Olive Tree Initiative Event at UCLA October 2011

On October 25th, the Olive Tree Initiative held an event at UC-Irvine for those UCI students who had recently returned from the OTI 2011 trip to Israel and the disputed territories. Below is my report on that event, which I attended.

http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2011/10/olive-tree-initiative-sticks-it-to.html

The following evening, a similar event was held at UCLA, in which UCLA students who had attended the trip reported on their experiences. I did not attend that event, but people I know did. Below is what they have reported. I should note that this posting concerns the statements of one of the Jewish participants of the trip.

According to my contacts who attended the event, one of the student members of the panel was a Jewish male student wearing a yarmulke. He told the audience that he had been raised as an Orthodox Jew and had attended a Yeshiva in Israel, but that his experience with the OTI trip had caused his commitment to Judaism to "crumble". (I am, of course, paraphrasing, but my contacts state that the word "crumble" is accurate.) He thanked the OTI for allowing him to see a different point of view and for allowing him to form friendships with Palestinians.He described his views as having evolved from Judaism to "Humanism".

Of course, this young man is entitled to his conclusions. Yet, from a pro-Israel point of view, questions have previously been raised as to whether the Olive Tree Initiative is really designed to sway Jewish student participants to the pro-Palestinian point of view. Is it worth pointing out that more than one Jewish student participant in OTI trips is also a member of the Students for Justice in Palestine?

Is it also worth pointing out that the Orange County Jewish Federation and its subsidiary, the Rose Project, are major funders of the Olive Tree Initiative? Both had representatives present at the UCLA event. Might not the young student's words give them pause as to what they are funding?

Just a thought.

* Update-11-20-11: I was requested on this comment thread to take this posting down by a person connected with the Olive Tree Initiative, who stated that the above account of the Jewish student's statements was not accurate, and that I should check the tape of the event itself. Based on that, I did take this post down for a few days until I could check one of the tapes that were produced at the event. Today, I listened to an audiotape, and in the spirit of fairness and accuracy, I think that a slight clarification is in order. At times, the tape is less than one hundred percent clear, which as I was told, is due to which way the speakers were facing when they spoke.What I heard was the student describing how (after he entered UCLA), he "saw his commitment to Judaism crumbling" (exact words). He also mentioned turning (from Orthodox Judaism) to a more humanistic form of Judaism (paraphrased). In short, I don't come away with the impression that this student has turned his back on his Jewish faith, rather he has adopted a less rigid form of it. 

However, the point is not this or that student who goes on an OTI trip. The point that remains of concern is the fact that the OC Jewish Federation and the Rose Project continue to support the Olive Tree Initiative and expose students to professional activists in the West Bank, who are involved with or allied with the International Solidarity Movement, an organization devoted to the destruction of Israel.