Propaganda for Israel vs. Educating for Israel
When I attend a large Jewish conference, I come into the experience with a healthy dose of cynicism and a quick trigger to critique. As a committed Zionist and Social Justice activist, not to mention a philosophy major, I consider myself to be blessed with the ability to see past the explicit messages that these organizations put forward on the surface and to the implicit messages underneath. So it was that I attended the General Assembly (GA) of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) 2011, in Denver Colo., as a part of the Do The Write Thing student journalism conference. My main question was: As JFNA focuses more on Israel experiences, are they developing a truly Zionist initiative? Or is it merely window dressing, a way to capitalize on the trend of Israel experiences?