A lump comes to my throat as the person I’m facing throws out a horrible accusation against Israel, calling her racist, apartheid and other ugly names.
My voice sounds weird coming out of my mouth as I struggle for words that, after a moment, flow naturally. “Israel is a beautiful, flowering, multicultural democracy,” I hear myself saying. “As a Torontonian, I value diversity, equity, multiculturalism and tolerance. And that’s what I see in Israel – a land that values people of all origins, languages, religions, and nationalities.”
My opponent smiles. “Perfect answer,” he proclaims. I breathe a sigh of relief as I’m applauded by a roomful of Zionists. In the old city of Jerusalem, my “opponent” is as much of a Zionist as I am. He is only helping – preparing me for “the onslaught” I’ll face upon my return home.
Back at York University, it’s a rare day in which I do not get a harsh reminder of the ideological war declared on the land I love. It’s scary to be a Zionist on campus today. I’ve faced dozens of people who want to attack my ideas and my values. By now, I’ve gone through so much training on how to answer the criticisms that I could do Israeli PR – or hasbara – in my sleep. The issues change over time. Sometimes it’s the disputed territories and disengagement, other times checkpoints, and still others the security fence. I never know what to expect. But I always know to expect something.
That is why I – and 170 other students like me – decided that we needed to come on the Hasbara Fellowships (www.israelactivism.com). We needed to talk to leading political experts from across the spectrum of Israeli politics. We needed to meet real Israelis and understand the real issues facing the people of the country. We needed to learn how to win the arguments that present themselves to us day after day.
So that’s what I’m doing, here in Israel over my winter break. My days are spent touring strategic and historical sites and meeting interesting people. The Hasbara Fellowships helped me clarify my positions and has also challenged the basic premises upon which I contemplate the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In Toronto, I can seldom sit with 100 of my peers and brainstorm ways to shed light on areas of Israel’s beauty that are not traditionally seen. There are few settings for North American pro-Israel students to share their ideas and their experiences, like the Hasbara Fellowship provided for me.
If next semester I can answer those questions foisted upon me with just a little more confidence, and if next semester I can plan something newer and more innovative than our campus has seen, and if next semester I feel supported by a larger, stronger network of Israel advocates who want to help me enrich Zionist pride on campus, it will be because of Hasbara Fellowships.
