"Israel Apartheid Week" went global this year, with anti-Israel events scheduled in England, Norway, Canada, major South African cities, and in cities across America. In most places, the "week" consisted of only one event, but in New York, there were five.

In the Big Apple however, IAW promoters ran into major opposition as organized pro-Israel students put them squarely on the defensive - all week long. The David Project (full disclosure: I am its president) along with other groups spearheaded an effort to prepare pro-Israel students to counter these events.

Last week's column reported the first NYC event at a church in Greenwich Village a bust: only 50 anti-Zionists showed up along with five courageous supporters of Israel, who spoiled the party with hard, challenging questions.

The second event, at The Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Center brought only 12 hard core haters. The third event, at the UN, was also a bit of a flop. The organizers' video didn't work and there were only a dozen or so attendees.

But the fourth and largest event, the only one on a campus (NYU), was more interesting, and shows what Israel's supporters can accomplish when they're organized. The IAW session featured the 2004 film "Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."

With this in mind David Project staffers held two training sessions before the event for some 50 people, preparing students - with facts and logic - for the film they would see and the arguments they would hear from the panelists.

Organized and prepared, Israel supporters made up about 40 percent of the audience. All through, they respectfully expressed how one-sided the presentation was emphasizing how Israel has made repeated concessions for peace. At one point, our five-foot-one-inch campus coordinator stood up in front of 200 people and said, "To get to a peaceful solution, something I think we all want, we must look at both sides of the story fairly. Tonight, you are giving us a biased, one-sided depiction of the conflict."

Fully half the room cheered her and the pro-Israel side kept at it. Confronted with compelling, articulate and fact-based questions, the panelists announced that they needed to alter their program: The Question and Answer session would not be answering any questions that evening. No "A" in tonight's Q&A!

What are the lessons? First, Israel Apartheid Week was a failure, with attendance way down from previous years, zero press coverage, and no minds changed. Second, pushing back is critical. The pro-Palestinian forces have had college campuses to themselves for so long that they are often literally in shock when Israel supporters turn out with pointed and rational questions.

Finally, there is the question of morale. Pro-Israel students have been harassed and intimidated on many campuses. Anti-Israelism dominates the current discourse. It's the default position of much of the professoriate. Many Jews fall silent, and Jewish silence validates false anti-Israel claims. So, it's a significant emotional event to see that you can win when you fight back.