JUF’s Israel Education Center held its Fall Israel Intern Training this past weekend for its largest student cohort to date — IEC’s services have expanded across the Midwest thanks to a partnership with Hillel International and the Israel Action Network.

Sixteen student interns were joined by their on-campus supervisors from universities including the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Minnesota, University of Toledo, University of Cincinnati, Grand Valley State University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois-Chicago, Northwestern University, Bradley University, University of Chicago, DePaul University and Loyola University.

Students practiced networking and relationship-building, strengthened their knowledge base of Israeli history, examined the challenges and realities of multiple narratives, discussed the importance of dialogue across ethnic lines and reviewed safety procedures for anti-Israel activity.

The training also addressed student concerns regarding Israel activism including marginalization, anti-Semitic backlash, protests of Israel-related events, and campus apathy. Students and their supervisors shared insights into their unique campus dynamics and exchanged tips and strategies for combatting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and the delegitimization of Israel while promoting positive Israel engagement.

“I applied to this internship not only to become more involved in Israel education, but also to do some learning myself,” said Noah Mikell, IEC’s student intern from the University of Minnesota. “The intern training experience was the perfect combination of learning from experienced professionals, sharing ideas with other students, and of course, making lasting connections with similarly minded students from all over the country.”