An engaged group of students received the youngest member of Boston's City Council last Thursday as the fourth speaker in a lecture series sponsored by Tufts' Friends of Israel. Councilor Mike Ross, the first Jewish councilor elected in Boston since 1951, recounted his experience in Israel and commented on its complicated political situation.
Traveling to Israel with a group of businessmen and political leaders in January allowed Ross to better understand the Israeli view of the United States and analyze the possibility for peace. One month before Israel's prime ministerial elections, anti-Barak sentiment was visible, Ross said. But besides the shocking sight of 18-year-olds holding machine guns, the councilor said he was most struck by the importance of the outcome of US elections for the people of Israel. Because there had been a general dislike of George Bush senior, Ross observed much skepticism regarding the relationship President George W. Bush would maintain with Israel.
Israelis showed warm sentiments towards former President Bill Clinton and the democrats, Ross said. After the peace attempts at Camp David, "Bill Clinton could have walked into Israel and got elected."
The councilor, who maintained a casual demeanor throughout his speech, offered an optimistic prediction for the outcome of peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis. Though he noted that a perfectly clear comparison can never be made, Ross cited the development of the United States, with its gender and racial conflicts, as an example of a country that struggled in its early development, but later evolved into a peaceful nation.
Unanimously, the 11 students in the audience at Barnum 008 raised their hands to support the affirmation that peace would come to Israel in the long term. "It's a question of finding the right solution at the right time," said Debra Steinberg, a double major in international relations and economics.
One of the councilor's main messages, which he said he learned while attending a Pro-Israel rally at the Boston Commons, was that people must be responsible for the messages they propagate. "You have to decide what your bumper sticker is in politics," he said. "People draw quick conclusions from messages."
Adrian Wilairat, president of Friends of Israel, expressed his satisfaction with the speech and the liveliness of the students who engaged in the question and answer session.
"The councilor was extremely interested in listening and wanted to learn about what students had to say about Israel and the American-Israel relationship," he said.
Wilairat worked closely with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a private lobby group that promotes Israel's interests in the United States, to bring Ross to Tufts.
Friends of Israel is a pro-Israel student organization that works to educate the Tufts community on political and cultural issues related to Israel. In October last year, after the most recent intifadah - a Palestinian uprising - began, the group brought Vice Council General Anat Gilead, a Boston-based Israeli diplomat, to inaugurate the lecture series.
Brad Gordon, AIPAC's legislative director, was the second participant in the Friends of Israel series, followed by General Schlomo Gazit, who spoke at Tufts in December and attracted an estimated 50-person audience.
Wilairat said his group has tentative plans to bring Steve Emerson, a respected terrorism expert, to Tufts as the series' fifth speaker. Emerson created Jihad in America, a documentary that examined terrorist funding in the United States. He also testified before Congress after the Oklahoma City bombing. Plans to invite Emerson, however, are still "up in the air," Wilairat said.
