By Stephen Faircloth

The Ivy League has long been regarded as a cradle of future leaders, shaping both minds and culture across the nation. In recent years, however, these campuses have also become contested spaces where Jewish students increasingly encounter antisemitism in the form of harassment, exclusion, and silence from those in authority. In response, The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and Regent University have joined with JewBelong to launch a billboard campaign that refuses to remain quiet.

The effort features JewBelong’s signature pink and white billboards placed in prominent locations at Harvard, Yale, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania. These signs are not simple advertisements. They are public declarations that antisemitism has no place in institutions that claim to foster intellectual freedom and moral responsibility.

Each billboard delivers a clear message about the dangers of silence. Choosing not to speak against hatred is itself an act of complicity. The goal is to spark conversation, challenge apathy, and embolden students, faculty, and administrators to stand as visible allies with their Jewish peers.

Although antisemitism is a national concern, the Ivy League carries unique symbolic weight. These universities are incubators of cultural influence, and the ideas formed there often ripple outward into American society. When antisemitism festers unchecked in such settings, it shapes not only the immediate campus climate but also the perspectives of future leaders who carry those attitudes into wider spheres.

By bringing these messages directly into the Ivy League, the campaign speaks to the next generation of policymakers, educators, and cultural voices. It underscores the truth that moral courage is essential to genuine leadership.

JewBelong has used bold public messaging in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, yet this Ivy League initiative is about more than geography. It is about addressing silence where it is most damaging. On campuses that claim to uphold diversity, equity, and inclusion, the lack of strong responses to antisemitic incidents undermines those very principles.

The partnership with CBN and Regent University expands the campaign’s reach through television and digital platforms, ensuring that its impact extends far beyond the billboards themselves. This effort is an invitation to Christians and Americans everywhere to recognize that standing against antisemitism is not a partisan or sectarian matter. It is both a human responsibility and a spiritual calling.

Though the Ivy League campaign is central, it is also part of a wider movement. With parallel outreach in the South through Southeastern Conference universities, the campaign seeks to build a coalition of students and alumni united in rejecting hatred. Each new campus engaged adds strength to a growing chorus of voices calling for courage, solidarity, and love of neighbor.

The message is urgent and unmistakable. Silence is no longer an option. In the face of rising antisemitism, particularly within institutions charged with shaping the leaders of tomorrow, communities must choose action over complacency. Every billboard stands as a reminder that defending the Jewish people is not only a moral duty but also a reflection of God’s call to love and protect our neighbors.

If you are a Christian who believes in standing with Israel and the Jewish people while confronting antisemitism, lies, and misinformation, we invite you to join CBN Israel in making a meaningful difference today.

GIVE TODAY

Stephen Faircloth is the President of CBN Israel, an initiative dedicated to sharing the true story of the Jewish nation and inspiring a global community of Christians to stand with Israel and support her people in need. Our vision is to reshape the global conversation about Israel by fostering understanding, hope, and healing between Jews and Christians around the world. For more than 50 years, the Christian Broadcasting Network has supported Israel. By joining CBN Israel, you become part of this enduring legacy, transforming lives today and strengthening Christian support for Israel for generations to come.

Just as Israelis were finally emerging from the trauma of COVID, they were suddenly thrust into the horrors of the October 7 terrorist attacks—and the war with Hamas and Hezbollah. Since then, the nation has been running on adrenaline, with families still in shock and survival mode.

And with the war winding down, most Israelis will face complex emotional, psychological, and financial challenges in adjusting to a “new normal.”

Thanks to caring donors, CBN Israel is addressing the nation’s need for healing by opening a “resilience center.” Manager Yonathan Ameida, who is also a clinical psychologist and pastor, observed, “Many resilience centers exist around the country. But we understood that after the war, the need for these was going to skyrocket.”

The CBN Israel Resilience Center will serve as a hub that matches patients’ needs to a pool of counseling professionals, including psychologists for both adults and children, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, social workers, and financial and parenting coaches.

While the government does provide therapy for direct victims, often the victims’ family members, such as the families of hostages, are outside the loop. The Resilience Center can fill that gap for them, by reaching people who are not eligible for government therapy programs.

And since the war began, donors have already created trauma recovery groups through CBN Israel, and offered courses and private counseling. The Resilience Center will be doing that same work, but on a much larger scale, as well as offering support for the therapists themselves.

Plus, Almeida plans to assist the faith community, saying the war brought up spiritual questions for everyone about why this happened—even many believers, whose faith has been shaken.

He sums up the center’s mission, saying, “People can begin to think coherently again….We are here to help them find an explanation that will give them peace, and give them new tools.”

And your gift to CBN Israel can offer compassionate relief to hurting Israelis in other ways, including hot meals, shelter, and basic essentials.

Please help us bring healing to those in crisis! 

GIVE TODAY

By Stephen Faircloth

In response to a troubling surge in antisemitism across the United States, The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), CBN Israel, and Regent University have partnered with JewBelong, a New York-based nonprofit known for bold public messaging, to launch a powerful nationwide awareness campaign. The initiative features visually arresting pink and white billboards delivering a simple but urgent message: standing against antisemitism is standing with America. More than a public display, this campaign is a call to action for Christians, students, alumni, and communities across the country to unite in solidarity with the Jewish people.

The campaign begins August 11 in Virginia, with three prominent billboards positioned along major thoroughfares near the CBN and Regent University campus in the Tidewater area. These messages are intended not just to inform, but to spark conversation, reflection, and ultimately, action. The billboards will remain in place through September 29. CBN will amplify the campaign’s reach through its influential television and digital platforms, engaging audiences nationwide.

Following the Tidewater launch, the campaign expands to four key Ivy League campuses: Harvard, Yale, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania. These universities, long esteemed for their academic distinction, have increasingly become challenging environments for Jewish students. The Ivy League campaign aims to confront this reality with bold, unapologetic messaging. By bringing the conversation directly to these campuses, the effort seeks to break the silence that often follows antisemitic incidents and to encourage students, faculty, and administrators to stand as allies against hate.

At the same time, the campaign will engage students and alumni across Southeastern Conference universities through a coordinated strategy of billboard placements and digital outreach led by Regent University. This SEC-focused initiative invites campus communities throughout the South to take part in a growing national movement that refuses to look away from antisemitism and instead embraces shared responsibility and moral courage.

This campaign is driven by alarming data. The Anti-Defamation League’s 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents ranks Virginia among the top ten states for such activity, with 266 incidents reported last year alone, representing a 19 percent increase from 2023. Nationally, antisemitic incidents have surged by 893 percent over the past decade. These are not isolated occurrences. They are part of a persistent and intensifying pattern that must be addressed with urgency and resolve.

College campuses, in particular, have become flashpoints for antisemitic rhetoric and behavior. Jewish students have reported harassment, exclusion, and threats, often met with silence or inaction from university leadership. That silence not only fails to protect, it emboldens those who propagate hate. This campaign seeks to challenge that silence and to empower campus communities to speak out in defense of their Jewish peers.

Gordon Robertson, President and CEO of CBN and Chancellor of Regent University, emphasized the moral and spiritual significance of this initiative. He said, “It is vital that Christians in Virginia and across the country stand in solidarity with the Jewish community. Antisemitism is not just a Jewish issue, it is a human issue and a spiritual one. We are called to stand against hatred, to defend our neighbors, and to reflect God’s love through our actions. This campaign is one important step in that direction.”

This effort builds upon JewBelong’s previous campaigns in major cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, and near academic institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania. With this expansion and collaboration with faith-based and academic organizations, the campaign marks a growing movement determined to challenge antisemitism wherever it takes root.

The message is clear. In the face of rising antisemitism, especially on the campuses shaping the next generation, silence is no longer an option. Every billboard, broadcast, and digital message is a call to choose courage over complacency, to reject hate, and to stand unwaveringly with our Jewish neighbors. Christians and Americans alike are urged to raise their voices, because defending others is not only right, it is at the very heart of what it means to love our neighbor.

If you are a Christian who believes in standing with Israel and the Jewish people while confronting antisemitism, lies, and misinformation, we invite you to join CBN Israel in making a meaningful difference today.

GIVE TODAY

Stephen Faircloth is the President of CBN Israel, an initiative dedicated to sharing the true story of the Jewish nation and inspiring a global community of Christians to stand with Israel and support her people in need. Our vision is to reshape the global conversation about Israel by fostering understanding, hope, and healing between Jews and Christians round the world. For more than 50 years, the Christian Broadcasting Network has supported Israel. By joining CBN Israel, you become part of this enduring legacy, transforming lives today and strengthening Christian support for Israel for generations to come.

When she was just 13, Natalia had to flee her home in Ukraine to escape the Nazis. As World War II raged, this young Jewish girl survived by working in a factory that supported the war effort. She eventually returned home.

In 2022, as Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities and families were torn apart by violence, Natalia faced the unthinkable. After a lifetime spent recovering from the trauma of World War II, she was once again forced to relive its horrors as war returned to the very place where she had rebuilt her life.

She recalled, “A rocket hit our neighborhood in the middle of the night. The explosion killed over 30 people in my community.” Terrified, this elderly woman sought refuge in Israel, making Aliyah to become an Israeli citizen.

Yet as a frail senior who arrived with nothing, Natalia has had other battles to fight. At age 95, she must use a wheelchair to go outside. Because of her handicap, she had to find another apartment with an elevator. And in addition to needing help getting enough to eat, she also lacked basic furniture. Alone in a different country, where could she get help?

Thankfully, friends like you came to her rescue through CBN Israel. Caring donors are there delivering nutritious food, and she says these visits from our team mean as much as the aid itself. Donors also provided her with a special bed and essential furniture, to make her apartment feel like home.

Natalia exclaimed, “Thank you so much for your generous help. I have been overjoyed to receive the regular provisions of food and groceries, and I am so grateful for the furniture… Your kindness means more than you know!”

Your gifts to CBN Israel can be a blessing to Holocaust survivors like Natalia, and to refugees, single moms, terror victims, and others struggling to survive in the Holy Land.

And you can make a tremendous difference for those in need by providing hot meals, safe housing, necessities, and financial assistance.

Join us today in sharing God’s love and compassion with those who are hurting in Israel!

GIVE TODAY

By Stephen Faircloth

In the fifth month of the Hebrew calendar, on the seventh day, during the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, his captain of the guard, Nebuzaradan, arrived in Jerusalem. He set fire to the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and every important building in the city. The destruction was total. Jerusalem was left in ruins (2 Kings 25:8-9).

Tisha B’Av, meaning “the ninth of Av,” is recognized as the most sorrowful day in the Jewish year. It is a solemn fast day that remembers not only the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, but also centuries of suffering and loss endured by the Jewish people.

Although rooted in the Bible, the observance of Tisha B’Av is established through Rabbinic tradition. It concludes a three-week period of mourning that begins with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, marking the breaching of Jerusalem’s walls, and culminates in the fall of the Temple.

Jewish tradition holds that both Temples were destroyed on the exact same Hebrew date, though they fell nearly 650 years apart. The First Temple, constructed by King Solomon, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple, rebuilt after the Babylonian exile and later enlarged by King Herod, was razed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

But the tragedies tied to Tisha B’Av extend far beyond ancient ruins. Over the centuries, this date has come to symbolize the collective grief of a people who have endured exile, persecution, and displacement again and again.

Some of the darkest moments in Jewish history coincided with Tisha B’Av:

• The expulsion from England in 1290 was decreed on this day.
• In 1492, Spain’s Alhambra Decree gave Jews until the end of July—Tisha B’Av that year—to leave the country or face forced conversion or death.
• Pogroms, massacres, and the horrors of the Holocaust have also become part of the broader legacy remembered on this day.
• In 2005, the Disengagement from Gaza, which saw thousands of Jewish families uprooted from their homes, concluded just as Tisha B’Av ended.
• On October 7, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis were murdered in a Hamas-led massacre, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

A story often shared to capture the emotional depth of Tisha B’Av involves Napoleon Bonaparte. While passing through a Jewish village in Europe, he heard sobbing from a nearby synagogue. Curious, he looked inside and saw men and women sitting on the floor, dimly lit by candlelight, reading from ancient texts and mourning.

Perplexed, Napoleon asked what tragedy had just occurred. His advisor explained that no new disaster had taken place. Instead, the Jewish people were observing their annual day of mourning for the destruction of their Temple—events that had taken place nearly two thousand years earlier.

Moved by their enduring devotion, Napoleon reportedly said, “A people who mourns for their Temple for so long will surely be rewarded with its restoration.”

Today, the observance continues much as it has for centuries. The Book of Lamentations is read aloud in synagogues, often in a dim setting that reflects the solemnity of the day. Traditional customs include sitting low to the ground, refraining from greetings, and fasting from food and drink for 25 hours. In Jerusalem, thousands gather to walk along the Old City walls, honoring the memory of what was lost and hoping for what is yet to come.

Tisha B’Av is not only a day of sorrow but also a testament to the Jewish people’s resilience and unwavering hope. It reminds us that even in the ashes of history, faith endures.

Stephen Faircloth is the President of CBN Israel, where he is dedicated to supporting both the nation and the people of Israel. He leads advocacy and humanitarian efforts that deliver practical aid and lasting hope to vulnerable groups, including terror victims, Holocaust survivors, refugees, and families in crisis. Before assuming this role, Stephen helped launch an initiative that brought Christian groups such as pastors, churches, students, and youth to the Holy Land, enabling them to experience Israel and encounter their faith where it began.