By: Jessica Felber

NorCal has two Israel groups on the rise this fall at SFSU and UC Davis!

1. Students at San Francisco State have recently created the Israel Coalition, a new pro-Israel group created to promote dialogue and education about Israel in an attempt to address misinterpretations espoused on their campus. This past week, they held their first event ever - the Tel Aviv Tech Tour, co-sponsored with the campus business club. Included in this tour were people from eight Israeli start-up companies and one Palestinian start-up company. The event was a huge success, bringing both Jewish and business students into the same room to talk about Israel! Their next event will be held the Monday night after Thanksgiving - an Israeli game night! For more information on this upcoming event, or on how to get involved with the Israel Coalition, 
E-mail jfelber@hasbarafellowships.org!

2. Tonight, students at UC Davis will be holding their first meeting ever as a new Israel group! This group was formed by eight passionate students, who want to proactively advocate for Israel on a campus where they have the opportunity to control the issues right from the start!

On another note, the divestment efforts by UC Berkeley students seems to (thankfully!) have taken a turn for the worse. This past Tuesday, a demonstration planned and executed by former senator and divestment bill sponsor, Emily Carlton, brought a measly five students to Sproul, who lamely tried to block the paths of passersby. Judging by the looks of it, those who fought for divestment at Berkeley last year have now decided they would rather invest their time in fighting real issues.