Israel Advocacy in Madison

Shotei Ha Nevuha in concert.

I knew it was going to be a good show as soon as the eight members of Shotei Ha Nevuha, dressed in garb ranging from trendy pink button-down shirts to flowing white robes and kaffiyehs, sauntered on stage at Madison’s Club Majestic.

I was listening to the Middle Eastern reggae-funk of one of Israel’s most popular bands. I was at one of the biggest party schools in the country. And I was surrounded by hundreds of Jewish students from college campuses across the Midwest.

No, I thought, it just doesn’t get any better than this.

The concert was just one attraction of Finding Common Ground: Supporting Israel in a Time of Transition, the Israel advocacy conference that had brought my Jewish comrades and I to Madison.

The weekend affair, which ran from Friday, Nov. 4 through Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005, drew participants by combining scintillating speakers and discussion panels about Israeli politics with the mystical allure that Madison has for fun-seeking college students everywhere. It was all for only $25, or $60 if you wanted to stay in a hotel for the two nights.

Learn about Israel by day, party by night. Who could say no?

Yet perhaps the most interesting thing for me, a junior at Northwestern University who has only been tangibly involved in Israel campus advocacy events like this, was meeting up with people I hadn’t seen in years.

It happened as soon as I sat down for dinner Friday night at Madison’s Hillel.

“Were you in BBYO?”

And then again, as we trickled out of Club Majestic.

“My long-lost Schechter friend!”

But Madison provided me with a frustrating quandary. Still under 21, I had to hunt for parties outside the bars. So, the adventure began.

“Do you know if anything is happening tonight?” I asked a group of girls who were milling around Club Majestic.

“Well,” one of them said haltingly, “my friend is having a dance party…”

I took the hint.

“But some random guy who you just met on the street isn’t really invited.”

“I mean, I guess you could come…”

Eventually, I went with some people attending the conference to a birthday party. It was for one of their Jewish friends who went to Madison. At some points, my conference buddies left, and I stuck around.

At some point, somebody asked me: “So Mike, who do you know here?”

“Well, nobody right now…”

But it was okay. We shared a common bond: We were all Jews.

Social life aside, the conference did offer some interesting viewpoints about the most recent developments in Israel. The keynote speaker was Yossi Klein Halevi, a writer for the New Republic and columnist for the Jerusalem Post.

Ten years after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist as a result of Rabin’s peace overtures, Halevi spoke about the relationship between Disengagement and Rabin’s policies.

The past three decades have witnessed the death of two utopian dreams – on both the Israeli left and right, Halevi said. The failure of Oslo, especially after Camp David and the second intifadah, saw the end of the leftist utopia – a full and equal peace with the Palestinians and the Arab world. But the Disengagement also shows that the Israeli right has recognized that Israel cannot rule over a fast-growing Palestinian population indefinitely if the country wants to maintain its Jewish majority. It is the end of the dream of Greater Israel.

The Israeli public has sobered up, Halevi said, and has moved to the center. Israelis are ready to make painful territorial concessions, but only to a Palestinian Authority free of terrorism. In the meantime, Halevi said, unilateralism has won the day.

Azanu Mekunen, an Ethiopian immigrant to Israel, also spoke about her experiences traveling from Africa to the Holy Land. In addition, there were also mini-presentations about spreading pro-Israel message on campuses, Israel’s relationship with the U.N., Muslim-Jewish dialogue on campus, and more.

Not bad for 25 bucks.