Students Supporting Israel (SSI)

SSI states that its mission is "to be a clear and confident pro-Israel voice on college campuses and to support students in grassroots pro-Israel advocacy."[2] It describes itself as an independent, nonpartisan, grassroots movement and is structured as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Each chapter operates as a registered student club run by students on its own campus, a structure intended to provide continuity and access to university funding and resources.[2]

The organization's stated goals include familiarizing students and university communities with current events in the Middle East, sharing Israeli stories and culture, promoting understanding of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and responding to what SSI characterizes as biased anti-Israel propaganda.[2] Chapters are open to students from different political, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. A July 2026 report produced in cooperation with SSI stated that approximately 75% of members were Jewish and 25% belonged to other faiths.[4]

SSI was formed at the University of Minnesota in March 2012 by Ilan Sinelnikov, Valeria Chazin, and Naor R. Bitton. The founders were responding to anti-Israel campus activity, including Israel Apartheid Week; Sinelnikov recalled encountering an "apartheid wall" and a die-in and said they "found the best way to fight back."[1] SSI's 2022 annual report says its first event drew 15 people and that the University of Minnesota chapter gained more than 50 members during 2012.[6]

A 2022 report described SSI as active on nearly 200 American college campuses, with five clubs in Canada and one in Buenos Aires, and counted nearly 1,000 members and close to 400 alumni.[1] In July 2026, the Jerusalem Post reported more than 150 chapters and over 6,000 members across the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Poland, Australia, Argentina, and New Zealand. Sinelnikov said the organization had doubled from about 70 locations to 150 after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack.[4]

SSI's homepage separately publishes figures of "200+ Chapters in 14 Years," more than 900 campus events per academic year, over 6,200 active members and alumni, and a social-media reach exceeding 10 million users.[3] These dated accounts use different measures, including campuses, clubs, chapters, members, and members plus alumni, and therefore are not directly comparable.[1][4]

SSI held its first national conference from August 21 to 23, 2015, gathering students from 27 colleges and universities to discuss grassroots campus activism, exchange ideas, and plan for the coming academic year.[7] Its network includes high schools as well as universities.[5] Alumni have gone on to work for Israel-advocacy and Jewish communal organizations including Hasbara Fellowships, Hillel branches, Jewish Federations, and the Jewish National Fund.[1]

SSI chapters use tabling, speaker events, film screenings, grassroots campaigns, and webinars to promote Zionism and support Israel on campus. The organization's chapter resources allow students to seek event funding, request materials, and arrange programs or speakers.[5]

One of SSI's long-running programs is the "My Truth Tour," a partnership with the Israeli nonprofit My Truth that began in 2015 after SSI members attended a My Truth event at Afeka College in Israel. SSI describes the tour as bringing Israeli soldiers' and veterans' stories, experiences, and ethical dilemmas to students, with stops at Columbia, Penn State, the University of Georgia, the University of Minnesota, Texas A&M, UCLA, and other institutions.[8] A related initiative, "Triggered – IDF from Combat to Campus," brought IDF soldiers to more than 100 U.S. universities between March 2025 and March 2026. Sinelnikov said many participants were SSI alumni who had attended college in the United States and that some universities denied speaking requests; one required SSI to pay $6,000 for security.[4]

SSI's Van Campaign is intended to bring a visible pro-Israel message to campuses where the organization believes such a presence is needed. Its 2022 annual report records tours beginning in 2018, followed by a Midwest campaign in 2019, a Gulf Coast campaign in 2021, and another campaign announced in March 2022, with the campaigns engaging hundreds of students, faculty, and community members.[6] SSI also runs a "Breaking Bread" program with Christian campus clubs and encourages members to seek student-government leadership positions.[4]

SSI's "UNDENIED" initiative, launched in 2018, distributes free Holocaust books on campuses and recognizes educators who commit to teaching about the genocide of the Jewish people. Its "Define it to Fight it" campaign promotes adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism by student governments, academic departments, and university administrators. SSI's annual report describes a 2021 virtual summit involving more than 50 partners across ten countries and four continents.[6]

In one documented campus-security strategy, the Lawfare Project says it advised SSI's Columbia chapter in 2018 after the group learned that opponents intended to disrupt an event. The organization helped draft an attendee agreement requiring peaceful and respectful conduct, and reported that the event proceeded without disruption.[9]

By 2022, SSI reported that 25 student-government resolutions it supported had passed on subjects including investment in Israel, study-abroad programs in Israel, promoting Israel, countering the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and adopting the IHRA antisemitism definition. The organization also reported defeating three anti-Israel student-government proposals.[1]

The Anti-Defamation League's 2021–2022 campus report lists SSI among the on- and off-campus organizations available to support students affected by anti-Israel activity.[10] The organization's alumni network has also supplied staff and activists to Israel-advocacy and Jewish communal institutions, including Hasbara Fellowships, Hillel branches, Jewish Federations, and the Jewish National Fund.[1]

SSI has been referenced in U.S. congressional proceedings. In 2019, Zionist Organization of America president Morton A. Klein cited SSI's Columbia chapter in written testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, reproducing the chapter's condemnation of a flyer it characterized as antisemitic and its call for Columbia University to impose disciplinary action.[11] At a 2023 hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Chairwoman Virginia Foxx introduced Bella Ingber as co-president of NYU Students Supporting Israel.[12]

SSI was also listed among 110 organizations participating in the 2026 "Gaza GenoLIE" campaign, which its organizers described as an effort to dispute allegations that Israel committed genocide in Gaza and to document what the campaign characterized as the weaponization of that allegation after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack.[13]

The Columbia University chapter is among SSI's most extensively documented. Rudy Rochman, a Columbia graduate of the class of 2018 and an IDF veteran, founded the chapter and said his goal was for students to speak up when antisemitism occurred on campus.[14] The chapter operates outside Hillel, which its leaders said enabled a greater focus on engaging non-Jewish students in Israel advocacy. It launched a student-led trip to Israel for 15 non-Jewish campus leaders and holds Hebrew Liberation Week each semester, offering Jewish students a platform to counter Israel Apartheid Week with a narrative about Jewish national liberation. SSI Columbia has also partnered with Aryeh, a pro-Israel club associated with Hillel, on events about the Arab-Israeli conflict.[14]

At American University, Tamara Listenberg is identified as the founder of the SSI chapter. A university-specific account describes the chapter as a primary source of support for Jewish students, who reported anti-Jewish incidents directly to SSI or through its WhatsApp group, and says the chapter organized tabling events and other campus activities.[15]

At New York University, Bella Ingber served as co-president of SSI and testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce in 2023.[12] SSI's Duke University chapter received official student-government recognition on February 23, 2022, reversing a controversial 2021 veto.[16]

SSI chapters have encountered opposition at campuses across North America. The Anti-Defamation League's campus incident data records that on November 1, 2023, students approached an SSI stand at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and shouted statements including "October 7 never happened" and "we love and support Hamas." It also records that an Israeli flag was stolen during an SSI tabling event at the University of Washington on November 3 and that protesters displayed signs opposing Israel and Zionists near an SSI-hosted event at SUNY New Paltz on February 28, 2024. The same data sheet states that SSI founder and president Ilan Sinelnikov was physically assaulted while counterprotesting an anti-Israel encampment at the University of California, Berkeley, on May 1, 2024.[17]

On February 15, 2024, anti-Israel students protested an event featuring an October 7 survivor sponsored by Hillel, Chabad, and SSI at the University of Kansas. Protesters gathered outside the room and chanted "There is only one solution; Intifada, revolution" and "Intifada, Intifada; Long live the Intifada."[18] In April 2026, protesters organized by the University at Buffalo chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine interrupted an SSI event, shouting "Shame" and profanities at soldiers and other attendees.[19]

In November 2025, an event organized by SSI students from Toronto Metropolitan University as part of a national "Combat on Campus" tour was held at a private venue after the university declined to host it on campus.[20] Masked demonstrators entered the event, shouted slogans, and broke a glass entrance door. SSI vice president Eitan Elharar estimated that about 50 demonstrators were present and said four were arrested. Invited speaker Jonathan Kerten sustained a cut to his arm and was taken to a hospital for stitches, while a student who fainted was also treated.[21] Toronto police reported that several arrests had been made and that an investigation was underway.[20]

Duke University's student body president vetoed SSI's application for official student-government recognition in 2021, citing an SSI Instagram comment asking a student to "please allow us to educate you" as "potentially hostile or harmful."[16] The veto drew criticism from the Brandeis Center for Human Rights, the Israel on Campus Coalition, and the Zionist Organization of America. Duke's Offices of Institutional Equity and Conduct and Community Standards investigated whether the veto had been discriminatory, while the Brandeis Center sought to pressure Duke's administration to reverse the decision.[16]

On February 23, 2022, the student government voted unanimously, with some abstentions, to recognize the Duke SSI chapter, reversing the earlier veto.[16] The Brandeis Center praised the recognition while stating that the initial revocation had occurred "all because they support Israel."[16] Separately, the ADL's 2021–2022 campus report says the president of Duke's SSI chapter called for a $5,000 honorarium for Mohammed El-Kurd to be rescinded and expressed concern for her safety.[10]