Bringing Israeli activism to the USC campus is the goal of the new Trojan Israel Public Affairs Committee. With 15 members, for the first time in over a year the organization is bringing information about Israel issues to students and faculty at USC.
In their most recent project, the student organization aims to educate and involve USC students about current issues, especially those pertaining to Israel and the Middle East by petitioning against a “nuclear-armed Iran,” according to Executive Board Member Ariel Shalin, a sophomore.
TIPAC is officially registered as part of SCSI (USC Students for Israel) and is a regional chapter of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Shalin told CampusJ.
“AIPAC is the pro-Israel lobby in the United States,” Shalin said, that has “cadres,” or organizational chapters, at a growing number of universities nationwide.
Shalin, whose official position is Campus Curriculum Coordinator, is responsible for keeping track of current events and keeping the cadre informed along the way.
“Everyday I go on the internet and I look up the current events that pertain to Israel or Iran or the Middle East in general and then at our weekly meetings I provide a little briefing to the rest of them to make sure that they know what they’re talking about,” she said, adding “I keep them abreast basically to world affairs, especially those pertaining to Israel.”
TIPAC hopes to collect 5,000 signatures protesting nuclear weaponry in Iran before the AIPAC policy conference in March, where they will get a chance to present their work and lobby to congressional representatives.
The conference, which takes place from March 11-13, offers students from around the country an opportunity to voice their political opinions.
The conference is “a gathering of 6,000 policy makers and 1,000 students,” who will “learn about relations in the Middle East and how to be pro-Israel activists,” Shalin said.
Guests in previous years have included political figures such as the president and vice president of the United States, as well as a number of former Israeli prime ministers.
With a month to go until the conference, Shalin said TIPAC is well on its way to the 5,000 signatures it is shooting for. But he maintains that the group’s primary goal is educating students and community members.
“We want to let elected officials know in California, and basically all over the country, since USC has students from all over the country, where we stand on this issue,” Shalin said.
“In the upcoming future, especially as Iran develops more nuclear weapons, it’s going to be really important for the politicians to vote in favor of sanctions against Iran to deter them from building their nuclear weapons program,” she said. “So this is just more political pressure hopefully on them to stand strong in their opposition of Iran and in support of sanctions.”
USC TIPAC meetings are held at 9pm every Monday. For more information contact Ariel Shalin at shalin -at- usc.edu.