This story may sound familiar: On a free summer trip to Israel, a group of college students visited the Western Wall, drank in Tel Aviv, met with Israeli soldiers and had an encounter with a group of Bedouin in the Negev. But this story has a twist: This trip was not funded or organized by Birthright—this trip was provided by J Street U, the college arm of J Street, a lobby that describes itself as, “The political home of pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans.”
J Street U’s first summer Israel trip ran from June 13-23, taking its 14 participants to many of the standard stops for a Birthright trip, but also gave participants a look at a side of Israel that Birthright trips are barred from seeing. “There were a number of professors and human rights advocates who would not appear on a Birthright itinerary, but more obviously, we spent two days in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” J Street U Director Daniel May said. Visits to the West Bank are prohibited on Birthright trips.
The trip also took participants into meetings with members of the Knesset from the center Kadima party and left-wing Meretz party. They also spent time meeting Jewish Israelis in Sderot who have lived under the threat of rocket fire from Gaza.
Simone Zimmerman, a junior Middle Eastern Studies major at the University of California, Berkeley, said, “This trip showed us firsthand how diverse and complex everything is and gave us examples of Israelis who are saying no to the status quo in Israeli society.”
While this was Zimmerman’s eighth trip to Israel, there were some on the trip who had never been to Israel before. According to May, about half of the trip was made up of first-timers. One of them was Eli Gold, who just graduated from Carleton College, where he majored in Latin American Studies. “I actually applied for a Birthright trip alongside this trip. Had I not been accepted onto the J Street U trip, I would have gone on a Birthright trip during the same time period. However, given the choice I had, it was a no-brainer,” Gold, who was interviewed over email, said.
“I know some people question that, bringing first-timers on a trip like this. But there is no question in my mind that it was positive to bring people with no experience in Israel before to see all sides of Israel, from the great accomplishments to the huge struggles,” Zimmerman said.
May said that showing first-time visitors to Israel multiple side of the conflict engages them more than a one-sided trip. “The dominant belief is that if students see these things, they’ll be turned off from Israel. That’s understandable, but it’s mistaken. We found that showing these students all sides of Israel invited them to get involved and invested in the project of Jewish democracy,” he said.
While Gold said that he liked this introduction to Israel, he also said that the complexity of what he saw was troubling. “If something seems crystal clear, completely morally obvious, or true beyond a shadow of doubt, then you probably don’t have all of the information. I definitely came away feeling confused and conflicted about many issues. I take this as a sign that the trip gave me an education, not an indoctrination.”
One element of Israel life Gold received an education in was the daily grind of the country’s political discourse. Zimmerman described the group’s meeting with some young members of Kadima and Meretz as “a balagan”—a mess. “The party members seemed more interested in petty bickering with one another than addressing the questions we asked of them,” Gold said.
Israeli opinion of J Street has been widely characterized in American as extremely negative. If that’s true, it didn’t show itself on the J Street U trip. “I do think some politicians have accused J Street of being anti-Israel,” Gold said, adding, “I don’t think that anyone we met expected this of us and certainly no one felt that way after meeting with us.”
In fact, Gold said, some Israelis had a highly positive assessment of J Street. An Israeli tour guide approached the group on the first day of the trip and said he had been told that they were with J Street. “We all froze and got nervous, not knowing where he was going or if he was going to rail on us,” Gold said. “He then said that he was a big fan of J Street, loved what we supported and encouraged us to keep up our good work.”
As New Voices reported in February, when J Street U announced that it was going to offer a Birthright trip this summer, Birthright announced that it had no knowledge of this and that J Street U was not an approved Birthright trip provider. Though J Street U’s announcement of this trip followed news of the cancellation of the J Street U Birthright trip, May stressed that this trip was not a direct reaction to it. “Before [the cancellation], it wasn’t exactly this trip. Our internal conversations shifted and this trip was put together,” he said. Originally, May said, there were discussions within J Street U about offering both a Birthright trip and an additional trip for more seasoned visitors. “It’s not fair to compare this trip to Birthright,” he said.
“This is a rich story and that richness is not preserved by only showing the glossy version. If students are treated with seriousness, they will respond in kind,” May said, summarizing the purpose of the trip. “That means bringing them to Hebron and Sderot and showing them the nightlife of Tel Aviv and the deep challenges that Israel faces.”
David A.M. Wilensky is the editor of New Voices and the director of the Jewish Student Press Service.
