By: Alan Levine

I had the chance this weekend to attend and speak at the Canadian Hillel West Coast Leadership conference.  It was a great opportunity to meet new student activists as well as to check out the brand new Hillel building at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

The conference, which included students from UBC, Simon Frasier University, University of Victoria and Evergreen State College was highly successful and productive.  The conference included leadership and activism training as well as educational content about Israel, Zionism, and Judaism.

I was asked to run Hasbara’s “Communicating for Israel” and “Coalition Building” workshops.  But I really learned a lot more from facilitating some of the other seminars and workshops throughout the weekend.  I got to chat with most of the over 40 students in attendance and got a feel for their schools.

The conference was an ideal display of internal education, an important part of pro-Israel activism.  It’s important to educate one’s own members, because we as a movement must learn, train, practice, and review in order to effectively articulate Israel’s message.

UBC will see anti-Israel speaker Norman Finkelstein on their campus this week.  Evergreen has long been considered one of the most anti-Israel schools in the US. But I can say with confidence that the students came away with new knowledge, inspiration, and confidence to attack these problems head on.

Special thanks to conference organizer and Hasbara Fellow Talia Salzman, UBC Israel Awareness Club president Rael Katz, Hasbara Fellow Roxy Lewin as well as to the Hillel Vancouver staff including Ayelet Weil, Pat Johnson, Paul Curran, and Ohad Gavrieli.