The campus chapter of J Street U, a national student organization which promotes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, held their first event of the fall semester, “Debriefing Gaza,” on Sept. 11 at the Smokler Center for Jewish Life.
J Street U is the university arm of the national organization J Street, and it works to engage students in thoughtful and critical discussions on college campuses. The organization advocates for the creation of a Jewish democratic state, as well as self-determination for the Palestinian people.
Hopkins J Street U actively collaborates with the other Israel-related interest groups on campus, as well as with other Hopkins campus organizations and other collegiate chapters of J Street U.
The “Debriefing Gaza” event offered a lively, open discussion on the issues that took place in the Gaza Strip this past summer. With only seven students in attendance, the event was a more intimate discussion. Although the attendees varied in class year and course of study, all of them were Jewish.
Before beginning the discussion, the attendees reviewed the complex timeline of events that occurred in Israel and its occupied territories this past summer.
All participants were then handed a sheet of paper with excerpts from various different sources and organizations about the issues at hand, particularly the events that had taken place in furthering conflict at Gaza this past summer. Each quote not only came from different sources but also contained radically different stances on the issue.
Each student’s opinion was different; they had all had different personal experiences and ties to the conflict. The attendees actively challenged their peers’ opinions, creating a vibrant atmosphere for discussion. Despite disagreements, the ambience was friendly, and each student was respectful of others’ viewpoints.
“I’m a very strong supporter of the two state solution, so [J Street U] feels like the right community,” Tamuz Avivi, an Israeli sophomore and Hopkins J Street U’s vice president of outreach, said. “Pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, pro two states: I don’t see these things as contrary.”
The most unique aspect of J Street U’s event was each student’s willingness to challenge their upbringing and the common viewpoints they had been taught all their lives. Instead of accepting a one-sided opinion on the conflict, students accepted that there had been wrongs committed on both sides and proposed possible solutions that benefitted both parties of the conflict.
A common thread amongst attendees was a Jewish identity crisis. Each individual had a story to share regarding their upbringing, and the influence that other authority figures, such as parents and teachers, had on the way they viewed the conflict.
Jon Weinreich, a junior and Hopkins J Street U’s treasurer, explained how he had been struggling personally to come to terms with the issue for years.
“I found through a lot of reading and a lot of conversations that I had between the end of high school and now that I had been given an incomplete picture of the conflict. I found that very difficult and hard to stomach,” Weinreich said.
Weinreich, along with other student members of J Street U, talked about continuing their struggle to find a proper balance between their upbringing and their current moral values. They said that Hopkins J Street U allows them to find common ground and share their struggles through discussion platforms, with other students.
Hopkins hosted a national J Street U Town Hall in April, where 300 students from 57 colleges and universities attended panels and discussed organizational strategies. The event also drew speakers from government and from the Jewish community, including Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D-MD) and Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism.
J Street U’s next event, scheduled for Sept. 23 at 10 p.m. on the Keyser Quad, is a candlelight vigil to commemorate and mourn the lives lost on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
