Americans for Peace Now opens campus unit

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Americans for Peace Now is establishing a presence on college campuses aimed at reaching students and faculty.

The left-leaning group is working “in full coordination” with J Street U to provide information and speakers that can be used on campuses across the country, said APN spokesman Ori Nir. Campuses in the Washington area have been sent information kits, and other universities will be receiving them as well, he said.

The aim of the program is “to counter opposition from the growing voices calling for a one-state scenario,” said Nir, whose group supports a two-state solution.

APN on Campus also will work with the American Task Force on Palestine, “a pro-Palestinian group which in very broad terms shares our two-state solution,” he said.

Nir said it’s not just right-wing groups that favor a one-state solution. “That is now the mantra of the left,” he said.

Aaron Mann, the outreach and research associate for APN, will be coordinating the campus program as its co-manager. In a statement, Mann said he is “a Jew and a Zionist. I’m pro-Israel and pro-peace. I want security for Israel. I want rights for Palestinians.”

He added, “The pursuit of a balanced and fact-based education for college students is the foundation of APN on Campus. We want to create more space at colleges and universities for moderate voices on Israel.”

APN on Campus includes an academic resource program designed to aid faculty members to “enrich and diversify the conversation about Israel in classrooms and beyond,” the program said in a statement.

The program will offer expert speakers and add an interactive online resource page by the spring semester. A student advocacy initiative will aim “to bolster and broaden” events held by students.