Ryvchin at Yale
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin was recently invited to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut to lecture on the anti-Israel movement and his new book, “The Anti-Israel Agenda – Inside the Political War on the Jewish State.”
Alex Ryvchin at Yale
The lecture was held at Yale’s Whitney Humanities Centre, with Ryvchin discussing the history, aims and tactics of the anti-Israel movement to an audience of academics and students followed by a Q&A session on a range of issues including how to counter BDS, issues of intersectionality on campus, loss of bipartisan support for Israel in the US, and concerns about an academic boycott led by US scholars.
Ryvchin told the audience that the aim of the political war on Israel is to co-opt the organs of civil society and government to gradually turn public opinion in the Western world against Israel, in order to bring about the isolation and eventual collapse of the Jewish State. He drew on the Australian experience using the Marrickville Council BDS fiasco of 2010/2011 as a case study for how this campaign works, where it strikes, the political dynamics in which it takes root, what it seeks to do, what lasting damage remains and finally, how it can be successfully stopped.
Ryvchin said: “This was a tremendous honour for the ECAJ and for me personally. It shows that the work being done by Australian advocates for the Jewish people is valued on the world stage. I’m really pleased that my book and the lessons within it are resonating with influential audiences and I hope it will continue to shine a light on the destructive and illegitimate political campaign directed at the Jewish national home.”
During his US trip, Ryvchin also spoke at a major JNF event in Arizona, delivering talks about his personal story and about his book.
