StandWithUs

StandWithUs operates under the legal name Israel Emergency Alliance, doing business as StandWithUs, and is headquartered in Los Angeles.[1] Its educational activities encompass leadership training, print and digital resources, conferences, films, newsletters, social media, and missions to Israel.[1] Alongside these activities, its legal professionals work to defend the civil and human rights of people aligned with its mission of supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism.[1] The organization describes itself as nonpartisan and politically unaffiliated, while explicitly supporting Zionism and Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish and democratic state.[1]

Its programs extend across several educational stages rather than concentrating exclusively on universities.[4] They include a college Fellowship, a high-school Internship, the middle-school IsraelLINK program, a Holocaust Education Center, a K–12 Fairness Center, and the Saidoff Legal Department.[4] Educational materials are produced in multiple languages and distributed through both print and digital channels.[4] The organization also seeks to equip people of different ages to explain Israel’s history and contemporary circumstances and to respond to misinformation and antisemitism.[5]

Roz Rothstein is the organization’s co-founder and chief executive officer, while Esther Renzer is its co-founder and international president.[4][5] StandWithUs reports operating programs on six continents, with chapters and offices in the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, Australia, and South Africa.[1] A separate institutional description recorded 18 offices in five countries and characterized campuses as a principal focus of its work.[6]

StandWithUs identifies itself as a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a Section 46 charity in Israel.[1] It says its funding comes from private individuals, foundations, and organizational partners rather than foreign governments.[1] Its stated public-facing aims include explaining Israel’s actions, assisting college students, responding to journalism it considers ill-informed, and sponsoring demonstrations.[6]

StandWithUs was founded in Los Angeles in 2001, during the Second Intifada, by Roz and Jerry Rothstein and Esther Renzer.[3] Roz Rothstein was a family therapist, while Jerry Rothstein owned an advertising and marketing business.[7] The organization began in a Los Angeles living room with support from private donations and an educational mission directed against the delegitimization of Israel.[7]

In a retrospective account, Roz Rothstein explained that she and Jerry initially sought a coalition of Jewish educational and community organizations to explain events in the Middle East, Israel’s responses to terrorism, the conflict’s history, and the Jewish connection to the land.[8] Following a May 2001 meeting with representatives of local Jewish organizations, they concluded that the groups lacked a common plan and sufficient resources; StandWithUs was founded that month.[8]

In her 2008 profile for the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, Rothstein identified a May 21, 2001 meeting of Jewish leaders as an immediate antecedent to the organization’s formation.[9] Her account described the May 8 killing of Israeli teenagers Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran as a catalyst, alongside frustration over the community’s response to the crisis in Israel and perceived anti-Israel media bias.[9] Participants, she wrote, included representatives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Anti-Defamation League’s Pacific Southwest regional office, Jews for Judaism, the Southern California Board of Rabbis, and the Bureau of Jewish Education.[9]

Rothstein’s profile described the initial Israel Emergency Alliance as a volunteer educational organization that used the Internet to build an information-distribution network, offering weekly alerts and advocacy guidance.[9] In that account, it remained volunteer-run until receiving federal tax-exempt status as a nonprofit educational organization in June 2002.[9] The profile identified Rothstein as its national director and noted her earlier decade of work in children’s programs at the Westside Jewish Community Center and two decades practicing family therapy.[9]

The same retrospective portrayed early community work as a combination of educational speakers and letter-writing campaigns about media coverage.[9] It described a study criticizing what members considered a pro-Palestinian slant in the Los Angeles Times, which they sent to the newspaper’s editorial board with a protest letter.[9] Rothstein explained the expansion into campus work as a response to requests from Jewish students seeking assistance with professors and student groups they regarded as anti-Israel.[9] Her account listed educational materials, activist resources, campus professionals, speakers, and weekend training conferences among the resulting services.[9]

By 2004, Stand With Us was listed among nearly 30 participating organizations in the Israel on Campus Coalition, a collaborative network devoted to campus Israel education and advocacy.[10] Rothstein’s 2008 profile placed its main office in Los Angeles, with satellite offices in New York, Detroit, and Jerusalem.[9] It also described cooperation with Hillel, the David Project, the World Union of Jewish Students, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, CAMERA, AIPAC, and Israeli consulates, together with relationships involving activists and Jewish student organizations in Europe, Canada, and Australia.[9]

By 2016, StandWithUs had an annual budget exceeding $10 million, with most spending directed toward Israel education on North American campuses and opposition to BDS.[11] At that time it had 18 chapters across the United States, Canada, and Europe, alongside activity in Asia, South Africa, and Australia.[11] A 2022 description listed chapters and programs in the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, and the Netherlands.[12]

In 2022, the organization opened a national office in South Africa after more than a decade of work with local students and organizations.[13] Steve and Rita Emerson provided seed funding, and the first South African Emerson Fellowship launched on November 13.[13] Rothstein described the office as a means of providing sustainable, year-round support.[13] In 2024, she reported that StandWithUs had 15 departments and 175 employees worldwide, with staffing and fundraising expanding in response to increased demand after October 7, 2023.[8]

The Emerson Fellowship is a one-year college leadership program established in 2007 with a grant from Los Angeles philanthropists Rita and Steve Emerson.[14] Selected university students receive training and organize programs, campaigns, and discussions about Israel in their communities.[14] A separate semester-long First-Year Leadership Internship provides workshops and mentorship from experienced student leaders for students beginning college.[14] In South Africa, the year-long Emerson Fellowship trains students to educate their campuses and communities about Israel and oppose BDS and antisemitic campaigns.[13]

The Israel Fellowship’s sixth-year cohort in 2012 included 150 students from six major Israeli universities.[2] Training covered lectures, debate, campaign organization, coalition-building, and media skills, with final projects intended to highlight a positive aspect of Israel for an international audience.[2] By 2024, StandWithUs was training participants at Israeli universities and high schools to act as ambassadors for their country.[3] Its Jerusalem visitors’ center could seat up to 200 people and included a multipurpose room and interactive audiovisual technology for simulated broadcast interviews.[3] An earlier account reported that its Jerusalem Israel Education Center hosted more than 20,000 university students annually in 2016.[11]

StandWithUs led the 2012 Student Conference on International Law in Jerusalem, co-sponsored by the Israel Forever Foundation and other organizations.[2] The conference brought together 60 law students from 25 countries who collectively spoke 18 languages.[2] Speakers included former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gabriella Shalev and Supreme Court Justice Neil Hendel.[2] It was the second conference in a series, following an earlier initiative developed by StandWithUs Israel Fellows at Hebrew University.[2]

Conference sessions addressed legal challenges concerning Israel and international law, with participants whose experience included work involving the International Court of Justice, the United Nations, and NATO.[2] One participant had grown up in Tehran until age 19 and was completing a master’s degree in international law in The Hague; the conference account described visiting Israel as the realization of a childhood dream.[2] Israel Director Michael Dickson emphasized that Israeli students had initiated the project out of concern about future legal professionals’ understanding of their country, and argued that seeing Israel’s geography and security checkpoints assisted participants’ understanding.[2]

IsraelLINK serves Jewish day schools and supplementary middle-school programs through an interactive, learner-centered approach to Israel education.[15] Its educators create resources, train teachers, offer continuing support, and help schools customize the integration of Israel studies into Jewish education.[15] The program’s stated aim is to develop students’ knowledge of and appreciation for Israel as part of their Jewish identity.[15]

The Holocaust Education Center, announced in 2022, offered presentations and materials for schools confronting Holocaust denial, lacking information, or seeking to teach young people about the Holocaust.[12] Its announced subjects included historical context, the development of mass movements, Nazi propaganda, and Kristallnacht.[12] Offerings also included a photograph-based middle-school lesson and a film screening followed by questions and answers.[12] Rothstein linked this initiative directly to the organization’s broader mission of combating antisemitism.[12]

In her 2008 profile, Rothstein described outreach to churches, libraries, and elementary and high schools as well as universities.[9] She reported that the Learn Israel library initiative had distributed free pro-Israel materials to more than 1,500 United States libraries since January 2005 and offered K–12 lessons on Israel’s history and contributions.[9] The profile also described a short general introduction to Israel known as the “black brochure,” reporting circulation of 500,000 copies in English, Hebrew, French, and Spanish.[9] Other pamphlets addressed accusations against Israel and subjects including civil rights, human rights, maps, humanitarian work, and historical events.[9]

Opposition to BDS has involved campus outreach, social-media campaigns, assistance to student groups resisting boycott resolutions, demonstrations, and support for local businesses selling Israeli products.[16] StandWithUs has also trained Israeli college students through leadership fellowships and sent delegations abroad.[16] Its work has included cooperation with the Israeli Foreign Ministry, including opposition to student boycotts.[17] At the University of Bath, it received assistance from UK Lawyers for Israel in defeating a BDS motion.[18]

Public demonstrations have formed another part of its activity.[19] In 2009, StandWithUs organized a protest at the United Nations in New York in response to the Durban II racism conference, promoting it through Facebook, Twitter, and listservs.[19] A student participant recalled demonstrators wearing clown wigs and taping their mouths shut as a symbolic gesture.[19] In 2019, the organization was listed among co-sponsors of a planned “Rally for Equal Rights” outside the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, opposing antisemitism and anti-Israeli prejudice.[20]

Rothstein’s historical profile described the September 2005 premiere of the documentary Tolerating Intolerance: Hate Speech on Campus at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, followed by screenings for student and community groups in the United States and Israel.[9] It also recounted the January 2005 display in several California cities of the remains of Jerusalem’s Bus 19, bombed in January 2004.[9] In her account, a joint presentation with the Simon Wiesenthal Center outside Los Angeles’s Museum of Tolerance drew more than 1,000 people, including relatives of terrorism victims and 25 diplomats.[9]

The February 27–March 2, 2025 international conference brought together 650 college and high-school students, faculty, and staff from the United States, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Congo.[21] Programming was expanded to include community members and RabbisUNITED participants, with sessions adapted for those audiences.[21]

Legal activity involves both organizational departments and a separate membership body.[22] The Center for Legal Justice is a tax-exempt membership organization legally distinct from StandWithUs that partners with StandWithUs Saidoff Law.[22] Its membership includes students, professors, and community members, and its stated methods include impact litigation and other legal actions to protect people affected by antisemitism.[22]

In June 2025, senior counsel Deedee Bitran described a substantial increase in requests to the Saidoff Legal Department: from 270 annually before October 7, 2023, to an average of 150 monthly afterward.[23] She reported that its team had expanded from two to six full-time lawyers, supplemented by three part-time lawyers, handling issues in workplaces, K–12 schools, campuses, and communities.[23] Rothstein had separately reported a tenfold increase in complaints from Jewish students after October 7.[8] A 2024 account described approximately 260 K–12 cases involving reported bullying, threats, physical assault, politicized lessons, student indoctrination, and inadequate official responses.[3]

StandWithUs has pursued administrative complaints concerning educational discrimination.[17][24] A complaint concerning George Washington University and professor Lara Sheehi alleged discrimination against Jewish students and an inadequate university response.[17] In April 2024, StandWithUs, the ADL, and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law jointly submitted a Title VI complaint concerning Ohio State University to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.[24] They alleged antisemitic harassment and discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students and failures by the university to address incidents; these were allegations seeking remedies, not established findings.[24]

Other activity after October 7 included urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to enforce federal criminal laws at Columbia University and working with Colorado’s Jewish community against a ceasefire resolution before the state Democratic Party’s central committee.[3] At a March 27, 2025 Senate hearing, Carly Gammill, director of legal policy at the StandWithUs Center for Combatting Antisemitism, advocated passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act and Protecting Students on Campus Act.[25] She also called for qualified Title VI coordinators at federally funded colleges and stronger accountability for campus policy enforcement.[25]

StandWithUs reports distributing more than 10 million educational resources and hosting more than 1,000 campus programs annually.[26] Its published impact figures include annual engagement with more than 1,500 college students through events on over 250 campuses and responses to more than 400 campus antisemitic incidents since 2021.[26] It also reports reaching more than 1,500 high-school students annually through internships, leadership programs, and events, alongside more than 1,000 high-school educational programs each year.[26]

Its educational model connects student leadership with community advocacy: university participants organize discussions and campaigns, Israeli fellows develop projects for international audiences, and younger students encounter Israel through school-based curricula.[14][15] International support for people seeking to educate their campuses and communities was already a feature of its work in 2013.[27] Its inclusion in both the 2004 Israel on Campus Coalition guide and a later campus-involvement directory reflects its continuing place among organizations offering routes into Israel-related student activity.[10][28]

The organization’s antisemitism-related work extends beyond educational institutions.[23] A study of Jewish healthcare professionals in the United States found that nearly 40% of respondents reported direct exposure to antisemitism at work or school, 26.4% reported feeling insecure or threatened by antisemitic incidents, and 1.9% said institutional anti-discrimination training included antisemitism.[23] These figures describe the study’s respondents rather than all Jewish healthcare professionals.[23] Testimony by a director of its Antisemitism Task Force also described education and outreach against antisemitism and misinformation about Israel in connection with the speaker’s separate work forming a Christian & Jewish Alliance in San Diego.[29]

StandWithUs’s stated nonpartisanship accompanies a defined pro-Israel educational mission rather than an absence of positions on Israel’s existence or Jewish identity.[1] In her historical profile, Rothstein described relations with both Democrats and Republicans, no organizational position on particular Israeli political outcomes or solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and messaging centered on Zionism, Israeli history, democracy, and security needs.[9] An October 2023 public message by Michael Dickson, identified as executive director of StandWithUs Israel, expressed a theme of coexistence in replying to Nuseir Yassin: “We are brothers. And we do and must live together.”[30]

StandWithUs’s advocacy concerning BDS, antisemitism definitions, and educational civil rights places portions of its work within significant political and legal debates.[1][31] Although it says it does not advocate specific Israeli government policies, it sometimes supports policies concerning Israel, antisemitism, and education, including state-level anti-BDS laws and adoption of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.[1] It states that it supports free speech, debate, and discussion of criticism of Israeli policies, while opposing BDS campaigns; it also specifies that it does not regard every BDS supporter as a malicious antisemite.[1] In her Senate testimony, Gammill argued that using the IHRA definition in Title VI reviews would be consistent with free-speech principles.[25]

In Stand With Us Center for Legal Justice v. MIT, two Jewish students and the legally distinct center alleged that campus activity after October 7, 2023, created a hostile educational environment for Jewish students.[31] On October 21, 2025, the First Circuit affirmed dismissal of the Title VI case, concluding that most challenged activity was not antisemitic in a manner cognizable under federal law, was largely protected speech, and that MIT had adequately responded to the alleged harassment.[31]

The court did not decide whether, or which forms of, antisemitism could constitute race- or national-origin discrimination under Title VI.[31] It observed that the meaning of Zionism and whether antagonism toward Jewish claims in Israel is antisemitic are contested, concluding that Title VI did not resolve that debate.[31] The ruling therefore concerned the particular allegations and governing legal standards rather than settling the broader relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.[31]