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The '''The David Project''' in its own words is::The David Project is a grassroots initiative that promotes a fair and honest understanding of the Middle East conflict.The David Project (TDP) was launched in August, 2002 in Boston, MAMassachusetts <ref>The David Project [http://www.thedavidproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=306:fact-sheet&catid=53&Itemid=62 Fact Sheet], (accessed January 22, in response 2010)</ref> as an effort to the growing ideological assault influence US university campuses on matters related to Israel; it is a [[hasbara]] operation. We train people to be pro-active It runs workshops and seminars taught at Jewish high schools in their Israel advocacy - to counter the unfair and dishonest discourse in our universities, media, and communitiesUS.<ref>The David Project [http://www.davidprojectthedavidproject.org/aboutusindex.htmphp?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=53&Itemid=62 Our Mission], Web site, accessed January 22, 2010</ref>

==What others say==The group gained notoriety when it produced a film purporting to prove bias by Columbia Univ. University Middle Easter Eastern Studies (MEALAC) professors, in particular, Prof. Professor Joseph Massad. The group seeks to influence the composition of the Middle East Departments at universities around the USU.S. It also features speakers on "terrorism" and "anti-semitism,". Or or, as [[Sara Roy ]], a senior research scholar at the [[Center for Middle Eastern Studies]] at Harvard University, explains:

:Meanwhile, Columbia University is embroiled in a controversy involving its Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures Department. The David Project, a pro-Israel group based in Boston, made a documentary called ''Columbia Unbecoming,'' which presented a series of interviews with student supporters of Israel who said they had been intimidated and harassed by members of the department who are allegedly hostile to the Jewish state. After hearing about the film, [[Anthony Weiner]], a Democratic New York congressman, called on Columbia’s Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, to dismiss Joseph Massad, an assistant professor who is accused in the documentary of anti-semitism, and of verbally abusing Israeli and Jewish students. Massad has long been the target of a campaign of intimidation against academics &ndash; --Jewish and non-Jewish – -- who criticise criticize Israel. Deluged by hate mail calling him a ‘camel jockey’ "camel jockey" and ‘pathetic "pathetic typical Arab liar’liar, " he has decided not to teach his course on Palestinian and Israeli Politics and Societies this semester.<brref>&mdash;Sara Roy, "[http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n04/roy_01_.html Intimidation]", ''London Review of Books'', Vol. 27, No. 4, 17 Feb. 172005.</ref> A recent article by Scott Sherman provides further background::The roots of the Columbia conflict can be traced back to campus political developments in 2001 and early 2002. In March, 2002 a network of national Jewish organizations met to evaluate what they saw as an alarming rise in anti-Israel activity on campus. From those meetings emerged the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), which is a partnership of Hillel and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. (The three organizations share a building in Washington.) According to a 2002 article for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a Jewish-oriented news service, top-flight talent was brought in to advise the ICC and assemble a battle plan. "Pro-Israel professionals from the elite consulting firm [[McKinsey & Company]] offered pro-bono services," the article noted. Those professionals created a document for the ICC arguing that "the primary goal for this year should be to 'take back the campus' by influencing public opinion through lectures, the Internet and coalitions." The ICC -- which recently received a $1,050,000 grant from the Schusterman Foundation, and whose speakers list includes Daniel Pipes -- has an impressive array of "members": AIPAC, ADL, Americans for Peace Now and the Zionist Organization of America, among others. :The ICC has a single "affiliate member": the David Project. The David Project is led by Charles Jacobs, who is a co-founder of CAMERA, the pro-Israel media watchdog group; the founder of the American Anti-Slavery Group, which calls itself "America's leading human rights group dedicated to abolishing modern day slavery worldwide"; and, along with Richard Perle, Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol, among others, a member of the board of advisers of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The ICC's website lists a number of "regional ICCs" that receive "strategic advice and guidance" from the Washington headquarters. The regional ICC representative in New York is none other than Rachel Fish, the director of the David Project's New York office. Jacobs was tight-lipped in a recent interview: He refused to provide details about his financial backers, referring only to unnamed "individuals and foundations"; and he declined to elaborate on the extent to which the David Project receives tactical advice from professional pro-Israel lobbyists and operatives allied with the ICC.<ref>Scott Sherman [http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20050404&s=sherman The Mideast Comes to Columbia] ''The Nation''. March 16, 2005</ref> ==Affiliations==*[[Israel on Campus Coalition]] (ICC), which is a partnership of these organizations: :*[[Hillel]] :*[[Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation]] <ref>[http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3795.shtml]</ref>*[[Coalition for Responsible Peace in the Middle East]] (C4RPME) &ndash; TPD is the founding member of C4RPME which focuses on churches and religious groups. ==Funding==In 2004, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation -- with assets of $100 million -- gave a $1,050,000 grant to Hillel to support the [[Israel on Campus Coalition]] (ICC) project <ref>Bob Feldman [http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3795.shtml The Israel on Campus Coalition and the David Project: Sponsored by US oil and Israeli bank profits? ], ''The Electronic Intifada'' Israel Lobby Watch, April 25 2005</ref> Now, the only project of the ICC is the David Project.

====2011====<table border="1" bgcolor="beige" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width="80%" align="center" style="font-size:10pt"><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod">Principals</th></tr> <tr><td>[[David Bernstein]] <br />Exec. Director</td><td>[[Marilyn Goldman]]<br /> Assistant Exec. Director Operations</td><td>[[Lori Gans]]<br /> National Director of Institutional Advancement</td></tr><tr><td>[[Todd Young]]<br />Director of Education</td></tr><tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod">Former principal</th></tr><tr><td>[[David Dabscheck]]<br />former Director of Strategic Initiatives</td></tr> <tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod">Staff: BOSTON OFFICE</th></tr><tr><td>[[Michal Adut]]<br> Campus Coord.</td><td>[[Aaron Bregman]]<br> High School Program Manager</td><td>[[Phil Brodsky]]<br> Campus Team Manager</td></tr><tr><td>[[Matt Cohen]]<br> Video &amp; Multimedia Coord.</td><td>[[Stephanie Hoffman]]<br /> Curriculum/Program Manager</td><td>[[Dara Stern]]<br /> Administrative Assistant</td></tr><tr><td>[[Avital Kranz]]<br> Campus Coord.</td><td>[[Jamie Lacroix]]<br> Marketing &amp; Communications Manager</td><td>[[Jason Oifer]]<br> Campus Coord.</td></tr><tr><td>[[Juan Pardo]]<br> Accountant</td><td>[[Sean Savage]]<br> Middle East Analyst</td><td>[[Lauren Shuman]]<br> Campus Coord.</td></tr><tr><td>[[Rob Silva]]<br> IT Manager</td><td>[[Danielle Sanit]]<br />Admin. Asst</td></tr><tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod">former Staff: Boston Office</th></tr><tr><td>[[Meredith Karetny]]<br>former Exec. Asst</td><td>[[Carly Siperstein]]<br>Dev. Asst <td>[[Abby Sloane]]<br> Campus Coord.</td></tr><tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod">Staff: NEW YORK OFFICE</th></tr><tr><td>[[Matthew Ackerman]]<br> Middle East Analyst</td><td>[[Alex Mishkin]]<br> Campus Coord.</td><td>[[Eve Nachman]]<br> Assistant Director of Development</td></tr><tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod">Staff: ISRAEL OFFICE</th></tr><tr><td>[[Ari Applbaum]]<br> Director of Israel Operations</td><td>[[Zeev Ben-Shahar]]<br> Middle East Analyst</td><td>[[Ze'ev Orenstein]]<br> Middle East Analyst</td></tr><tr><td>[[Aviva Roland]]<br> U.S./Israel Campus Liaison</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod" align="left" style="font-size:10pt">[http://www.thedavidproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=54&Itemid=63 Source] (Accessed: 27 April 2011)</tr></table> ====2005====

*[[Ariel Beery]] &ndash; ("served as a spokesman for the Israeli military, is the head of the on-campus Zionist group<ref>Junaid Alam, and is also an agent and informer for Daniel Pipes' notorious [[Campus-Watch]]" [http://www.counterpunch.org/junaid03022005.htmlThe Witchhunts Continue: Columbia University and the New Anti-Semitism])[http:/, CounterPunch, 2 March 2005</www.davidproject.org/aboutus.htm Source]ref>

*<table border="1" bgcolor="beige" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width="80%" align="center" style="font-size:10pt"> <tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod">Featured Speakers 2011</th></tr> <tr><td>[[Ilan Berman]]</td><td>[[Israel Bonan]]</td><td>[[Shoshana Bryen]]</td></tr> <tr><td>[[Ehud Eiran]]</td><td>[[Chuck Freilich]]</td><td>[[Frank Gaffney]]</td></tr> <tr><td>[[Joseph Wahed]]</td><td>[[Alexander Yakobson]]</td><td>[[Gina Waldman]]</td></tr> <tr><td>[[Justus Reid Weiner]]</td><td>[[Aryeh Green]]<td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr> <tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod">Featured Speakers 2005</th></tr> <tr><td>[[Rachel Fish]]</td>*<td>[[Tal Ben Shahar]]</td>*<td>[[Joseph Abdel Wahed]]</td></tr>*<tr><td>[[Loolwa Khazzoom]]</td>*<td>[[Walid Phares]]</td>*<td>[[Malaka Bublil]]</td></tr>*<tr><td>[[Dennis Hale]]</td>*<td>[[Batia Shems]]</td>*<td>[[Richard Land]]</td></tr>*<tr><td>[[Francis Bok]] &ndash; Escaped Sudanese Slave</Labor Rights Activist/Authortd>*<td>[[Carole Basri]]</td>*<td>[[Charles Jacobs]]</td></tr>*<tr><td>[[Eliad Moreh]]</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr> <tr><th colspan="3" bgcolor="goldenrod" align="left" style="font-size:10pt">[http://www.davidprojectthedavidproject.org/speakersindex.htm Sourcephp?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=17&Itemid=35 David Project: Speakers Bureau] (Accessed: 27 April 2011); 2005 list has scrolled on their website</tr></table> ==References, Resources and Contact=====External Resources (alpha order)===*Junaid Alam, "[http://www.counterpunch.org/junaid03022005.html Columbia University and the New Anti-Semitism]", ''CounterPunch'', 2 March 2005. Presents an overall discussion of the nature of the group, its principals, and its activities.*Sara Roy, "[http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n04/roy_01_.html Intimidation]", ''London Review of Books'', Vol. 27, No. 4, 17 Feb. 2005.*Scott Sherman, "[http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20050404&s=sherman The Mideast Comes to Columbia]", ''The Nation'', March 16, 2005.*Bob Feldman, "[http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3795.shtml The Israel on Campus Coalition and the David Project: Sponsored by US oil and Israeli bank profits?]", ''ElectronicIntifada'', 25 April 2005.

==External Resources (alpha order)Contact==*Junaid Alam, "[http://wwwThe David Project:P.counterpunchO.org/junaid03022005.html Columbia University and the New Anti-Semitism]", ''CounterPunch'', March 2, 2005. Presents an overall discussion of the nature of the group, its principalsBox 52390:Boston, and its activities.MA 02205*Sara Roy, ":Website: [http://www.lrbthedavidproject.coorg/ www.uk/v27/n04/roy_01_thedavidproject.html Intimidationorg]", ''London Review of Books'', Vol. 27, No. 4, Feb. 17, 2005.*Scott Sherman, "[http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20050404&s=sherman The Mideast Comes to Columbia]", The Nation, March 16, 2005.=References===<references/>