CAFI is an organization of individuals from Canadian post-secondary institutions who support Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and who wish to protect civil and scholarly discourse as it pertains to the State of Israel on university and college campuses across Canada. Members of CAFI share a desire for peace in the Middle East and respect for diverse faiths, beliefs, and backgrounds.

CAFI proactively supports the existence of Israel, and the aspiration to peace with its neighbors, as espoused in Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Our members share a common belief that Israel is a cornerstone of Jewish civilization, a de jure member of the international community of states, and support Israel’s right to maintain a Jewish character, and to foster closer ties with its supporters throughout the world. CAFI believes that the privileged platform of the academy must be respected on campuses through fair, informed, and pluralistic debate. Our members actively seek to ensure the right to freedom of expression, so that faculty and students are able to work and study in an atmosphere free of harassment and intimidation.

To these ends, CAFI combats attempts to criminalize the State of Israel and thereby also criminalize and silence those who may in any way support Israel. Our members also oppose the educational malpractice that results from abuse of podium by academics. This includes creating adversarial classroom atmospheres by faculty teaching about/against Israel which go beyond the academic consideration of the very complex issues facing the Middle East. Within an otherwise wide range of tolerance, CAFI rejects and seeks to combat anti-Semitism, denial of the Holocaust, and denial of the right of Israel to statehood.

CAFI members agreed on the following goals and actions as a point of departure:

1. To assist Jewish students, faculty and staff to ensure that they are comfortable expressing their identity and their opinions.
2. To provide expertise and resources for educating the campus community about Israel and anti-Semitism and for combating anti-Israel propaganda and anti-Semitism.
3. To support students, faculty and staff adversely affected by anti-Israel incidents and anti-Semitism.
4. To oppose unfair boycotts, divestments, resolutions and human rights limitations directed against the State of Israel, Jews and their supporters on campuses.
5. To combat tactics of intimidation and to promote civil and balanced discourse on campuses in matters related to Israel and Jews.
6. To promote mutual respect, understanding and peaceful coexistence in matters related to Israel.

CAFI groups will determine for themselves the nature of the activities they seek to engage in, which may include but are not limited to:

• Developing an annual academic conference on matters related to Israel and Jews;
• Bringing in speakers on campus that address matters related to Israel and Jews – as well as Israeli academic experts in all matter of disciplines;
• Engaging in panel discussions and roundtables on campus that address matters related to Israel and Jews – as well as Israeli academic experts in all matter of disciplines;
• Engaging in academic and collaborative research on campus that addresses matters related to Israel and Jews – as well as Israeli academic experts in all matter of disciplines;
• Bringing in Israeli guest speakers to our classes;
• Using Israeli or Jewish examples in class to normalize the image of Israel and educate students about Jews;
• Supporting Jewish stakeholders on campus including Jewish student organizations;
• Fighting anti-Israel petitions or activities in our departments;
• Signing petitions against boycott campaigns and other anti-Israel activity;
• Countering anti-Israel comments that are uninformed or unbalanced, be it in scholarly articles, campus newspapers, list servers, blogs, email groups , media and /or private communications;
• Running an online journal; and
• Working with the administrations to enhance academic freedom by diminishing radicalism on campus and promoting civil discourse through the enforcement of Codes of Conduct.