Union of Progressive Zionists - Controversy Within The Israel On Campus Coalition

Controversy Within The Israel On Campus Coalition

In late 2006 and early 2007, the campus activities of the Union of Progressive Zionists created a stir within the Israel On Campus Coalition, an organization that seeks to promote a "pro-active pro-Israel agenda on campus," of which the UPZ was a member. Some of the coalition's more conservative members, such as the mainstream American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) and the small right-wing group Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), criticized the UPZ for sponsoring speeches by members of an Israeli organization, Breaking the Silence, former soldiers who speak out against human rights abuses they have witnessed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In December 2006, the ZOA called for the Israel On Campus Coalition to expel the Union of Progressive Zionists. Although the coalition's steering committee voted 9-0 against expulsion in January 2007, the issue resulted in a debate among major Zionist organizations. The Jewish National Fund joined the ZOA in demanding that the UPZ to end its relationship with Breaking the Silence (but not in calling for the group's exclusion from the coalition), and the World Zionist Organization supported the UPZ, as did a group of 100 academics from Israel. The AJCongress threatened to quit the coalition out of dissatisfaction with the decision to allow the UPZ to remain.