At San Diego State University, the school year opened with Students for Justice in Palestine launching  a controversial new advocacy and membership drive campaign.

Student Emily Yavitch has the details:

Called “The Right Side,” the campaign aims to “educate the student community about the reality of apartheid in Palestine,” SJP co-chair Nadir Bouhmouch said in an email to The College Fix.

The campaign, unique to San Diego State, touts big-name celebrities and academics who support Palestinian causes.

At least one pro-Israel group on campus has expressed concern about the campaign, which includes fliers posted around campus, saying some of the claims in the campaign are not accurate and the effort overall could “divide and destroy our campus climate.”

The slideshow for the campaign, which can be seen on the SJP website, serves as an instruction manual for “standing on the right side of history” by guiding people to the “moral high ground.”

There are two facets of the online presentation. The first frames the Israeli-Palestinian controversy as the big Civil Rights and humanitarian issue of our time.

“The racist grandpa is what you probably don’t want to be in 20 or 30 years, right?” it asks provocatively.

In the slideshow, SJP likens the way Palestinians are treated in Israel to South African Apartheid and Jim Crow America. This claim is backed by facts such as “Israel segregates buses, schools, roads and residential areas.”

The second part of the campaign lists prominent people who stand on the side of the Palestinians, such as Nelson Mandela and Stephen Hawking. Alongside each picture is a short blurb, such as the one accompanying Hawking’s portrait: “Boycotted conference in Israel.”

Nirit Revzin, president of Aztecs for Israel, a student group committed to promoting unity and action amongst pro-Israel students, expressed concern over the campaign.

“The Right Side Campaign has the potential to completely divide and destroy our campus climate,” Revzin said in an email to The Fix. “For a public university that seeks to embody ideals of acceptance and respect, such a campaign is intolerable and takes many steps back in terms of reaching peaceful terms between the pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students.”