Cambridge, MA – Open Hillel, a student-led movement advocating open conversation on the Israel/Palestine conflict within American Jewish institutions, hosted its first conference October 11-13 at Harvard University. Over 300 students, activists, scholars, and Jewish community leaders attended the conference, subtitled “If Not Now, When?”, which featured a broad range of panels, breakouts, and organizing workshops.
“For nearly two years, the Open Hillel campaign has worked to promote open discourse and pluralism in Jewish communities on campus and beyond. This weekend, hundreds of Jewish students and recent grads from across the US and Canada will convene to create the Jewish community that we want to see — and to organize together to create change.” said Rachel Sandalow-Ash, a senior at Harvard University and Open Hillel Internal Coordinator.
Open Hillel seeks to eliminate the political red lines that restrict conversation about Israel/Palestine within diaspora Jewish institutions. Organized primarily by and for students, the conference responds to the needs of a new generation for a grassroots and politically pluralistic Jewish community. The movement arose in response to the “Standards of Partnership” guidelines recently adopted by Hillel International, the largest Jewish campus organization.
Hillel’s current guidelines exclude groups, events, and speakers who they claim “delegitimize Israel” or support the Palestinian call for political pressure through boycott, divestment, and sanctions. The Open Hillel conference featured prominent speakers who have previously been excluded from campus Hillels and other Jewish institutions for their political positions on Israel. These speakers included philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, Middle East historian Rashid Khalidi, and writer David Harris-Gershon.
The conference also hosted speakers and attendees from a broad range of advocacy groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a national organization that has been excluded from Hillels because of its critique of the Israeli occupation. According to Mia Warshofsky, a student activist with JVP at University of Central Florida, “This conference showed me that there is still a place for me in the Jewish community. Because of my criticism of Israel’s assault on civilians in Gaza this summer, I have been made to feel unwelcome in my local Jewish community. But I’m inspired to see that there can be space in the Jewish community for young people like me, where my activism is not only accepted but respected and valued.”
In the past year, Hillel student leaders at Swarthmore College, Vassar College, and Wesleyan University announced that they would no longer abide by the exclusionary guidelines enforced by Hillel International.
This unprecedented conference is already sparking healthy debate in the Jewish community, which will only grow livelier as students return to their campuses energized by the Open Hillel conference.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $110,000 in one-time donations and to add 1350 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy