SSI Student Spotlight: Gabriella Davoudpour

Meet Gabriella Davoudpour! President of Students Supporting Israel at Santa Monica College. She is a Sophomore Communication Disorders major, who hopes to work as a speech pathologist, helping children with speech impediments — while simultaneously continuing to support Israel in any way she can.

As president, Gabriella speaks to other clubs about potentially co-hosting events while making sure SSI’s voice is heard on campus. She also works with different pro-Israel organizations, like ZOA, where she is a fellow, to ensure that Israel activists on campus know their rights, while also working with them to bring speakers and host events on campus.

Gabriella supports Israel simply because it is her homeland. She adds,

“As a Jewish Zionist, I often see people attack Israel, without knowing the truth, often spreading misconceptions about the state. I believe that knowing the facts is a key factor in understanding the conflict, and I noticed that many people were misinformed on my campus, which made me want to get involved and show them the truth.”

While there are many pro-Israel students on campus, the campus climate at Santa Monica College tends to be apathetic, as there is also a huge amount of students that are uninformed, or are anti-Zionist, including the SJP group on campus. Gabriella believes that the biggest problem facing her campus is the lack of accountability. When she sees anti-Semitism occurring on campus, nothing is done about it, which partly inspired Gabriella’s joining the SSI Movement. She wanted to advocate for Israel which was further enforced by the peak in anti-Zionism/anti-Semitism she witnessed recently.

“I wanted other people to learn about the state, and the increase in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism I’ve seen recently only furthered my want to advocate.”

Her work with SSI has helped her learn how to be a leader, and how to deal with difficult situations with ease.

“SSI has definitely had a big impact on my campus because before SSI, there was no pro-Israel voice here. We have been able to host events where people are able to come and learn about Israel, and how they themselves can advocate for the only democracy in the middle east.”

She believes that as a non-religious club, everyone is welcome with ‘open arms’ to SSI, which helps draw people into their club. Gabriella’s main goal on campus is to build relationships with different clubs and spread the truth about Israel.

Her favorite memory was when SSI at Santa Monica College had an event with the Brazil club on campus and had over 50 people attend to learn more about Israel and Israel’s relationship with Brazil.

As a self-proclaimed Zionist, which Gabriella defines as believing in

“the Jewish peoples right to self determination in their homeland, Israel,”

Gabriella leads her team at SSI of Santa Monica College with passion, deeming her chapter one of the best and brightest in the movement!