Maccabee Task Force
The Maccabee Task Force (MTF), also called the Campus Maccabees, is a pro-Israel advocacy group founded in 2015 to combat anti-Israel activism, particularly the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) on college campuses. It is active at approximately 100 campuses in the United States and Canada.
History
MTF was founded in 2015 with the Campus Maccabees Summit, supported by an estimated $50 million in funding. The summit included representatives from 50 Jewish organizations and focused on confronting anti-Israel activism on college campuses and combating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).[1][2] David Brog from Christians United for Israel was tapped as the organization's first leader.[3][4]
Initial organizers and funders such as Sheldon Adelson, Haim Saban, and Adam Milstein planned three components of the Campus Maccabees: donors for funding, on-campus activists to advocate on college campuses, and researchers to investigate anti-Israel groups and identify opportunities for legal challenges. The focus would be on key groups in the BDS movement such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Muslim Student Association.[1]
Programming varied across campuses, but generally involved trips to Israel for mostly non-Jewish student leaders, activities to grow the pro-Israel base on campus, and coalition building with other organizations. Over the course of the academic year, a chapter would hold roughly 20 events[5] with the goal of building allyship with non-Jewish students on campus.[6]
For the 2015-2016 academic year, the organization concentrated its efforts on six California campuses, expanding to 20 in 2016-2017, 40 in 2017-2018, and 80 campuses, including five Canadian colleges, by 2018-2019.[5][7] Brog announced at the end of the 2018–2019 school year that MTF would expand to over 100 schools.[8] In 2019, MTF announced that it would expand internationally in 2020, though it did not specify to which countries.[2] By the 2020 school year, MTF was planning to expand to approximately 100 college campuses in the United States.[6]
After the October 7 attacks, MTF organized a trip to Israel for 40 non-Jewish and Jewish student leaders from across the United States in January 2024.[6]
Relationship to other groups
MTF is a major funder of Act.IL, a volunteer group that highlights and propagates pro-Israel information online.[9]
MTF is one of the largest donors to PragerU, a conservative visual media site. PragerU promoted five videos on its front featuring MTF.[10]
Liberal Zionist groups such as Ameinu argued that the Maccabee program's exclusion of progressive groups was mistaken. However, Ameinu's campus program had received little communal funding.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Guttman, Nathan (June 11, 2015). "Secret Sheldon Adelson Summit Raises up to $50M for Strident Anti-BDS Push". The Forward. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
- ^ a b Cortellessa, Eric (October 7, 2019). "Anti-BDS group backed by Sheldon Adelson heads to 6 countries outside US". Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ "CUFI's David Brog to lead new anti-BDS campus group". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. July 10, 2015. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
- ^ Guttman, Nathan (July 8, 2015). "Leader of Christian Zionists Named Head of Campus Anti-BDS Group". The Forward. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
- ^ a b Bandler, Aaron (2018-12-12). "Maccabee Task Force: The Pro-Israel Group That Is Quietly Defeating BDS on Campus". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ a b c Prince, Cathryn (2024-01-25). "Allies of Jewish US students visit Israel after Oct. 7 – and come back armed with info". Times of Israel. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ Kamaras, Jacob; Savage, Sean (June 6, 2017). "In the campus arena, Maccabee Task Force wages the battle without the 'credit'". Jewish News Syndicate. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
- ^ Schwalb, Jess (December 24, 2019). "Maccabee Games". Jewish Currents. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
- ^ Casey, Nikki (November 30, 2017). "Shadowy Israeli App Turns American Jews Into Foot Soldiers In Online War". The Forward. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ Goforth, Claire (25 November 2019). "Money Behind PragerU: Old, Rich, and Ultra-Conservative". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.