By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Subsidized trips to Israel for non-Jewish student leaders have helped improve understanding of the situation in the Middle East as well as the campus climate at San Diego State University, Hillel representatives reported at a parlor meeting Thursday night in the home of Jeremy and Joan Berg. The meeting was chaired by their son Geoffrey Berg, a longtime Hillel board member.
The idea for the trips was originated by Gal Winrebe, an Israeli entrepreneur and young activist in the Kulanu (All of US) party, who is completing a two-year assignment at the campus as the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) Fellow interacting with students and combating the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.
Winrebe introduced students Chris Mavry and Delaney Kahlert who were among 24 student leaders who participated in a recent 10-day Fact Finders Mission to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Kahlert said that while she grew up with many Jewish friends, that prior to the trip she had a distorted vision both of Israel — “A desert war zone’ — and of Jerusalem –“a tense divided city.” On the Fact Finders Mission, however, she witnessed Jews and Muslims peacefully co-existing, and came to the realization that “Israel is more than a conflict.” She also visited the new Palestinian town of Rawabi and was impressed to find that it had some very nice homes, an amphitheater for outdoor concerts, and even a zipline course.
In Jerusalem, she said, she spoke to Jewish and Arab parents whose children were killed in the conflict, and learned that they were united in wanting peace between their peoples and the conflict to end. She also met with the Minister of Economics of the Palestinian Authority and with a passionate Member of Knesset who was not shy about expressing his opinions.
She said she concluded that whereas the mass media in the United States may disseminate certain facts and statistics, “even more important are the human stories.”
Mavry, who has been active in various business and African-American groups on the SDSU campus, related that he “felt comfortable walking on the streets” in Israel. Among memorable people he met were a Palestinian husband and an Israeli wife who “fell madly in love with each other.” Israel, he added, “is so much more than a conflict between two parties — it is people, who have daily interactions.”
Following their participation in the mission, Kahlert and Mavry both related their experiences to other students in their respective circles. Mavry said he recalled “listening to students talk out of ignorance” about the Middle East, adding that “I could say ‘I know how you feel, but this is not how it is.'”
Mavry said one friend of his had been running for student office on a slate that was anti-Semitic. After he and she talked, he said, “she changed her position on BDS.” He said he told her there is a big difference between being pro-Palestinian, pro-peace and being anti-Israel, which is how he described the BDS movement is. He said he has also taken issue with the leader of Black Lives Matter who has sided with the BDS movement.
As more knowledge about the real Israel permeated the campus, commented Winrebe, a positive change in attitude became noticeable. For example, he said, a pro-Israel slate was assembled for student elections, and recently student government leaders adopted a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, the definition of which includes the activities of the BDS movement.
Another result of the Fact Finders Mission is that non-Jewish student leaders have become comfortable socializing at SDSU’s Melvin Garb Hillel Center, according to Jackie Tolley, the longstanding Hillel executive at the campus.
Michael Rabkin, executive director of Hillel of San Diego — which oversees the Jewish organization’s activities at Cal State San Marcos, SDSU, UC San Diego, and USD (a private Catholic-run university) — said student paid only $200 to go on the Fact Finders Mission, with the balance subsidized by Hillel. “It was a huge gamble to do this trip– a lot of money–but it is so worth it!” Rabkin said.
He estimated that on the four campuses there are approximately 4,500 Jewish students, with Hillel being able to reach only half of them through its traditional programs. However, by interacting with non-Jewish student leaders, many of whom are peers of unaffiliated Jewish students, outreach possibilities and successes are increasing, he said.
*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com