Another reason why I’m happy the MLA resolution on boycotting Israeli academics was defeated is that I haven’t seen anything even remotely as effective as our programs where we take groups of students to Israel and let them see things for themselves. And the only way to make these exchanges happen is to get Israeli universities to participate. The state won’t pay, obviously, so we have to organize it as an exchange to keep the cost acceptable to our university. I’ve seen students after these trips, and it’s definitely a transformative experience for them. You’ve seen nothing until you’ve witnessed a student from East St Louis come back from one of such exchanges.
23 responses to “Exchange Trips to Israel”
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“..definitely a transformative experience for them”
If it is transformative in the sense that they begin to sympathize with Palestinian suffering, it might cause them trouble. If they voice their opinion, that is.
This is disgusting. A website whose mission statement is to tweak google searches for people’s names to ‘ensure that today’s radicals are not tomorrow’s employees.’
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.658325
https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/canary-mission/
A new website is publicizing the identities of pro-Palestinian student activists to prevent them from getting jobs after they graduate from college.
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Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, defended the tactic as a way of forcing people to understand the seriousness of their political stands.“Collecting information on students has particular value because it signals them that attacking Israel is serious business, not some inconsequential game, and that their actions can damage both Israel and their future careers.”
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“If it is transformative in the sense that they begin to sympathize with Palestinian suffering”
Yes, that’s what I mean. What other reaction could they have?
“A new website is publicizing the identities of pro-Palestinian student activists to prevent them from getting jobs after they graduate from college.”
Very disgusting. They haven’t started measuring people’s noses yet but they are one step away. This is beyond sad. But I’m not surprised, which is why I’d never publish or share the names of the students who talked to me about these trips.
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\ “If it is transformative in the sense that they begin to sympathize with Palestinian suffering”
Yes, that’s what I mean. What other reaction could they have?From what I heard, those exchange trips sound as pro-Palestinian version of Taglit-Birthright Israel trips. (The latter are “free, first time, peer group trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26.” )
Meaning, Clarissa’s students get fed with anti-Israeli propaganda from morning till night, while getting the impression of widening their horizons and gaining true understanding of the region.
They come ignorant, and return with the illusion of Knowing The Truth and Who The Guilty Party Is (the Jews, of course).
Am I mistaken, Clarissa? I understand you are glad for your students getting the chance to travel. However, if I understood correctly what happens during those trips, I think you may understand why I am less enthusiastic about formerly indifferent people joining “Israeli Jews are the only responsible party” camp.
\ “A new website is publicizing the identities of pro-Palestinian student activists to prevent them from getting jobs after they graduate from college.”
I am against that. It hurts Israel, instead of helping us.
Ironically, “Canary Mission volunteers and staff” may end up hurting their own chances of normal employment.
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“Meaning, Clarissa’s students get fed with anti-Israeli propaganda from morning till night, while getting the impression of widening their horizons and gaining true understanding of the region.
They come ignorant, and return with the illusion of Knowing The Truth and Who The Guilty Party Is (the Jews, of course).”- Christ Lord. You have a vivid imagination. 🙂 We are a public university and we are not allowed to express any political opinions to our students. The professors who travel with the students don’t give any propaganda, either in the classroom or during Study Abroad. When I was giving my lecture on Ukraine, for instance, the moment students started drawing parallels between Hitler and Putin, I shut that down in a second. Anybody makes an anti- or pro-Trump statement in the classroom, that gets shut down immediately.
“Israeli Jews are the only responsible party”
- Do you really not see any difference between “sympathize with Palestinian suffering” and “Israeli Jews are the only responsible party”? What’s so wrong with people sympathizing with other people? I feel pain for the Russian soldiers who die in Ukraine, even though they are completely in the wrong for coming there in the first place. Compassion is a normal human feeling and it doesn’t have to be politically tinged.
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“Christ Lord. You have a vivid imagination.”
Haha. I don’t know of any person who reads so much and yet is so ill-informed about the world.
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It really annoys me when people buy into the lie that public college professors spread propaganda. We have so much work, the funding is disappearing, the state governments are getting increasingly insane. The last thing we have interest in is spreading propaganda. Our students are not dumb, they can draw their own conclusions.
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Mass protest in Gaza against Hamas amid electricity crisis
Severe electrical shortages in Gaza energizes thousands to take to the northern streets of strip, sparking arrests and prompting Hamas to respond with live rounds fired into the air; Residents currently receive just 3-4 hours of electricity per day against a background of a political feud between the terror organization and the regime in Ramallah; Israel responsible for the largest power supply.http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4906989,00.html
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Perhaps some of the visiting academics will be able to speak with Palestinian journalists about their inability to report on high levels of corruption within the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. The journalists would need to be promised anonymity and would need to believe that the promise would be kept.
Corruption has long been rampant in both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Here’s a link to an article from al-Monitor, a publication generally unfavorable to Israel and favorable to the “peace process” and a Palestinian state. The article begins,
Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are closely following the unfolding case of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly receiving favors or gifts. Their interest is not prompted only by glee at the possible downfall of the Israeli leader they despise, but also by appreciation and envy of Israeli democracy and press freedom that enable the questioning of the prime minister under caution and the investigative reporting against him by the media.
No journalists in Gaza — no matter how senior — would even think of criticizing the leaders of Hamas, and in the Palestinian Authority (PA), criticism of any kind against President Mahmoud Abbas, or exposure of corruption in the PA, could result in the journalist’s arrest.
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“inability to report on high levels of corruption within the Palestinian Authority and Hamas”
IIRC wasn’t it the non-stop corruption that sabotaged the Palestinians when they had the best chance for establishing a real country (late 90’s early 00’s)?
I noticed that after that failure they very carefully avoided every having that much responsibility again, retreating into infantile rebellion for the sake of rebellion.
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\ I noticed that after that failure they very carefully avoided every having that much responsibility again, retreating into infantile rebellion for the sake of rebellion.
Latest news show how much Abbas is committed to peace:
“Speaking to French newspaper ‘Le Figaro,’ Palestinian President Abbas threatens that PA may stop recognizing State of Israel should US move embassy to Jerusalem.”
If there was an attempt at serious negotiations, Abbas would easily find 101 reasons to go back, including back to not recognizing Israel.
Btw, the PLO recognized the State of Israel as a part of the Oslo process. There was this iconic photo of the Arafat-Rabin handshake too (September 13, 1993: Clinton, Rabin, Arafat Sign Oslo Accords):
That sounds very funny to me:
It sounds far-fetched to hold a Mideast peace conference without Israelis, Palestinians or the incoming US government, but the French organizers say that’s the whole point. They want Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President-elect Donald Trump to see that most of the world wants a two-state solution and is fed up with decades of conflict.
With chances for a Mideast peace deal lower than in years—perhaps a generation—French President François Hollande figures there’s nothing to lose.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4907260,00.html
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\ the only way to make these exchanges happen is to get Israeli universities to participate.
If I got a wrong impression, could you write a bit more about the exchange trips?
Do they visit Israel too, or mainly / only West Bank?
When you confirmed that ““it is transformative in the sense that they begin to sympathize with Palestinian suffering,” it sounded as if they only learn about Palestinians and even that only from the angle of “poor Palestinians are innocently suffering.”
If I am wrong, I am truly very curious to know what really happens. Have your students ever said one word to you about Israel and Israeli Jews after their return from the exchange trip? What were their impressions?
Do Israeli universities pay money to teach your students only about Palestinians? Interesting spending of governmental funds, if so.
\ Do you really not see any difference between “sympathize with Palestinian suffering” and “Israeli Jews are the only responsible party”? What’s so wrong with people sympathizing with other people?
It sounded as if the sympathy went only to Palestinians, not to Jews too. Not even a little.
If one is capable of sympathizing only with one side of the conflict, it usually means that the person supports that side and sees the other side as responsible / worse / morally inferior.
\ The professors who travel with the students don’t give any propaganda, either in the classroom or during Study Abroad.
I thought the professor organizing those trips was a passionate advocate for Palestinians.
In general, I think you will agree that a teacher teaches mainly not via Official Propaganda, but through numerous small, subtle and partly unconscious choices on how to present a certain reality. For instance, if 90+ % of places the students visit and the local people they interact with are Palestinians, it is unsurprising the students identify with Palestinians more. Do they see Jews just as much? If not, why should I pay for such trips from my taxes, again?
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How strange then that in spite of all our small and unconscious choices our students still went and voted for Trump. You very much exaggerate one’s capacity to influence people.
As to who pays for these trips, let’s not forget how much money the American taxpayers send to Israel all the time.
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Regarding governmental funds bit, I am very proud to say that
“All of Israel’s nine public universities, and some of its colleges, are subsidized by the government, and students pay only a small part of the actual cost of tuition. Further financial assistance is provided by student loans, grants, and scholarships approved by the Ministry of Education.”
For instance, the annual tuition for BA in Liberal Arts at Tel Aviv university is 11,500 shekels, which is ~ 3016 US dollars.
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It’s especially cute that it’s us paying for it while our own public colleges are underfunded.
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\ It’s especially cute that it’s us paying for it while our own public colleges are underfunded.
America is paying for Israel buying weapons from American industries (Bring Jobs Back to the US!) and for Israel serving American interests in the region, which contributes to American power and wealth (Make America Great Again!). 🙂
If USA “public colleges are underfunded,” it is not Israeli fault, but rather reflects the priorities of American politicians and public.
Also, partly it’s my patriotism talking, but still – I do not believe that w/o American aid, Israel would turn into a third world hellhole with unaccessible higher ed, horrible health care and Russian life expectancy.
In fact, American aid is a coin with two sides:
Israel’s Defense Industry Fears Fallout From Increased U.S. Aid
Washington conditioning more assistance on eliminating allocations for Israeli firms.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-1.737927I am afraid that Israel will be hurt, long-term. Especially considering America becoming more isolationist, less interested in the region and less Israeli friendly.
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“If USA “public colleges are underfunded,” it is not Israeli fault, but rather reflects the priorities of American politicians and public.”
- We are having some massive degree of misunderstanding these days. When did I say it’s Israel’s fault? How come my endless posts on this subject have failed to transmit the idea that this “reflects the priorities of American politicians and public”?
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“When did I say it’s Israel’s fault?”
Don’t mind her. She just loves to fight against the demons in her own mind.
Remember when she was asking for advice from you about traveling in the US and her first question was if she would be ‘recognized’ as a Jew and whether this would create problems for her?
Jesus, that was something.
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\ Remember when she was asking for advice from you about traveling in the US and her first question was if she would be ‘recognized’ as a Jew and whether this would create problems for her?
Jesus, that was something.In Europe, not in US. And I did travel with my mother and did experience two situations, in which we hid being Israeli Jews and/or left fast.
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I thought it was the US. My mistake.
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My father and sister – both looking intensely Jewish – have traveled to Europe a lot more than I have. My father starting back in the early 1990s and my sister all through today. It never even momentarily occurred to them to worry about how they look and hiding their Jewishness.
They were never told to expect trouble, so they don’t expect it, that’s the difference.
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But leaving all that aside and going back to students, what I know is that students saw the poverty of Palestinian villages and were very impacted. Our students have seen and known poverty back home, so they identify, that’s not unexpected. Students also sat at a checkpoint and saw what happened and talked to students who told them that every day they wonder of they will make it to class because they are detained at the security checkpoints.
The trips are trips to Israel, not Palestine. Palestinian experiences are actually tangential to the purpose of these trips. But these things have an impact, they absolutely do.
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\ When did I say it’s Israel’s fault?
You didn’t. I just wanted to stress it again for other readers of your blog.
\ We are having some massive degree of misunderstanding these days.
If you are talking about us and this discussion, it’s partly because you haven’t explained what those trips include, etc.
I would love to learn more. Of course, without mentioning any names.
“we have to organize it as an exchange to keep the cost acceptable to our university”
So Israeli students come home excited about America, while American students return after undergoing the transformation of caring for Palestinians and that’s the only thing they learn? 😦
Would love to hear what they think about us after returning, including negative things.
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Just for change, two good news from Israel:
Israelis donate winter gear to Syrian refugees en masse
Unable to sit by the sidelines and watch as waves of Syrian refugees struggle to survive the winter, Israeli youth movements carry out second large scale winter clothes drive.
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A similar operation occured in 2014, seeing 30 tons of winter clothes being donated to Syrian refugees. It took 1,500 boxes to carry all of the clothing, and eight 18 wheelers to transport it all.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4907188,00.html
Tel Aviv recommends portraying non-heteronormative families in preschool Shabbat services
The city advises its preschools to update their welcoming-Shabbat services on Fridays to reflect the variety of families that live in the metropolis, be they LGBT, single-parent, etc.; municipal psychologists explain that instructing young children coexistence from a young age is crucial to their development.
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This recommendation was initiated to more accurately reflect a city containing thousands of families with LGBT families. For this purpose, Tel Aviv assigned two dedicated psychologists to guide teachers and parents in instructing and discussing the modern family in all its incarnations.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4907278,00.html
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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