Hillel pitched tents to encourage open debate, but most were already on the same side
Brandeis University (Boston)—
In the midst of the U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood, which has sparked debate everywhere, college students across the country gathered on Sep. 21 and 22 as part of Hillel’s Talk Israel initiative to engage in dialogue about the Middle East.
With large tents set up in the center of 20 universities, equipped with large blue banners reading “Talk Israel,” Israeli cuisine and videos featuring talks from several prominent pro-Israel figures, the goal of the event was to provide a forum for students to ask questions and discuss Israel “at a time when civility is in rare supply in the public sphere,” according to a Hillel International press release. Students at universities spanning the map from the University of Florida to McGill University in Montreal stopped by between classes to grab a falafel and talk Israel.
“Hillel nationally started having exchanges about creating an environment on campus where students could ask questions about Israel and her neighbors in the Middle East without it being a presentation or a polemic,” Executive Director of Hillel at Brandeis University Larry Sternberg said.
Talk Israel was developed by Hillel’s Center for Israel Engagement to create an environment “where those questions would be greeted, not always with perfect answers, but answers, responses, and with a kind of honesty and candor,” Sternberg said.
The open tents were aimed at creating a welcoming environment for students both with and without a strong awareness of Israel and the political issues surrounding the country as well as those with diverse opinions.
“We’re trying to appeal to the Muslim community or the pro-Palestinian community so they can actually come and participate in a dialogue,” said Noam Aricha, a Jewish Agency-sponsored Israel fellow at George Washington University’s Hillel who helped organize the event. We really want to bring a change to the way that the conflict is addressed and the way students communicate,” he said. Event organizers at GWU asked members of Students for Justice in Palestine to come and voice their opinion at the event to ensure the diversity they were hoping for in the tent dialogue.
“We want to try to bring students, bring our community, together to talk. And we understand that we’ve got a lot of ideas, a lot of positions within this tent, but that’s fine. The goal is to hear, the goal is to connect and understand where we’re coming and bring a little bit of complexity, a little bit of nuance to our conversation in a way that creates bridges,” said Rabbi Yonni Kaiser, Executive Director of GWU Hillel.
Many tents however, were filled largely with pro-Israel material, including literature from organizations such as the World Zionist Organization and the David Project, a non-profit organization “dedicated to educating and inspiring strong voices for Israel,” according to its website. While the material was meant to serve as a resource for information and help answer questions, feedback was mixed from those who hoped for a more neutral environment.
In addition to any material inside the tent at GWU, a pro-Israel petition in opposition to the unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood was posted at the entrance of the event for students to sign.
“There was a lot of propaganda present and that kind of sets up an environment that’s not conducive to dialogue,” said Banu Gumusoglu, president of Students for Justice in Palestine at GWU. “I wouldn’t have put anything in the back and would have let the event speak for itself,” Gumusgolu said.
Unlike GWU, many university Hillels chose not to publicize the event or reach out to other student groups. The tents were successful in calling the attention of Israel activists. That left the crowds inside them mostly homogeneous, composed of students with strong pre-existing connections to Israel.
“I was hoping to see non-Jews and people not involved in Israel,” said Viktoria Bedo, co-president of J Street U at Brandeis University, who felt that most people she met in the tent had previous knowledge about Israel as well as some type of connection to the country.
Discussions within the tents varied from Israeli culture to checkpoints and the occupation. And while the political debated became heated at times, the overall atmosphere inside the tents was civil. Many engaged in casual conversations where politics were less prominent and a mutual love for Israel was the main topic.
“It was kind of frustrating to talk about Israel in a way that a lot of students either [have] never been to Israel and only know what they know from the news or friends, or have been to Israel and have only seen one side,” said Eden Sadove, a sophomore at GWU from Israel who was disappointed by the lack of diversity at the event.
Bedo, from Brandeis’ J Street U chapter, found just one other student at the event with whom she was able to engage in the type of political conversation she searched for in the tent. One liberal, the other more conservative, the two discussed their differing views of a two-state solution and pulling out of Gaza. Bedo spent the rest of the event swapping Israel stories and experiences with likeminded students who shared her passion for Israel and was disappointed that the turnout at the event was not as high or as diverse as she had hoped.
The tent at Brandeis also hosted a session with Ilan Troen, director of the school’s Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and Uri Baler, a visiting professor from Hebrew University. In a small, intimate circle, students were able to discuss the U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood as well as a number of other issues with the experts on Israel studies without the tension that often surrounds Israel talks.
Dafna Fine is a junior at Brandeis studying economics and journalism. She served on the Brandeis Orthodox Organization Board during her freshman year and now works as Features Editor for the Justice. She is a New Voices Magazine National Correspondent. This is her first piece for New Voices.
Zach C. Cohen also contributed reporting.
CORRECTION: This article initially incorrectly identified Noam Aricha as a George Washington University student. He is a Jewish Agency-sponsored Israel fellow at GWU’s Hillel.
