Martin Yafe. Photo: Screenshot via LinkedIn.

Responding to campus antisemites with fact-based arguments is a “bulls***” approach, according to a leading Jewish educator, the UK’s Jewish News reported on Friday.

“[T]he starting point should be training students to stand up for their Jewish identity, to have their own culture accepted, rather than accepting the culture of others first, ” Martin Yafe — lead Israel educator for the Jewish Community Relations Council and planning executive at the UJA-Federation of NY — told the News, following his talk at the Limmud FSU conference last weekend.

To better prepare Jewish students to make that case, Yafe recently developed the “Leading on Campus” program for high school students, so that they are educated on how to respond to antisemitic, anti-Israel situations before they ever step foot on a university campus.

Yafe also highlighted the importance of students “look[ing] to communal organizations to help them to forge a coordinated response” to anti-Israel activity, specifically when faced with a boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.

“Students should not plan their own reaction,” the News quoted him as saying. “These [organizations] are people paid to work out the strategy for these events. They know how to deal with the threats. That way students don’t get hurt but get stronger.”

Limmud FSU — a branch of the worldwide “Limmud” Jewish seminar experience geared for Russian-speakers — took place in Westchester, NY from May 12-May 14.