Students Supporting Israel (SSI) is a

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

student activist Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. In addition to education, student groups often play central roles in democratization and winning civil rights. Modern stu ...

group.

History

SSI was founded in 2012 in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

by Ilan Sinelnikov, Valeria Chazin, and Naor Bitton. In March 2014,

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

and

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

students registered SSI chapters on their campuses, and the

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

(previously Ryerson University) opened an SSI club in April. By October, SSI was approved as a 501c3

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

and operated on 27 campuses. As of March 2025, the group has more than 140 chapters across various campuses. SSI's stated mission is "to promote a better understand of Israel throughout all over the world," offering to provide students with "the opportunity to support the position of Israel in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

." They have criticized the perceived "anti-Israel climate" of various campuses. Their campaigns include the "Lt. Col, Eyal Dror Reserves Tour", which discusses Israeli humanitarian operations during the Syrian Civil War and was hosted by various campuses. Some of their more controversial campaigns, such as "Palestinian Apartheid Week", have spread allegations of apartheid policies by the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

References

{{reflist 2012 establishments in Minnesota Jewish organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 2012 Student political organizations Zionist organizations in the United States