Maccabee Task Force - We Combat Antisemitism on Campuses

How Our Model Works

MTF’s Israel trips are not the finish line. They are the catalyst for long-term campus impact.

Identify

We identify influential student leaders who shape campus culture, including student government officials, journalists, faith leaders, activists, campus organization heads, and other high-impact students.

Bring to Israel

We bring them to Israel for immersive educational trips that challenge misinformation, deepen understanding, and build real relationships with Israelis, Jewish peers, and one another.

Follow Up

After students return, we maintain engagement through reunion programs, coalition-building events, mentorship opportunities, leadership development, and continued campus support.

Activate

Trip alumni, Fellows, and student allies help organize coalitions, respond to antisemitism, challenge anti-Israel campaigns, and support Jewish students when campus tensions rise.

Lead

Over time, these students become leaders in student government, campus media, professional networks, and broader civic life.

The result: MTF does not simply change minds. We build networks of students with the influence to change campus outcomes.

Our Programs

MTF is building a campus leadership infrastructure that reaches students before, during, and after the moments when antisemitism and anti-Israel activism surface on campus.

Israel Trips

MTF brings influential non-Jewish student leaders to Israel for immersive educational trips that challenge misinformation, build relationships, and help students overcome the false and malicious narratives they’re subjected to on campus.

MTF Fellows

Our Fellows are student leaders on campus who build coalitions, recruit allies, organize programming, respond to antisemitism, and help sustain student engagement beyond the trip experience.

Post-Trip Engagement

The real work begins after the trip. MTF keeps alumni engaged through reunion programs, campus events, coalition-building opportunities, leadership development, and continued support.

Mentorship & Professional Networks

MTF connects high-potential students and young alumni with Israeli and Israel-connected professionals, helping them build lasting relationships with Israel through business, law, technology, medicine, public policy, and other fields.

International Campus Work

From England to South Africa, MTF operates in some of the most challenging campus environments in the world, developing courageous student allies in places where Jewish students often face intense hostility and where non-Jewish leadership can have an outsized impact.

Alumni Engagement

MTF’s work does not end at graduation. We are building long-term pathways for star trip alumni, Fellows, and student leaders to remain connected as mentors, speakers, advocates, professionals, and future leaders.

WHAT STUDENTS SAY

“Nothing I read in the States compared to hearing directly from Israelis on the ground. The trip forced me to confront how much of my perspective had been shaped by oversimplified and misleading narratives. If you’re serious about understanding Israel as it actually is, not as it’s portrayed, you have to see it for yourself. It's an incredible place filled with people seeking peace.”
— Kelly B., non-Jewish student at Harvard Law School

MTF reaches the students who are often least likely to attend a traditional pro-Israel campus event and gives them the opportunity to encounter Israel directly. For many participants, the trip replaces slogans and assumptions with firsthand experience, real relationships, and a more accurate understanding of Israeli society.

“My MTF Israel trip experience was genuinely life-changing and by far the most transformative trip I have ever taken. Before visiting Israel, much of my understanding came from narratives I had absorbed on campus and online. Speaking directly with Israelis and Palestinians, and seeing the realities of the region firsthand, challenged many of those assumptions and helped me understand why Israel must exist. I also met individuals who had endured hardships I could barely imagine which gave me a new perspective on resilience and gratitude. I knew I couldn’t simply leave that experience behind when I returned to campus, which is why I chose to become an MTF Fellow and stand up for the Jewish community at Hopkins”
—Jack E., non-Jewish student at Johns Hopkins University

The Latest From @MacTaskForce

On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, former Columbia protest organizer Mahmoud Khalil used a Yizkor gathering organized by anti-Zionist Jewish groups to call for God to “remember that Israel is committing genocide.”

The event’s message went even further: a sign on the podium read, “for the sin of genocide we atone” — effectively turning a Jewish day of repentance and remembrance into a public indictment of Israel in the name of Jewish atonement.

Khalil remains in deportation proceedings stemming from his role in Columbia’s anti-Israel protest movement, even as he continues to campaign publicly against Israel.

Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Weaponizing that sacred tradition to accuse the Jewish state of genocide is not moral courage.

It is a disturbing inversion: using Jewish ritual to place collective guilt on Jews for Israel’s war against Hamas
CBC National Radio Host and journalist Neil Harland shared a chilling and deeply personal account on X about his experience attending synagogue services in Toronto on Yom Kippur. As he arrived to observe the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, he was met by protesters attempting to taunt and intimidate him from entering the building.

He reflected on his family’s history, including his late father, an Austrian Jew who survived the Holocaust in Romania and came to Canada as a refugee. He also admitted in the same post threat that he chose to apply for his Austrian passport “in case Canada becomes unsafe for me as a Jew.” He expressed his fear that that time is approaching “in Canada and elsewhere.” 

Gathering outside a Jewish house of worship on a sacred holiday to demonize the Jewish community and Israel is an absolute moral abomination. 

When journalists and citizens in a free country are forced to contemplate fleeing because their houses of worship have become targets for hostile mobs, it’s a profound failure of our civic society. 

No other group would ever be expected to endure this level of intimidation and harassment while practicing their faith in peace.
As the Jewish community gathered to mark Yom Kippur, terror struck outside the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario. 

A gunman armed with a shotgun opened fire on a police officer stationed outside the building, triggering a violent shootout while worshippers took cover on the floor. The suspect has been identified as 29-year-old Sean Ward.

Thanks to the bravery of the pre-emptive police presence requested by the synagogue, lives were saved. The officer who sustained serious injuries and remains hospitalized has been identified as Constable Jeff Smith.

When Jewish places of worship where families gather to pray on the holiest day in their calendar and fear becoming the next targets for armed violence, it exposes the grim reality of soaring antisemitism and the constant threat facing Jewish communities. 

Jews deserve to show up to their places of worship to practice their faith and live openly without fear, and this harrowing attack is a stark reminder that security and vigilance are more critical than ever.
As Yom Kippur begins, we would like to take a moment to reflect, forgive, and look toward the year ahead with hope.

May this day of forgiveness and fasting bring strength and courage to begin a new year, and peace to all those observing.

Wishing you a meaningful and peaceful Yom Kippur. 🕊️
Thousands of Christian allies recently gathered at Dam Square in Amsterdam to stand in solidarity with Israel, sending a powerful message against rising hate. 

Israeli Ambassador to the Netherlands Zvi A. Vapni addressed the massive crowd via video message, offering words of deep appreciation for their steadfast support. 

Reflecting on the unity and resilience displayed at the rally, Ambassador Vapni shared a vital truth on X: “Truth will prevail over lies, and courage over intimidation.”
An analysis by the Jewish Federations of North America reveals that Jewish communal institutions across the United States have spent a record-shattering $1 billion on security over the past year. 

Covering more than 4,500 synagogues, schools, community centers, and camps, this staggering expenditure reflects a 33% increase from previous estimates as antisemitism surges nationwide. 

Community leaders emphasized that every dollar diverted to guards, cameras, and building security is a dollar taken away from Jewish education, elder care, and other social programs.
Ed Sheeran finally addressed the Macklemore debacle, commenting on the Israel-Palestine conflict from the stage during his concert last night, speaking about both October 7th and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Sheeran explicitly called the October 7 attack on Israel “horrific” and acknowledged the centuries of Jewish pain behind it, but he also described the situation in Gaza as “unjustifiable, and disproportionate”.

He also emphasized that he wants his concerts to remain spaces for unity, humanity, and people with opposing views, rather than political division.

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