Roz Rothstein

Roz Rothstein co-founded StandWithUs in Los Angeles in 2001 and has served as its CEO since, building it from a local pro-Israel education initiative into one of the most operationally significant pro-Israel campus advocacy organizations in the United States and internationally, with offices in the U.S., Israel, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries. Rothstein, who holds a master's degree in education, founded StandWithUs in the immediate aftermath of the Second Intifada — when Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians was at its peak and American campus environments were turning decisively against Israel in organized pro-Palestinian activism — with a specific educational mission: provide Jewish and pro-Israel students with the factual information, organizational resources, and strategic training to counter the campaigns they were facing.

StandWithUs is distinctive in the pro-Israel advocacy landscape because its primary operating environment is the university campus, and its methodology is education rather than lobbying. The organization produces textbooks, documentary films, social media content, and speaker programs; runs fellowship programs for student activists; and maintains a legal team that assists Jewish students in First Amendment and Title VI cases. Its Emerson Fellowship, which places young pro-Israel advocates in campus activist roles for a year, has become one of the most effective pipelines for training the next generation of pro-Israel organizational leaders. The organization's response to October 7 involved a rapid deployment of resources — speakers, educational materials, and organizational support — to campuses across the country within days of the attack.

Rothstein has received multiple honors from Israeli institutions and American Jewish organizations for her sustained contribution to pro-Israel education. Her significance is not in the size of StandWithUs's budget but in the quality of its campus-level impact: students who come through StandWithUs programs leave with the capability to argue the pro-Israel case effectively against organized opposition. At Rank 46, Rothstein is the educator who understood that the future of American support for Israel would be won or lost in the classroom and on the campus quad, and built the institution to fight that battle.