students followed up on the ice cream invitation.

“One of the authors of the resolution called me and asked if it would be alright if he brought a group of Muslim students to Hillel’s ice cream parlor…” Rosenthal wrote. “I asked how many he thought might come. He said, ‘Not too many, maybe 20 or 30.’”

Sara Weissman is the editor of New Voices. Kvetch or kvell to her at editor@newvoices.org.