O pinion
Temple Must Rescind Appointment of Jason Wingard as
University President
BY MORTON KLEIN
AS A TWO-DEGREE alumnus
of Temple University in
Philadelphia, and as president
of the Zionist Organization of
America, I cannot remain silent
regarding the recent appoint-
ment of Jason Wingard — the
chair of the anti-Israel, antise-
mitic Tides Foundation — to
be Temple University’s next
president. The Tides Foundation has
been funding and elevating
organizations and individ-
uals who demonize Israel,
support terrorists, lead anti-Is-
rael boycott campaigns, lead
lawfare attacks on Israel and
Jews and oppose the Jewish
state’s very existence. Temple
must rescind this appoint-
ment so that Wingard can’t
bring Tides’ hateful ideology
to Temple’s 37,000 students,
potentially via appointing
anti-Israel, Jew-hating deans
and faculty and programming.

Wingard is still listed as a Tides
Center board member.

Under Wingard’s chairman-
ship, Tides has been funding
the following hateful groups:
The Arab Resource &
Organizing Center: AROC is
a vicious anti-Israel boycott,
divestment and sanctions
organization. AROC’s ongoing
BDS campaigns include
violently and unlawfully
blocking numerous U.S. ports,
and harassing and attacking
American dockworkers to
prevent cargo ships operated
by an Israel-based company
(ZIM) from unloading medical
supplies and other items.

Adalah Justice Project
USA: AJP is another leading
anti-Israel demonization and
BDS organization that defends
terrorists. Adalah USA also
lobbies for sanctions against
Israel; falsely claims that Israel
is mistreating Palestinian
“children” when Israel arrests
17-year-old Arabs who murder
innocent Israelis; falsely likens
Israelis to police who murder
Black Americans; and falsely
accuses Israel of “indiscrimi-
nate war crimes” and similar
demonization. Adalah and
Tides collaborator, Dream
Defenders, co-authored the
Movement for Black Lives
(M4BL, the parent of Black
Lives Matter BLM) platform,
which falsely states Israel is a
genocidal, apartheid state and
promotes anti-Israel BDS. BLM
leaders publicly state that their
goal is Israel’s destruction.

Palestine Legal: Palestine
Legal promotes “mock eviction”
campaigns to terrorize Jewish
students on college campuses;
mounts numerous anti-Israel
“lawfare” campaigns; defends
hate groups such as Students for
Justice in Palestine; advocates
against anti-BDS laws; and
participates in anti-Israel “days
of rage” in U.S. cities.

Dream Defenders: Tides
also boasts that it has a “radical
collaboration” with and works
closely with DD, which is
intertwined with the Popular
Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, a U.S.-designated
foreign terrorist organiza-
tion. DD promotes the PFLP
in educational materials, and
sponsors anti-Israel trips to
“Palestine” to demonstrate and
work with PFLP operatives.

Tides’ website moreover
prominently features articles
entitled, “Meet
These Extraordinary
Palestinian Leaders.” Here, Tides promotes
anti-Israel leaders such as AROC
Executive Director Lisa Kiswani
and AJP Executive Director
Sandra Tamari.

Kiswani’s documented
long list of ugly activities
include demonizing Israel and
America; promoting BDS;
co-founding hate group SJP,
and stating at a BDS confer-
ence, displayed on YouTube,
that “bringing down Israel
really will benefit everyone in
the world, everyone in society.”
Tamari likewise has a
long, documented record of
antisemitic activity, including
glorifying PFLP terrorist Rasmea
Odeh (convicted for murdering
two Jewish students); agitating
against Israel; leading BDS activ-
ities, including co-chairing the
steering committee of the leading
U.S. BDS group, and more.

It is virtually impossible
that Wingard was unaware of,
and did not approve of Tides’
support for these antisemitic,
anti-Israel hate groups and
leaders. I understand that the
Temple board never questioned
Wingard about his leader-
ship of Tides before offering
him Temple’s presidency — a
shocking lack of due diligence
for a major university. The
ongoing controversy over
Temple’s continuing refusal
to fire Professor Marc Lamont
Hill — who calls for ending
Israel’s existence and has
attempted to justify murdering
Jews — should have made the
university especially sensitive
and careful to avoid giving
Temple’s presidency to someone
likely to magnify the harm Hill
has done to the university’s
students and reputation.

This situation can only be
rectified by the leadership of
Temple University immedi-
ately rescinding the offer to
Jason Wingard. l
streamed out over Zoom
reunions, virtual fundraisers,
Instagram stories and news
feeds for 22 months. Now
here we are, T-shirts printed,
clothing labeled, staff trained
and the sounds of summer
surround us. While there may
be masks, hand sanitizer and
rapid tests, once again our
community is fostering friend-
ships, inspiring creativity,
pushing boundaries and
cultivating kindness. Though
adjustments have been made,
and safety scenarios planned
out, the core of camp remains.

Our chanachim (campers) are
bringing in Shabbat, singing
zmirot (Jewish songs), dancing
to Israeli music and cultivating
a sukkat shalom, a Jewish
sheltering presence.

Last year,
the FJC
Cornerstone song, written by
Rabbi Noam Katz was called
“Belong.” The first chorus
states, “You are here, you are
whole, you belong.” This has
always been our mantra — at
camp we want to embrace your
whole self. Since that song was
written, we have learned that
we can all do more to foster a
culture of belonging. We know
the campers who walk through
our gates aren’t the same as
when they leave us. We know
we, as camp professionals, can
do more to help our camp staff
see beyond the masks they are
wearing to nurture their souls.

In the past 18 months, our
camp community has doubled
down on prioritizing the work
of learning more about our
individual campers in order to
serve them better.

FJC ha s seen i ncrea sed
Morton Klein is president of the
Zionist Organization of America, the
oldest pro-Israel group in the U.S.

Klein, a resident in the Philadelphia
area. Opening Our Gates
we know this place is holy, and
now we see that we are holy ...

Mah Norah Hamakom Hazeh.

How Awesome is this Place.”
With these
words, Foundation for Jewish Camp’s
Cornerstone Fellowship 2021
theme song kicked off the
summer season, reminding us
of what the past 22 months
have proven. As Philadelphia
songwriter and cornerstone
BY RABBI STACY RIGLER
educator Chana Rothman
described, there is a profound
“HERE WE ARE, we’ve come holiness found within the
so far. Look up and down, Jewish summer camp commu-
breathe in, breathe out. Now nity. This kedusha (holiness)
12 JULY 1, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
See Rigler, Page 22
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM