Hillel and CAMERA send media students to Israel

This summer, the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center at IU is offering a unique opportunity for students to go to Israel to analyze media coverage of the Middle East.

The Hillel Center at IU has taken numerous trips to Israel with their financial sponsor Birthright-Israel, an organization that provides a free 10-day trip for young adults between the ages of 18-26 years old.

However, this is the first time that they are partnering with the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.

According to its website, CAMERA is a nonprofit and non-partisan organization dedicated to media-watching, researching and educating news consumers about misleading news coverage concerning possible inaccuracies in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

CAMERA encourages fair, accurate and balanced news coverage, especially for stories that may be misportrayed to the public. Lance daSilva, program director of the Hillel Center at IU, said this is an opportunity for 40 IU students to learn about Israel.

“We have essentially been recruiting people all year, just like gauging interests,” daSilva said. “So we have a long list of people at IU that we know are interested.”
daSilva said the registration opens this Wednesday for interested applicants and closes within a week.

He said there are certain requirements for applicants who want to go on the Israel trip with Birthright and CAMERA.

“Basically to be eligible you have to be between the ages of 18-26 and be Jewish,” daSilva said.

To be Jewish as defined by Birthright, one must have at least one Jewish grandparent.

daSilva said they normally get many eligible people and weed them out through a lottery process. They then send them through an interview process and lead them through orientation for the trip. The students pay a deposit of $250 that is refunded after the trip to make sure they’re committed.

“It’s our job — IU Hillel and every other organization like us — that when the students get back from the trip they use that excitement and get people involved within the Jewish community here at IU,” daSilva said. “That’s actually one of the goals of the trip, to make you feel good about Israel, but then to also give someone a stronger sense of their identity.”

Senior Evie Salomon said that her trip to Hillel as a sophomore inspired her to do some reporting abroad in Israel her junior year. She said that being able to see Israel from all different kinds of perspectives was her favorite part of the trip.

“We really got a plethora of experiences, like all the different kinds of living you could do in Israel. We did hikes, we did night life, we did Shabbat dinners,” Salomon said. “You didn’t feel like anything was being pushed on you.”

Students develop a love for the country and amazing friendships due to their shared experiences on the trip, daSilva said.

“As you see the entire country, as you get to go from one landmark to the next and learn more about the country and form that connection to Israel...students tend to feel overwhelmed that they’re actually in this sacred, holy land,” daSilva said. “Each place affects someone differently.”