Ahead of the UN General Assembly, where the Palestinian Authority is taking its bid for an independent state, young Jewish Agency shlichim are launching “Talk Israel” on 20 major North American campuses. This initiative aims to foster dialogue about the complex realities in the Middle East by creating spaces on campus which will serve as venues for students to engage in respectful dialogue and raise questions and issues relating to the peace process and the Palestinian Authority’s initiative at the UN.

These large white tents will be pitched on campuses on September 20th and 21st, in a joint initiative of the Jewish Agency and Hillel. The tents will house AV equipment, including a video conferencing system to allow various speakers to address the students, as well as educational materials and historical documents. The initiative will take place at the following universities, among others: University of California-Berkeley, Columbia University, Cornell University, George Washington University in Washington DC and the University of Maryland.

University campuses are one of the main arenas for the global campaign to delegitimize Israel. Jewish Agency campus shlichim are at the forefront of challenging this narrative, and work hard to expose the complex realities of the Middle East to Jewish and non-Jewish students alike. The shlichim are also the primary address on campus for Israel experience programs like Birthright and Masa. This year the number of campus shlichim has expanded from only 18 in 2009 to 50 today.