Interview with Elisha Breton: SSI of CSU-LB

From Anaheim, California, Elisha Breton is the Students Supporting Israel (SSI) president at California State University, Long Beach (CSU-LB). As a junior, Breton is currently double majoring in Jewish Studies and History. In addition to being a student, Breton has been to Israel on countless occasions including with a NCSY program, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), Birthright, Aish, and more.

When Breton first arrived to campus two years ago, he saw there was no Israel advocacy club and wanted to do something about it. He heard about SSI through some advocacy work he was doing with ZOA so he called SSI’s founder, Ilan Sinelnikov, and decided to start an SSI chapter at CSU-LB.

Breton would like to see his campus be one that “has better education about Israel, because right now there is a lot of ignorance about it.” Breton also adds that something that has been hard dealing with on campus is “seeing the apartheid wall when walking around campus and educating others about Israel because they don’t really care.”

An event that has gained a lot of attraction at CSU-LB is the Immigration Nation Campaign. This campaign is one where Sinelnikov and two other people talked about immigrating to Israel from different parts of the world and how they were welcomed by everyone with open arms. “We had so many students come to that event so I would say it was very successful.”

Overall, being a pro-Israel advocate on campus has been a great experience for Breton. “Having an SSI on campus lets me participate in more Israel advocacy and to keep the knowledge about Israel flowing.” In the future, Breton sees himself finishing grad school and still advocating for Israel.

To the rest of the SSI’ers out there, “Just keep doing what you are doing, keeping fight your fight – there are a lot of people who don’t agree with us, but as long as you keep speaking the truth, no one can deny it.”