Birthright Israel concerned ISM activists are exploiting trips

Jerusalem Post ^ | Dec. 21, 2003 | GIL HOFFMAN AND HILARY LEILA KRIEGER

[Nachum]

Birthright israel's free trips to the country – paid for by Jewish philanthropists eager to foster ties to Israel and Judaism – don't only provide safe passage to fervent Zionists.

The program has also attracted members of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement who fit the requirements for participation: They are Jewish, 18 to 26, and have never been on an organized tour of the country.

"It's a free ticket," explained ISM cofounder Adam Shapiro, who informed student activists at November's Palestine Solidarity Movement conference at Ohio State University of the birthright trips.

He said he knows personally at least five ISM members who came here through the program and believes the total is much higher.

ISM aims to help end the Israeli presence in the territories, engaging in activities such as standing in front of IDF bulldozers intent on demolishing Palestinian homes. It was in such an actions Rachel Corrie, an American ISM activist, was accidentally killed in March.

Since then, Israel has made it more difficult for foreign activists to enter the country, with the Border Police actively monitoring the ISM and questioning young foreigners suspected of ties to the group.

"ISM doesn't intend to use any existing program as a vehicle to bring people to the country," said group spokesman Ghassan Andoni, adding that ISM members who take advantage of birthright israel or advocate doing so act as individuals.

birthright israel spokesman Gidi Mark said his organization is "aware of the phenomenon" of an ISM presence, and "we are doing everything possible to prevent them from using us to get into the country." He declined to describe the program's screening process, saying that discussing those measures would amount to "shooting myself in the foot."

Mark could not quantify how many participants have gone on to join ISM or other pro-Palestinian activist groups, but did note that the program in the past sent three individuals home just days after arriving because they had "impure intentions." "It's easy to find out whether people have bona fide intentions when they enter the pressure cooker of being with the same people 24 hours a day," he said.

Fears of ISM provocation at birthright events have encouraged birthright to be extra meticulous as it prepares to host Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. ISM officials denied talk of an attempt to test the security around Netanyahu.

"We are taking all possibilities into account and we intend to be ready for any eventuality," Mark said.

birthright encourages participants to stay in Israel after their 10-day trip – as a third of this summer's participants did – but takes no responsibility for the actions of those who decide to stay, Mark added.

"They are adults and they can decide for themselves what to do with their lives," he said. Lora Gordon, 21, a university student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stayed in Israel after birthright, volunteering to rebuild the homes of terror victims. Then, a three-day tour of the Rafah refugee camp and the subsequent death of Corrie drew her to ISM. She has spent the past nine months in Rafah volunteering with the group.

When Gordon signed up for birthright, she indicated her interest in learning more about the political situation and Judaism, and possibly in immigrating, a desire that subsided once she felt that becoming an Israeli citizen might "ruin her record" among the Palestinians. But she insisted that her dedication to her religion and culture remains. Her work with ISM, she maintained, is "vital for working for peace in Israel."

Gordon added that if birthright is sincere in letting participants chart their own course once the program ends, "they have no business kicking people out for their political views or aspirations."

Mark pointed out that any ISM supporters on birthright would constitute a tiny fraction of the 50,000 people who have taken the tour. Thousands of birthright graduates have returned for another trip to Israel, hundreds are serving in the IDF, or learning in universities and other institutions in Israel.

According to Mark, birthright has given new life to pro-Israel activism on college campuses around the world, and research shows a "major change" in participants' connection to Israel, their Jewish identity, and their local Jewish community as a result of the trip.

[Neophyte]

Lefties have never been too finicky in their choice of means to their ends... If they need to cheat the damned Zionist fat cats, they would.

Isn't it be possible for birthright to organize in co-operation with the IDF a bulldozer on 24/7 duty for the exposed ISM members? Obviously, their love to the Islamists made them quite suicidal, as silly li'l Rachel's fate shows.

And wasn't Gen. Schwartzkopf dead right, when he insisted that it is indeed possible to defeat an enemy eager to die for his cause: just accommodate him...