30 February 21 • 2019
jn
continued from page 28
for college students by college students
Zaback at the
Western Wall
during his Hasbara
training program
ership skills, network with their peers,
meet Israelis and Palestinians from all
sides of the political spectrum, and
travel to strategic locations throughout
the Jewish state. Soon after applying,
I was interviewed and accepted. I
attended one of this past winter’
s trips
before beginning a two-semester fel-
lowship as a Hasbara Fellow.
In addition to becoming a Hasbara
Fellow, I’
ve benefited in several other
ways from my involvement with the
Jewish community. My presence in
the JSU, coupled with taking a course
on modern Jewish thought, assisted
me in redefining my Jewish identity
and relationship with Israel. I contin-
ued these internal transformations
as a participant in the Israel Training
Program, discovering new ways to
combat anti-Semitism and advocate
for Israel.
Just as 18-year-olds in Israel have
the responsibility to fight the threat
of anti-Semitism physically, it is my
responsibility to fight this battle on
my college campus. For that reason,
I was excited to learn how to open
dialogues with those who are anti-Is-
rael or anti-Semitic or who are unsure
about their feelings toward Israel. Now
that I’
m back at school, I’
m looking
forward to employing the tools I’
ve
learned to educate my peers on the
subject — to go beyond “preaching to
the choir.
”
Since returning from Israel, I feel
empowered with the necessary tools to
succeed in promoting Israel on cam-
pus. The experiences I had far exceed-
ed my expectations, from standing
next to the Gaza border to traveling
through “
Area A
” in the West Bank.
A concern I had before attend-
ing the program was only receiving
pro-Israel information and not having
the opportunity to listen to the Arab-
Israeli or Palestinian point of view.
Within the first 48 hours of being in
Israel, however, this worry complete-
ly dissipated as I had an enormous
amount of exposure to different per-
spectives. These experiences allowed
me to look inward and decide how
I personally felt about current issues
and controversial topics. This proved
to be the most beneficial aspect of the
trip; understanding various arguments
for and against Israel has significantly
improved the quality of my pro-Israel
advocacy.
Rather than focusing on contro-
versies about the state of Israel, the
aspects I am choosing for my advo-
cacy campaigns are positive ones. My
first initiative is with Save a Child’
s
Heart, a humanitarian organization
that helps Israeli volunteers provide
free life-saving heart surgeries for
children in developing countries who
don’
t have access to the healthcare
they need. The organization has
helped children around the world
in places such as Rwanda and Gaza,
saving more than 5,000 lives to date.
By focusing on positive aspects about
Israel and Israelis, I can educate others
while diffusing the anti-Israel stigma
on campus. @
Kyle Zaback of Farmington Hills is a junior at
Michigan State University.
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Possible is everything.
Impact.
When
you
become
a
Laker
,
you
l
ook
outward,
f
ocusi
ng
on
others
i
nstead
of
yoursel
f
.
Wi
th
prof
essors’
cari
ng
gui
dance,
you
l
earn
how
to
make
a
meani
ngful
,
l
asti
ng
di
fference.
Then,
as
you
go
f
orward
i
nto
the
worl
d,
you’
re
ready
to
tackl
e
chal
l
enges
and
make
meani
ngful
contri
buti
ons.
Li
ke
Mi
chi
gan
i
tsel
f
,
your
posi
ti
ve
i
mpact
wi
l
l
be
f
ar
reachi
ng.
That’
s
the
Laker
Effect.
gvsu.edu