of The Chronicle staff
It was not easy to be a pro-Israel student on many college and university campuses last school year.
At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, for example, at one point there was “almost a riot” when things became heated between pro-Palestinian and Jewish students, said sophomore Shanna Shapiro.
From San Francisco State University, where Jewish students were nearly physically assaulted by pro-Palestinian protesters, to Harvard University, where there was a drive for divestiture from Israel, Jewish students have found themselves on the defensive.
But things may be different this coming semester, thanks to the Israel Advocacy Training Institute. This program sent more than 400 students from 111 campuses across the United States and Canada to Jerusalem for a five-day educational program from May 26 to 31.
“It’s a wonderful program,” said Edda Post, executive director of the Hillel Foundation-Milwaukee. “It’s very difficult here in the diaspora with the media bias … it’s hard for students to understand what is going on. So it was a wonderful thing for them to be able to go to Israel and do their own investigating and learn the facts.”
Sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and private philanthropists, the program brought together several Jewish organizations to work cooperatively to educate the students. Seminars were run by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Zionist Organization of America’s campus group and Hadassah’s Hamagshimim.
Students nationwide each paid $250 for the mission, $180 of which went to their local Israel Emergency Campaign, coordinated in Milwaukee by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
Feedback from students who attended the program was positive.
“I definitely learned a lot,” said Elizabeth Lerner, a sophomore and one of three UWM students, all of whom are from Wisconsin, to attend. “The program was intense.”
Another participating UWM student, sophomore Amy Turim, said she wanted to participate because “when I was at the Yom HaShoah event last year [at UWM when pro-Palestinian students held a demonstration against Israel], I was at a total loss as to how we could counter them.”
Turim, like Lerner, stayed in Israel for an optional two-week addition to the program at the Media and Advocacy Training Institute of Tel Aviv University’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies.
“The extension was a nice time to form bonds and allies with other students,” Turim said.
Shapiro, who did not stay for the additional two weeks, said the basic version of the program was “really good. They had a lot of briefings for us. The program was made to counteract anti-Semitism and anti-Israel stuff, but it was also [designed] how to promote Israel instead of reacting” to anti-Israel activities.
Michal Ziv-El, who was born in Israel but resides in Milwaukee when not studying at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the program “was definitely informative.” She was one of about 10 UW-Madison students to participate, and she also stayed for the two-week extension.
Ziv-El, who still has family in Israel, said she “knew a lot” about Israel and the conflict. “But this [program] showed me that some of my information was mixed-up in some areas. They clarified it for me.”
All of the students interviewed said they felt safe in Israel despite three suicide bombings that occurred during the extended program. The violence against Israel actually strengthened the resolve of some of the students.
“Being in Israel at a time like this is hard, but at the same time it felt good to be there,” said Lerner. “It felt good to be with Israelis as they are dealing with things like this.”
Most important, the students said they felt prepared to take on the challenges they will most likely face on campus this fall, which is a good thing since “everybody [accepted] into the program [was] obligated to lead Israel programming on campus” for the upcoming year, according to Post.
Greg Steinberger, executive director for UW Hillel-Madison, said the students who attended the program from his campus are really “geared up for a very active semester. They are already planning an Israel fair for the beginning of the semester and [in conjunction with Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, Moshe Ram] an Israel Advocacy Leadership Conference that will be run here at the end of October.”
The students now “have a lot more tools to work with and a tremendous amount of resources [to help them],” Steinberger added. “They also have contacts with many students from around the country with whom they can remain in touch. I think it will have some very positive dividends for us.”
“I’m really excited about this year,” said Turim. “I think we have a good handle on the right way to do things.
“We learned so much. We learned what works and what doesn’t work. We learned specific arguments to take to the Palestinians, but we also learned how to promote Israel’s image.”
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