US/World News

Ohio State Hillel drops Jewish LGBT group for co-sponsoring event by pro-BDS group

(JTA) – Ohio State University’s Hillel cut ties with a Jewish LGBTQ student group for co-sponsoring an event organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization that supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

The divorce is the latest flare-up in an ongoing dispute among campus Jewish groups over Hillel International guidelines rejecting partnerships with groups deemed hostile toward Israel.

Ohio State Hillel ended its affiliation with the LGBTQ group B’nai Keshet after it decided to co-sponsor a Purim drag show, which took place on March 3 and raised money for a Columbus-based initiative to aid LGBTQ refugees.

In its standards on partnership, Hillel International bans partnerships between its affiliates and groups that deny Israel’s right to exist, delegitimize the Jewish state or support the BDS movement.

B’nai Keshet Vice President Elaine Cleary told JTA on Monday that Hillel dropped funding and support of the group at the end of February, when B’nai Keshet refused to withdraw its co-sponsorship of the JVP event following an overwhelming vote by its 12 members. The event was co-sponsored by 15 student and local groups.

Hillel International and Ohio State Hillel emphasized its support for the LGBTQ community in a joint statement to JTA.

“In keeping with the mission and values of Ohio State Hillel and Hillel International, our affiliation with B’nai Keshet (formerly Jewish Queers & Allies) has unfortunately ended, as B’nai Keshet has chosen to act outside of our programming guidelines,” the Monday statement said. The Hillel statement said that B’nai Keshet had declined efforts by the OSU Hillel “to seek alternative ways to engage with B’nai Keshet on the LGBTQ refugee issue,” and that it “is actively exploring new ways to engage our active LGBTQ community members.”

Cleary said B’nai Keshet was hoping to rejoin the OSU Hillel, but only if it nixed its standards of partnership. She said the guidelines had made it impossible for B’nai Keshet to partner with many LGBTQ groups on campus, since the majority of those groups had endorsed calls to divest from Israel.

Eric Fingerhut, the president and chief executive of Hillel International, has defended the organization’s Israel guidelines in the past by saying “all Jewish students have a place at Hillel.”

“Hillel’s guidelines on Israel refer explicitly to rejecting partnerships with organizations and speakers who seek to harm or destroy Israel,” he said.

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