Jemima Schoen
As the world seemed to fall apart, so did my summer plans. (I’m just kidding, I’m not comparing my summer to the state of a world in a pandemic.) Anyway, since I was not going to be going on the hiking program at my camp this year, I wanted to do something productive with my summer. Among other educational opportunities, I applied to the AIPAC Summer Saban Leadership Program. Thankfully, I was accepted, and my journey began.
A bit about AIPAC: AIPAC stands for American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and it is an organization that is aimed to support the American-Israel alliance. AIPAC believes that it is imperative to instill a passion and bipartisan loyalty for the American-Israel alliance in young people, so the lobbying body has special outreach programs for college and high school students.
At the semiannual Saban Leadership Seminar, over 400 student activists, mostly in college, gather to “exchange creative ideas for expanding the base for pro-Israel activism…grapple with the most challenging questions you face on campus as a supporter of Israel, and develop action plans,” according to AIPAC. Usually, Saban is a three-day in-person event, but this year, due to concerns about COVID-19, it was held virtually in shorter sessions over the course of six weeks.
Every Tuesday of the first few weeks, we would watch a captivating speaker on YouTube Live give their take on topics ranging from annexation to political candidates. These speakers included congresspeople, authors, AIPAC executives, and student activists. One day, we had a speed-round of congresspeople, including New Jersey Senator Cory Booker; I found myself in awe of the amazing opportunity to listen to such influential people. My favorite of the speakers was Bakari Sellers, a lawyer, award-winning author, and the youngest-ever African-American elected official in America. He told us the inspiring story about how he became a part of AIPAC in college and fostered a love for Israel.
“I found myself in awe of this amazing opportunity I was given to listen to such influential people.”
After hearing from the speaker, we would meet in the Zoom room of Carol Jacobson, the Early Engagement Field Organizer of AIPAC, and discuss all that we had seen and heard. There, Carol taught us things like how to get in touch with our congresspeople, how to recruit members of our schools and communities, and how to debate civilly with those who do not support the American-Israel Alliance.
Next, we would split into breakout rooms with our partners. This time provided a more personal and collaborative space for brainstorming how to spread AIPAC’s beliefs to our schools and communities. In this way, Saban was a great networking tool for students.
The last week of Saban was the most intense, with sessions every day and few breaks in between. This created a stream of intellectual nourishment, and I loved being part of something meaningful for a good chunk of my day. For example, we learned a lot of Israeli history so as to best defend it, how to lobby, and how to advance AIPAC’s messages. I was left wanting more once the program ended, and I was excited when I learned of an opportunity to help out Antone Melton-Meaux’s campaign.
Mr. Melton-Meaux was running a primary challenge against the antisemitic and anti-Israel Representative Ilhan Omar in Minnesota’s fifth district. In contrast to Rep. Omar, Mr. Melton-Meaux supported the Israel-American relationship. Therefore, pro-Israel political action committee NorthPAC (an affiliate of AIPAC) wanted to support Mr. Melton-Meaux by garnering support in younger people. During a Zoom meeting, I got to hear from Mr. Melton-Meaux himself about his environmentally-conscious, community-oriented policies, and I was all-in from that moment forward. The college activists running the meeting referred me to another meeting where I could learn how to help Mr. Melton-Meaux.
I ended up doing some “phone-banking” (calling up fifth district residents to seek out support) for Mr. Melton-Meaux. He had to beat Rep. Omar in the Democratic primary on August 11th. I ended up spending 251 minutes total calling up about 400 Minnesotans. Although Mr. Melton-Meaux lost the primary, I still enjoyed the experience because I advocated for a cause that in which I truly believed.
Thanks to Saban, I felt empowered enough to support a real political campaign. I have always viewed American citizenship as an opportunity to effect change for the country of my people, but Saban heightened my awareness of the real problems that we must face in order to effect that change. It alerted me to the absolute urgency of supporting Israel in any way possible, and for that, I am so thankful.
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