North Carolina gets tougher on BDS

Evangelical Christian group brings expert Sloan Rachmuth on board.

By BENJAMIN GLATT
Updated: AUGUST 24, 2017 07:49
Sloan Rachmuth (photo credit: FACEBOOK)
Sloan Rachmuth
(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
On the heels of North Carolina’s anti-BDS bill, the state will be getting even tougher against the anti-Israel and antisemitic movement, with an evangelical group’s introduction of a new state director.
Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, an organization dedicated to creating dialogue between Christians and Jews to educate them about the dangers of antisemitism and the BDS movement in the US, announced recently that Sloan Rachmuth would be in charge of its North Carolina operations.
“Unfortunately, I have plenty of experience exposing the nature of the BDS movement as well as activists and financiers within the movement,” Rachmuth told The Jerusalem Post. “I have exposed anti-Israel programming within Jewish institutions, such as Conservative synagogues and major Hillel organizations. I have also exposed far-right antisemitism, such as displaying Nazi flags on our college campuses.”
Rachmuth’s name made it to the headlines in 2015 and 2016 when she and her husband, Guy, took on the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement. While raising her family in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, she faced a turning point after fighting a legal battle against a private school that hired teachers who promoted hate speech against Israel and racist ideologies to teach her children.
These experiences led her to the Proclaiming Justice to the Nations organization, and in turn she took an active role fighting antisemitism and BDS and being more vocal on Israel security issues, with the goal of fostering relationships between the State of Israel and the American people.
“[Proclaiming Justice to the Nations President Laurie Cardoza-Moore] and her team helped educate me about the existence of the BDS movement in schools,” she said. “Later, the organization stood by my side as I defended my family against attacks from members of the BDS movement when my case proceeded through the judicial process.
“After two years of my anti-BDS activism here in North Carolina, I was approached by the organization about putting together a team of like-minded activists from multiple faiths to educate my community about the antisemitic nature of BDS.”
In a letter to the followers of organization, Cardoza-Moore said Rachmuth has learned a lot from her experiences in protesting the anti-Jewish movement.
“Sloan is an expert in exposing the true nature of the BDS movement and anti-Israel bias in our schools and universities,” she said. “Journalists have utilized her investigative research to teach people how to recognize the BDS movement and ways to stop its growth.”
Rachmuth, who began her position with PJTN in June, founded and is the lead instructor of the North Carolina fitness center reCharge Pilates & Barre Durham. This won’t prevent her from dedicating as much time necessary to help make her state free from antisemitism and BDS, she said.
“In my new role, I plan to work as many hours necessary to get the job done,” she said. “Some weeks it may be 60 hours, others as little as 20 hours per week. As we get more challenges from anti-Israel activists, it will likely require more attention from me, and it is attention that I am willing to give.”
When exposing the BDS movement to the media, Rachmuth said she relies on financial records, the spoken word, recordings and other hard evidence that show the high-level coordination of many of these groups.
As chapter president, she said she will help educate business leaders, educators, legislators and university administrators about the true nature of anti-Israel and BDS activists, who are extremely active in this state.
“In North Carolina, we have some of the most well-financed and highly coordinated anti-Israel groups in the country,” she said. “Sadly they are far-left groups, as well as far-right groups, that are now highlighted in the mainstream media.”
In 2016, a Nazi flag was spotted in a dorm window at the University of North Carolina, and in Durham, activists persuaded the city council to end a contract with the G4S security company, which works in prisons and checkpoints in Israel. Also, Palestinian solidarity movements have become stronger over the years in North Carolina’s post-secondary educational institutions.
The recent anti-BDS bill in the state, however, has shown that the counter-BDS protests are making a difference.
“I did not have a hand in the BDS bill, which passed recently in North Carolina. However, with PJTN, we will pass an anti-antisemitism piece of legislation that will help protect college students in the state.”