In early July, I stood on a hilltop in Kibbutz Misgav Am, near Metulla in northern Israel, and peered into a village in South Lebanon.
A guide told my group, “You see that yellow flag down there at the entrance of the village? That’s a Hezbollah flag flying over the village to tell everyone that they’re in charge. There are no Lebanese guards or police; everything is run by Hezbollah. It’s outlaw.”
At that point I remembered that the spot where we were standing was closer to Beirut than to Haifa, and closer to Damascus than to Tel Aviv.
A United Nations helicopter flew above us for one of its two daily flights around southern Lebanon, according to our guide, to ensure that the border was quiet. Somehow they missed the Hezbollah terrorists gathering to attack Israel.
The following week, on July 12, Hezbollah killed eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two — Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Thus, they set off what has become a defensive war for Israel against Hezbollah.
When this war erupted, I was more than four weeks into the Media Fellowship program sponsored by The Israel Project (TIP), which is an international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace.
As a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a double major in political science and Hebrew studies, I was eager to spend my summer in Jerusalem.
The program began with an intensive four-day strategic communications training seminar. Once I arrived in Israel and particularly after the war began, most of my time at work was divided in two parts: participating in meetings with experts on different topics related to the “conflict” and conducting original research on the situation that was then provided to the foreign press.
At times working late into the night, I was involved in putting together information packets about what the cities and citizens were facing for the international community.
As the story became bigger, more and more correspondents flew into Israel. Most of them had no clue about Haifa, not to mention Nahariya, Safed, Acre, Tiberias or Kiryat Shmona. Those reporters looked to us to get some basic information.
During my summer in Israel, I never questioned my commitment to stay and work. I believe that the work that I did at The Israel Project was both appreciated by the Israeli government and news outlets from around the world, as well as our main office in Washington, D.C.
After returning from Kibbutz Misgav Am, I felt compelled to inform everyone about the growing danger on the Israel-Lebanon border. Unfortunately, I was already caught up in the front lines of the war since I chose to spend the summer in Israel.
But fortunately for me, this proved to be the best time to advocate for Israel to the world’s media. Working in Israel now, as she battles for survival, has allowed me to focus my knowledge and feelings and influence world opinion, sometimes one person at a time.
I have grown even more deeply committed to keeping Israel safe and secure, and my feelings resonated in all the information packets I assembled for the foreign press.
During the fellowship, I created a blog, http://JofGold.blogspot.com, which helped me further explore the situation by posting my feelings along with photos of the places I visited. I am empowered by the knowledge that personal voices can often have more impact on an average person than the talking heads on television and radio.
Even in a time when Israel’s image is taking a hit in the eyes of the world, I feel like I did my part in showing the world, through my work with the foreign press, that all Israel wants is to live with peace and security.
A UWM graduate and former Milwaukee Jewish Federation intern, Vitali Gueron is pursuing his passion for Israel advocacy on his way to a career in the Jewish community.
Loading ...