A diverse delegation of Israelis will arrive in the US next week with the Reservists on Duty organization to expose audiences to the reality on the ground for Israelis of different religious and ethnic backgrounds.
While the number of organizations dedicated to smearing Israel’s image on American college campuses remains at an all-time high, a special group of Israelis, some of whom are IDF veterans, has taken it upon themselves to expose the lies and half-truths that pass as “facts” in the world of higher education.
This group, called Reservists on Duty (RoD), has been challenging gatherings in America to question the slanted narrative about Israeli society, which demonizes both the government and people of Israel.
Next week, RoD will send a unique group of Israelis to the US, composed of Muslim, Christian and Druze citizens, reported the Jerusalem Post.
The group, which has cleverly dubbed itself “Arabs Breaking the Silence,” “want to talk about their personal experience in Israel. … to refute the claims that BDS organizations are spreading against us,” the group’s spokesman, Jonathan Elkhoury, told the Post. “They use us, Israel’s minorities, to slander Israel and say that it is racist and discriminates against its minorities, and we will say otherwise,” Elkhoury explained.
Elkhoury, an Israeli Christian who was born in Lebanon, is no stranger to real discrimination and hate. On a previous trip to the US with RoD in May, the man was subjected to verbal abuse from anti-Israel demonstrators at the University of California-Irvine which became so severe that the police were required to escort the speakers from the facility.
Hate-filled demonstrations such as these have not phased RoD speakers. In 2017 alone, 50 volunteers traveled to over 15 campuses throughout America “to educate and give truth to the lies BDS activists spread about the IDF and State of Israel,” explains RoD’s website. During these activities, RoD groups “visited Jewish and Christian communities and forged personal connections with community leaders.”
By: United with Israel Staff