Research & Strategy Department

Max grew up in Boston and is a first-generation American. His parents fled to Israel from the Soviet Union to escape the racism and discrimination Jews faced there. Although Max now lives in Southern California, he has traveled to Israel and lived there for extended periods throughout his life. Max graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2011 with a degree in political science and international relations. He interned at the office of Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) before joining StandWithUs in 2012. The focus of his research is Israel, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the discourse about these issues on campuses. He has also spent the last six years helping to educate, organize, and empower students and others across North America in the struggle against anti-Israel boycotts and other forms of bigotry. Max has been quoted by many media outlets, including the Associated Press, Inside Higher Ed, Haaretz, and Israel’s Channel 10, and his articles have been published in the Huffington Post, the Jerusalem Post, the Times of Israel, the Tower, and the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. He also contributed a chapter to The Anti-Israel Agenda: the Political War on the Jewish State, a book published in August 2017.

Before making Aliyah with his family in 2011, Santis served for 21 years at the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council. After the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Terror War (aka “second intifada”) in 2000, anti-Israel activity in the San Francisco Bay Area mushroomed. In response, Santis founded and directed JCRC’s Middle East Project, created to combat the intense anti-Israel activism in the Bay Area, the most challenging environment in the United States with respect to Israel. It was here that Santis first encountered BDS. 
 
While at JCRC Yitz served as lead spokesperson to the general and Jewish media for the Bay Area’s organized Jewish community. He is a prolific writer, published in major publications in the U.S. and Israel. Yitz has presented to hundreds of audiences, including synagogues, churches, public and private schools, and college campuses.

Elisa graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Arts with honours in psychology and public administration. During her time as a student, Elisa served as a StandWithUs Canada Emerson fellow and Campus Liaison. Elisa also became the first ever Jewish and pro-Israel student elected to York’s Board of Governors, where she represented and advocated on behalf of 53,000 students. Following graduation, Elisa worked as an intern and then a legislative assistant on Parliament Hill.

Now, as the Director of Campus Strategy, Elisa oversees and directs the strategies and resources that are provided to students combating anti-Israel activity and antisemitism, as well as proactively educating about Israel and antisemitism on campus. Elisa also provides strategies and resources to high school students preparing for campus and the broader Jewish community as they work to address the rising antisemitism they are encountering. Elisa speaks to groups around the world about anti-Israel and antisemitic campaigns and how to combat them, responsive and proactive strategic skills for campus, and more.

After attending a Jewish day school and spending a high school semester in Israel, Shira graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with honors in Psychology and a minor in Religious Studies. On campus, she held multiple positions on the Hillel student board and served as a Jewish Engagement Fellow, helping Jewish students connect to their identity and community. When members of the F&M faculty released an antisemitic statement regarding Israel's war with Hamas in May of 2021, Shira cowrote and circulated an alumni response for the campus newspaper. The overwhelming support from Jewish alumni, and the expressions of relief from Jewish students reminded Shira of the importance of educating others about Israel and the Jewish people.  Now, as Campus Strategist, Shira helps develop strategies and resources to support students in combatting anti-Israel and antisemitic activity on college campuses in the United States, Canada, and around the world. She also manages SWU’s Experiential Israel Programs (EIPs). Shira is a proud American Jew, and is honored to be working at StandWithUS.

Dr. Alexandra Chana Fishman is a native of NYC. As a granddaughter of (and having been raised by) Holocaust survivors, she was always passionate about antisemitism and Israel. During her PhD, she specialized in research and statistics. Her dissertation was a secondary data analysis on discrimination on college campuses in the United States, with a focus on antisemitism. A significant portion of the literature included antisemitism through anti-Israel sentiment. She has presented her research throughout the United States and abroad, including at Cambridge University. She has also created a unique therapeutic approach to processing antisemitism in corporate settings.

She has a Masters Degree from NYU in Social Work, and a second Masters Degree in Jewish Studies, and has always been passionate about bridging these disciplines in her chosen field of study. Her background includes teaching undergraduate and graduate psychology, research, and statistics classes at City University of New York- Brooklyn College, and Yeshiva University. She is very excited to be part of the Research & Strategy Department at StandWithUs and use her skill set to advocate for social justice.

Dr. Daniel Ian Rubin was born and raised in southern NY, where he found his love for bagels and pizza. He worked in public education for 25 years in both K12 schools and at the university level, where he taught English/Language Arts (ELA), secondary education, and diversity and multiculturalism. He earned his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from New Mexico State University in 2013 and has written over 20 articles and book chapters in the areas of antisemitism, social justice, and ELA. His most recent book, The Jewish Struggle in the 21st Century: Conflict, Positionality, and Multiculturalism (2021) addresses the needs of the Jewish community as it pertains to its tenuous position in the fields of multiculturalism and critical race studies. Dr. Rubin is excited to be a member of the Research & Strategy Department at StandWithUs and use his knowledge of critical pedagogy and social justice to fight for the representation of all Jews around the world.