(Los Angeles, CA, August 21, 2012) -- StandWithUs (SWU) proudly announces the opening of a new chapter in Boston, Massachusetts in September, 2012, headed by New England Campus Coordinator Lihi Benisty. Boston will be a welcome addition to the 15 other StandWithUs chapters located in major cities across the U.S., and in Jerusalem, London and Paris.
Benisty will work with campuses and the community to implement SWU programming and to help counter anti-Israel sentiment. She will primarily interface with the 2012-13 New England StandWithUs Emerson Fellows. Entering its sixth year, the Fellowship selects and trains student leaders from across the US and Canada to run Israel education events and combat campus anti-Israel activities. For the 2012-13 semesters, SWU New England Emerson Fellows have been chosen from the University of Vermont, Boston University, Clark University, Tufts University and Smith College.
“I am thrilled to open this Boston office and to have a better opportunity to fulfill SWU's mission of education. The area is teeming with college students who want to inform their peers about Israel. In the past, our New York campus coordinator worked in this region, but now we can focus more specifically on the New England area. I also look forward to engaging the wider community and connecting with other organizations that care about Israel,” said Benisty, who was StandWithUs East Coast Campus Associate and interned at the Los Angeles office prior to assuming her new position. In 2012, she graduated Hampshire College in Massachusetts with a Liberal Arts degree and a concentration in Middle Eastern Studies.
StandWithUs, the international Israel education organization, was founded in 2001 to support Israel and to counter media bias and anti-Israel campaigns that erupted when Palestinians launched the 2nd Intifada. “We mobilized to ensure that people knew the true story of Israel and that Israel got the support and admiration it so richly deserves,” explained Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs.
StandWithUs has worked closely with college students. “We empower them with support, guidance, and educational materials they can distribute to their peers. We have grown exponentially since our founding, reaching more and more students and schools across the country and abroad. We are developing an army of ambassadors for Israel and for all it represents,” said Rothstein.
