I recently returned from an Israel trip with other university students from the States and Canada, sponsored by CAMERA (Committee for Accurate Representation of Middle-East Reporting in America). During the trip we studied issues facing Israel from leading experts, including the Prime Minister’s international spokesman, university professors, a Palestinian-Israeli journalist, and a Bedouin ex-diplomat now working in the UK, etc... Furthermore, we toured Israel to see important points, like the Syrian and Lebanese borders. Here are some highlights pertaining to discussions I’ve previously had on myUMBC.

·         In regards to Iran, it’s common knowledge that they are developing nuclear missiles and hate Israel. But they also pose a major threat to the U.S, and Israeli intelligence gathered that Iran is developing ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and really dislike the U.S, according to Mark Regev, the Prime Minister’s international spokesman who sits in on the majority of his meetings. So as I said many times, support Israel because America is next on the hit list.

·         In regards to the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Khaled Abu Toameh, a self-described “Palestinian Israeli Arab Journalist” who previously worked for the PLO for seven years and now works for NBC and Israeli newspapers talked to us about media censorship. According to him, the difference between the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership is that in Israel, an investigative report can land the president in jail, while an investigative report in the Palestinian territories can lead the Arab leaders there to jail the reporter. Also, he said that in no way should Israel dare give back land to the Palestinians, even to the PLO, because (citing the Hamas takeover in Gaza) Hamas would take over since Abbas is seen in the West Bank as a weakling and actually does not have power even over the entire West Bank.

·         Ishmael Khaldi is a Muslim Bedouin from Khawalid, in the Galilee. He holds higher degrees from Israeli universities, served in the Israeli military and later as a policemen, was the Israeli diplomat stationed in San Francisco, and now works in the UK to counter the anti-semitic BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement against Israeli businesses, which end up hurting Palestinian workers more than the actual Israelis in many instances, by the way. He talked to us about the changing Bedouin dynamics in Israel; his father was a nomadic shepard but since times are changing, they bought a house and are settling down. He also discussed how people at events he spoke at abroad were sometimes surprised when they saw him, a Bedouin, as an integral part of Israeli government. Wow, shocker. We visited Ishmael’s home and met his family; his dad wore a kefiyyah and greeted us in Arabic, his hijab-wielding mother set out cookies and juice (all kosher) for us to snack on, his relatives were nice and the kids were adorable, and his young brother just came back to visit from the Israeli military.

·         Everywhere we went- upscale restaurant, streets, and even the Tel Aviv beach- we saw Muslims eating, playing, and just living alongside Israelis. This isn’t a surprise to me, but to the fools who declared apartheid on these boards, well, this is how Israel is. My friends and I met British people one night who were visiting Israel for the first time, and they told us that they visited Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, etc… and it shocked them how Israel was NOT LIKE the news presents it at all, since they thought there was separation between Jews and Muslims but hey, Muslims and Jews get along more than the BBC admits.  Shocker…

·         We visited the Syrian border, where we heard artillery fire and saw smoke columns on the Syrian side. The U.N outposts are emptying because recent Syrian kidnappings of U.N workers is terrifying the rest of the U.N workers. Didn’t hear about that on the news, huh? I also personally met Swedish tourists and discussed Sweden’s immigration policy. Conclusions: the policy is bad, it’s leading to “immigrant” violence and changing demographics which is making certain areas very dangerous for natives Swedes, the government has its head in the sand, and the right wing groups were also deemed crazy because whereas the left wants all the immigrants in, the right wants all the immigrant out.

·         At the Erez Junction (a crossing point between Israel proper and Gaza), we stopped at the IDF crosspoint and listened to a colonel discuss imports and exports into Gaza, the illegal smuggling tunnels, and the military’s rules regarding what can be imported and what can’t be. We learned that beans are a really popular Hamas import because it sells well, and that pipes are not Israel’s favorite import since even sewer pipes have been ripped out of houses to be made into kassam rockets to fire on the neighboring town of Sderot and kill children. Oh yeah, we visited sderot and saw a display of rockets at the police station, the many bomb shelters and even the bomb-proof playground structures. Then people wonder why Israel has fewer deaths in war than Gaza…  duh, because Israel cares about it’s people and spends a ton of money building shelters while Hamas rips sewage pipes out of the ground because of anti-semitic hate. At any rate, Sderot surprised me because it’s a really, really lovely town. I expected something more average.

·         What else can I say? The trip was highly educational and fun (we even got to run around in the Tel Aviv beach), and those who declare Israel as apartheid, racist, evil, etc… seem to be more idiotic now than ever before. Want to argue against me? Visit Israel and see it for yourself, then come back and we can talk. My only complaint is that I can’t fit the entire trip into a word document. And ugh, the food was ah. ma. zing.