IAC Mishelanu brings together Jewish college students from campuses across the nation to focus on leadership and advocacy for Israel. This year’s Israeli-American Council summit, held in Washington, D.C. this past weekend, was an especially important safe space for these college students who have been experiencing real acts of violence and aggression by their classmates on campus.
Many students expressed the personal attacks they experienced from individuals or college-wide smear campaigns leading to probationary hearings or physical harm, and the measures they were taking to fight back. The Mishelanu college student track provided a robust schedule of panelists, speakers and workshops that overlapped with the summit’s regular programming.
On Thursday evening, former President Trump made an appearance to speak to the crowd of around 3,000 summit attendees from all over the country and the world.
On Friday, students heard from an impressive list of speakers. Among them was Alan Dershowitz, renowned criminal lawyer and recent founder of a pro-bono movement called “Hurt a Jew, We Sue You” to prosecute civil rights violations against Jews. Dershowitz spoke to the college students, saying, “The good news — you will be the future of pro-Israel advocates. The bad news — so will the protesters” in a rousing speech about knowing one’s rights on campus.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard graduate who is currently suing his alma mater for not protecting Jewish students on campus, specifically requested to speak to students. In his usual quick and humorous manner, Kestenbaum quipped that while the IDF might not want him because he is “like, 5 feet tall,” he could “fight the battle of ideas” and encouraged those listening to do the same.
Australian actor Nathaniel Buzolic also spoke about his advocacy for Israel as a religious Christian on social media, posing the question, “If the Jews were kicked out of Europe for being too dark, why are they being kicked out of the Middle East for being too white?” This panel also featured singer James Maslow and dancer Montana Tucker, who are both well-known on social media for their Israel activism, and was followed by guest speakers including Rep. Elise Stefanik and political commentator Douglas Murray.. This series of speeches were closed out by a performance by an Israeli group of singers, bringing the audience together in song and dance.
Over Shabbat, kosher meals were offered to accommodate shomer kosher and Shabbat students. The Chabad rabbi in attendance led an emotional Friday night kiddush facilitated by the kiddush cup used in Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the kibbutzim targeted on Oct. 7 which suffered many losses and was destroyed by Hamas. At every meal and opportunity, students joined in loud singing of Shabbat and Israeli songs of hope, unity and resilience. Among the Shabbat programming was a workshop on krav maga, a form of self-defense popular in Israel, and a speech from Israeli judo wrestler and Olympic bronze medalist Peter Paltchik. Birthright philanthropist Dr. Miriam Adelson also spoke for a few minutes to express her hope for new generations to form a connection with the land of Israel, even promising to send all those in the room who hadn’t attended the Taglit program on a special bus called “Miri’s Caravan.”
The council provided a wonderful opportunity for Jewish and Israeli students to connect and have their voices reflected and represented by those who joined the conference in solidarity with the struggle against antisemitism America is facing today. Uriel Appel, an Israeli student of University of Maryland expressed after the weekend, “I just got back to campus from the conference and immediately got heckled … I’ve been bathing in Zionist empowerment for three days and said that they better have luck with that … we ain’t going anywhere.”
