PI alum criticizes verbal attacks against Israeli Amb. Oren at UC Irvine lecture

PI alumnus Michael Drake, Chancellor of UC Irvine, issued a statement expressing strong disapproval over repeated attempts by audience members to disrupt an on-campus lecture given by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. He notes, “This behavior is intolerable. Freedom of speech is among the most fundamental, and among the most cherished of the bedrock values our nation is built upon.” To access Drake’s full statement, click here.

PI alumni news from Illinois

Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk has picked up the GOP’s nomination for the Senate seat vacated last year by President Obama; State Senator Kirk Dillard is in a tight race for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination; and Marty Castro was appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn to chair the Illinois Human Rights Commission. The three have all visited Israel with Project Interchange.

Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk has picked up the GOP’s nomination for the Senate seat vacated last year by President Obama; State Senator Kirk Dillard is in a tight race for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination; and Marty Castro was appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn to chair the Illinois Human Rights Commission. The three have all visited Israel with Project Interchange.

Pacific Islands Presidents seminar draws heavy international media coverage

Media outlets across the South Pacific, as well as various US and Israeli publications covered the historic visit to Israel by President Manny Mori of Micronesia and President Marcus Stephen of Nauru. The delegation, which also included ambassadors and foreign ministers of those Pacific Islands nations, came to Israel under the auspices of Project Interchange and was formally welcomed by Israeli President Shimon Peres.

To access the articles, click here.

Op-Ed: Amb. from Nauru on voting with Israel at the UN

In an opinion piece published by the Jerusalem Post, H.E. Marlene Moses, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Nauru to the United Nations, reflects on the Pacific island nation’s backing of Israel at the UN.

To the question, “Why does Nauru vote with Israel?” she responds, “Because Israel is the lone democracy in its neighborhood and therefore, it is the right thing to do.”

Ambassador Moses joined several fellow UN ambassadors from Pacific Island nations on a PI seminar in 2008. In January 2010, she traveled again to Israel with PI alongside the presidents of Nauru and Micronesia in an historic diplomatic visit.

To access the opinion piece, click here.

PI board member to JPost: "A Hasbara birthright exists"

The Jerusalem Post published a letter by Ambassador Richard Schifter praising Project Interchange. Schifter, a longtime PI board member, writes:

“Michael Freund’s column ‘Time for a Hasbara birthright’ (Jerusalem Post, January 6) calls for developing a birthright equivalent ‘geared toward key decision-makers… in the US, Europe, and elsewhere.’ In fact, an extraordinarily successful program of this sort already exists.”

[Note: According to its website, Taglit-Birthright Israel, commonly known as Birthright, "provides the gift of first time, peer group, educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26."]

To access the article, click here.