Part IV

The Deborah Project

([email protected] / 610.880.0100)

The Deborah Project, co-founded by Harvard Law School Professor Jesse Fried and staffed by experienced litigators, is a public interest law firm that asserts and defends the civil rights of Jews facing discrimination in educational settings. It represents faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, teachers, students, parents and academic associations. The aim of the Deborah Project is to use legal skills and tools to uncover, publicize and dismantle antisemitic abuses in educational systems, with the aim of bringing wrongdoers to justice and deterring future abuses.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus, an experienced litigator who also worked for 10 years as a journalist focused on Israel and the Middle East conflict, as well as on antisemitism/anti-Zionism in America, is the legal director. Her op-eds and columns have appeared in national and international media including The Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, the Jerusalem Post, and many others.

Since the October 7 Hamas massacre of Jews in southern Israel and the torrent of antisemitic statements and events on campuses (university and middle and high school) in its aftermath, The Deborah Project has been working around the clock to respond to alarmed parents, students, professors, teachers and others who want legal protection. “If you or anyone who is important to you are experiencing such hatred towards Jews or the Jewish State in educational settings, please contact us. We will respond. You are not alone.”

Marcus’ essay “Defending the Rights of Jewish Students: A Legal Primer,” The Jewish Journal (December 5, 2023) will serve as a primer for the use of those legal tools by focusing on one key question: What kind of legal claims can be brought and against whom? (https://bit.ly/4b1ueve )

The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs

(JINSA) (https://jinsa.org/ )

JINSA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates on behalf of a strong U.S. military, a robust national security policy, and a strong U.S. security relationship with Israel and other like-minded allies.

JINSA’s mandate is to: provide leadership and affect policy on crucial issues of national security and foreign policy; promote American security cooperation with like-minded allies including, but not limited to, Israel; engage the American defense community about the role Israel can and does play in securing Western, democratic interests in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions; and improve awareness in the general public, as well as in the Jewish community of the importance of a strong American defense capability.

Visit https://jinsa.org/programs/  to see details of JINSA’s programs, listed below:

JINSA Generals and Admirals Program to Israel

JINSA’s Generals and Admirals (G&A) Program was created in 1981 to educate recently retired U.S. generals and admirals—representatives of the country’s most credible institution, the military—about Israel’s unique security challenges and the importance of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship for America’s national security. To date, more than 500 retired U.S. generals and admirals have participated in the G&A Program, including service chiefs and combatant commanders.

The cornerstone of the program is a trip to Israel (and sometimes Jordan), during which participants meet with top Israeli and Jordanian military, intelligence and government leaders, including the Israeli Prime Minister, Israeli Minister of Defense, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Director of Mossad, the King of Jordan, the Chief of the General Staff of the Jordanian Armed Forces, and the Director of Jordanian Intelligence.

Participants also visit key strategic sites, including each of Israel’s borders, to learn about Israel’s defense capabilities and security challenges. Upon completion of the program, participants often engage on important policy initiatives through JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy that strengthen U.S. national security and the U.S.-Israel security relationship.

JINSA U.S. Military Leaders Program

Founded in 2019, JINSA’s U.S. Military Leaders Program educates elite, active-duty U.S. military officers about Israel’s unique security challenges and the importance of a robust U.S.-Israel security relationship.

The cornerstone of the program is an eight-day trip to Israel for up to 30 military officers who come from highly selective colleges and educational programs within their respective services and are on career tracks to become generals or admirals.

JINSA Military Leadership Education Institute (MLEI)

Inaugurated in 2016, JINSA’s Military Leadership Education Program educates current and future leaders from the militaries of key U.S. allies, primary in the Middle East, about elements that impact U.S. foreign policy, through high-level briefings and visits to key sites, such as Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, Quantico and Gettysburg.

The program is divided into several courses including a course for active-duty IDF brigadier generals through JINSA’s Zuckerman IDF Generals Education Program, and a course for elite Israeli Air Force lieutenant colonels handpicked by the Commander of the IAF, and more. The Zuckerman IDF Generals Education Program received the approval of the IDF Chief of the General Staff LTG Aviv Kochavi and support of the Commander of the IDF Military Colleges MG Itai Veruv and Head of the Operations Directorate (J3)-Major General Oded Basiuk.

JINSA Congressional National Security Program to Israel

JINSA’s Congressional National Security Program to Israel was inaugurated in 2022 to educate national security professionals serving in the U.S. Congress on a bipartisan basis about the U.S.-Israel defense relationship.

The cornerstone of the program is a week-long trip to Israel, during which participants meet with top Israeli military and intelligence leaders and policy professionals. Participants also conduct field visits to key strategic locations, including military installations, Israel’s borders, and defense industrial and innovation sites showcasing the strength of the U.S.-Israeli defense partnership.

JINSA U.S. Military Base Visits

JINSA organizes base visits as part of its outreach efforts to ensure that its leadership understands the work our servicemen and women are doing to keep the U.S. safe and to bring this knowledge back to their communities to advocate for a strong U.S. military.

Conversely, it also educates officers and enlisted ranks on the important work JINSA is doing nationally and in their communities.

Dr. Alex Grobman is the senior resident scholar at the John C. Danforth Society, a member of the Council of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and on the advisory board of the National Christian Leadership Conference of Israel (NCLCI). He has an MA and PhD in contemporary Jewish history from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.