Connecting IU to Israel: week events hope to educate campus

Israeli innovation has produced technology students use every day — flash drives and instant messaging are Israeli advances, and Motorola’s research and development center in Israel created the world’s first cell phone.

Sharing facts such as these with the IU community is one of the reasons student group Hoosiers for Israel is sponsoring IU’s first Israel Awareness Week. The week, which includes activities such as a film screening and peace rally, begins today.

Hoosiers for Israel president and senior Sara Geboff said the group hopes the week will educate students who don’t know about Israel.

Hillel student president and junior Matt Levitt, who worked with Geboff and Hoosiers for Israel to plan the week, said the group wants to shift the focus away from solely the political aspect and instead concentrate on peace, innovation and environmental issues.

“We want to present more information so people can make their own educated opinions,” Geboff said.

Educating the IU community is not the week’s only goal.

“One of the largest problems with our campus as well is apathy,” Levitt said.

Though many activities are taking place during the week, Geboff said the peace rally Wednesday will be one of the week’s biggest events.

“The point is to have a huge gathering of people who support Israel,” she said.

She said she expects some to oppose Hoosiers for Israel’s message but hopes that any opposition brings some constructive results.

“We encourage people to ask us questions and have educated conversations with us,” Geboff said. “Our hope is people will be very mature.”

To prepare to educate and talk with students, Geboff and Hoosiers for Israel worked with multiple campus and national groups.

Geboff said national groups such as The David Project Center for Jewish Leadership, MASA and the Israeli Consulate in Chicago were all ecstatic to provide Hoosiers for Israel with information and resources to use during the week.

Geboff and Levitt also said IUSA funding was instrumental in helping the week happen.

The IUSA Funding Board will cover up to 75 percent of the cost of an initiative, depending on the openness of the event and the preparation of the group, co-directors Anna Williams and Alex Swider said.

The board financially supported Israel Awareness Week because “their cause is something many students are unfamiliar with,” Swider said. “It seemed like it was open to everyone.”

Geboff said she thinks everyone on campus should know more about Israel due to the importance of the American-Israel relationship. Israel’s role in the Middle East “is going to affect all of us.”