SA student leadership visit Israel

VANESSA VALKIN

DA MP Michael Bagraim, PICTURED ABOVE LEFT, who is involved with the upcoming trip of MPs to Israel: “It gets people to make up their own minds… this is the real McCoy.”

A high ranking delegation of MPs is scheduled to tour Israel and the Palestinian territories later this month; and in January, a group of student activists under the auspices of the South Africa-Israel Forum and the South African Union of Jewish Students, did a similar trip.

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These 16 SRC members – from Wits, University of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Rhodes, as well as two young Parliamentarians and a law clerk at the Constitutional Court – had the opportunity to visit Israel, Ramallah and Bethlehem.

They also met with politicians, soldiers, Palestinian human rights activists and residents of the territories to hear first-hand about the realities of life for Israelis and Palestinians.

A welcome back reception was held this week for the group where some of the student leaders reported back on their experiences and how it has impacted their ideas and future plans.

Adrian Eckard, secretary general of the University of Pretoria SRC, is now organising an Israeli Palestinian Awareness Day on his campus, which has over 60 000 students. “We are going to have people come to speak who are from both sides – Israelis and Palestinians,” says Eckard.  

The 2014 SRC president of the University of Johannesburg, Nikkie Mboweni, says the trip was a real eye-opener for her and that she had been so misinformed. “We were being fed information from TV, radio and social media about what was happening.”

She says it is challenging to convey to her friends and colleagues who are anti-Israel, the realities of what she saw. She believes it is important to speak to people one-on-one, as even the most pro-Palestinian individual is willing to engage in a one-on-one conversation.

She is hoping to use some of the material that was taught on her trip to do workshops for groups as well.

The idea for this trip evolved from the distress that SAUJS leaders were feeling on campuses nationally with the growing importation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to South Africa. Jewish students were feeling unsafe and alienated, particularly after certain resolutions were taken by SRCs to sever ties with Israel.

“You just have to come to the campus during Israel Apartheid Week, it’s really an ugly place to be,” says SAUJS National Chairman Natan Pollack, who helped organise the trip.

“The trip was significant in that it opened up the platform again for SAUJS members to engage with South African student leaders and South African politics,” says Pollack

Many of the students have strong ties to groups like the ANC Youth League and Sasco who are very critical of Israel, and they faced pressure in deciding to make the trip. “I was accused of being a sell-out,” said one. But the knowledge they garnered and the Palestinians and Israelis they met with, has all changed their views.

Says MP Michael Bagraim, who is involved with the upcoming trip of MPs to Israel: “It gets people to make up their own minds… this is the real McCoy.”