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Hasbara Fellowships

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 67.193.131.167 (talk) at 20:32, 29 November 2008 (rm incorrect info; jerusalem fellowships is a different program entirely, it's a week longer, and is more focused on Jewish learning than Israel activism). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Hasbara Fellowships is an organization that brings students to Israel and trains them to be "effective pro-Israel activists on their campuses". Based in New York, it was started in 2001 by Aish HaTorah in conjunction with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The organization claims to have trained over 1,000 students on over 220 US campuses, and is expanding into Canada.[1]

Students in the program have the opportunity to meet high-level Israeli officials. A sample itinerary given by the organization includes meetings in Jerusalem with the foreign press advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, the mayor of an Israeli city, a member of the Knesset, and the foreign minister of Israel. [2]


Staff

Hasbara Fellowships was founded and is, as of 2008, still run by Elliot Mathias, who has a degree in political communications from Northwestern University. Mathias is also an advisor to HonestReporting.[3]

Activities

Activists trained by Hasbara Fellowships have been involved in several notable campus demonstrations. In 2002, Hasbara Fellowships organized a rally at the National Student Palestinian Conference at the University of Michigan. [4] In 2007, Hasbara Fellowships members at Brandeis University protested against former US President Jimmy Carter's book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" [5]

In 2007, Hasbara Fellowships called for volunteers to counter what it described as a "dangerous trend" of Wikipedia entries portraying Israel in a "negative light". Interested readers were encouraged to consider "joining a team of Wikipedians to make sure Israel is presented fairly and accurately".[1]

In 2008, Hasbara Fellowships helped to organize "Islamic State Apartheid Week" at York University to counter the rival "Israeli Apartheid Week".[6]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Wikipedia.org", Hasbara Fellowships Newletter, 31 May 2007, accessed 29 July 2007.
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