Editor’s note: Michael Cook, the News Editor at the University Press, attended this year’s trip to Israel and edited this story.

Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach at Florida Atlantic University and at least one other state university noticed less interest in their annual trip to Israel for campus student leaders.  

Hillel, an organization that fosters Jewish life across college campuses, receives funding for this trip from Maccabee Task Force, a Jewish organization committed to pushing back against antisemitism. The goal of this trip is to allow students to learn firsthand about geopolitical topics in the Middle East. 

However, Hillel staff at the FAU Boca Raton campus noticed this year’s “Owls in Israel” trip dropped in attendance from around 24 to eight students from previous years. Hillel’s Jewish Agency Israel Fellow at FAU attributes the decline in attendees to fears of geopolitical concerns in that part of the world.

“Students were scared to go this year was because of the situation in Israel, the war and what you see on the news,” she said. “Parents were scared to send their kids, which I understood, and we didn’t put any pressure on anyone to go.”

Lauren Oback, the assistant director of Hillel at FAU, shared that many families of students who applied for the trip had safety concerns. 

“Although we feel that we are going into this safe, we would never put our students or staff in an unsafe position. It’s tough,” she said. 

Out of the eight students on this year’s trip, one student joined from Florida State University, according to Brian Pelc, the executive director for Hillel at this campus. He stated that they sent this student to join FAU as they also struggled to recruit students.

Pelc stated that he saw a lot of interest last fall but a notable decrease after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He noticed many students became conflicted about the situation. 

“The underlying narrative is that lots of people don’t want to go to Israel right now,” Pelc said. “We were hearing from other campuses all over the country and everyone was having the same issue.”

He shared that he looked into Hillel organizations at other Florida universities to pair up with, but FAU ultimately made the most sense due to similar timelines.

One of the students who went on the trip this past summer, Alvaro Sopo, mentioned that life in Israel has not stopped, despite what he assumed based on the news. He said some moments were “nerve-wracking,” but safety protocols were in place.

“The country is actually really safe,” Sopo said. “So I think there’s a big difference from when you read on the news that it’s really scary and [compared to] when you’re there.” 

He described it as a “culture shock” compared to living in the United States and shared that grasping the idea of visiting a country at war was difficult.

Oback added that FAU Hillel experienced hardship in recruiting students not just for this trip but also for the “Birthright” trip. Birthright is a trip to Israel geared towards Jewish students to learn about their heritage.

Barak Yitzhaki, an Israeli tour guide who hosted this year’s trip, said attendance was not as low as the recent Birthright trips. But he’s seen the same trend in tourism, which has slowed down in Israel. 

“Right now, there’s not a lot of visitors that are choosing to come to Israel, on account of what people are seeing on the news,” he said. “The fact that there is a war going on it makes people more nervous to travel to this part of the world, which I completely understand.” 

However, Yitzhaki said these trips are important for the participants who are not necessarily Jewish or connected to Israel, as they have the opportunity to see the “complexities” and meet both Palestinians and Israelis.

“It’s not an easy thing to do, to come mid-war to a country, and I think that the fact that they chose to do so shows a lot of character,” he said, praising Hillel at FAU for making the trip possible. “It shows what a serious institution it is, and it was an honor guiding them.”

He concluded by stating that he has “hope” for next year’s scheduled trip and in general. 

Oback is confident in the Hillel team’s recruitment strategies and says they are on track to finding more than 25 students wanting to go. The fellow also shared that she is looking into making minor changes to the trip, such as making it earlier in the year.

Pelc also added that he is “optimistically realistic” about recruitment for the next trip. 

“If the underlying dynamics haven’t changed, then it’s quite possible that the students’ reactions to us won’t change either,” he said.

Caroline Ribeiro is a contributing writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email cribeiro2021@fau.edu or message her on Instagram @carolpardiniribeiro.