Former Jewish Agency chief and cabinet minister Avraham "Avrum" Burg recently wrote an article in The Forward praising five Taglit-Birthright Israel participants who decided to leave their group in Israel and join a tour of Hebron led by left-wing group Breaking the Silence.
Avrum has long been my friend and has remained so even though I still can't quite figure out why he decided to drift so far away ideologically.
But precisely because I appreciate his integrity, I have a hard time understanding his behavior.
When I created Taglit-Birthright Israel, I did not seek to create a propaganda corps for Israel; I simply wanted to bring the largest number of Jewish youths to Israel and to use Israel as the venue for this global Jewish meeting place.
My goals were to have Jews come together, to have them connect to their collective history and to showcase a modern Israel that they would never have seen had they not been given a free ticket and a 10-day tour, and to provide them with an experience that will stay with them as they establish ties with their friends in Israel and abroad, as they engage social media, and when they come back to Israel to study or possibly make aliyah. The trips to Israel are operated by various organizations, each having its own focus (environment, religion, and so forth). Participants can pick and choose their operator according to their preference.
The students that left the group and joined the Hebron tour are no heroes because took no risk whatsoever. In fact, every participant has the right to leave the group if they are displeased with what they hear. No one will force them to stay.
Moreover, it is very common for participants to stay in Israel after their trip is over and then join other tours, including in the West Bank. They are not required to go back as a group, although many prefer to do so.
The real story here is their deception: the ditching participants new exactly who their operator was and what the content of the trip would be, they got full funding for the trip and they chose to truncate it before the 10 days elapsed. They used the trip in order to get another tour while showcasing their move as bravery.
So no, Birthright tours do not do brainwashing and this has been proven through the research done on the participants during their arrival and upon their return. Many of the participants return home and become more involved in their Jewish community and try to find Jewish partners. But that is a far cry from being a "hasbara emissary" doing Israel's bidding.
It would be a mistake to think of participants as having fallen off the turnip truck. While it is true that they usually have limited grasp of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when they come here they confront organizers with engaging questions and when they smell there is preaching, they are quick to complain.
The views I hold are very different from the views of the Adelson family, but the fact this philanthropic family chose to invest so much of its own money in this endeavor without trying to influence its content says a lot to their credit.
Those who claim the program is just "Sheldon Adelson's free ticket machine" are divorced from reality. Birthright does not hide the conflict and Israel cannot be presented without mentioning the Palestinians, but the project is all about bringing Jews together and this is what motivated me. Under Burg, the Jewish Agency was against the entire effort, but later it made an about-face and joined forces.
Demanding that the tours include Palestinian towns is just nonsense. And this, without the centrality of the conflict, and without belittling the importance of left-wing groups that seek to uphold the Israel Defense Forces' morality. When all is said and done, Birthright Israel is a tour of Israel, not a tour of the conflict.
