Growing up in a Jewish community, I liked the idea of getting flown to Israel for ten days, meeting new young people and interacting with a culture that I had only ever seen in pictures. What more could a person want?

Birthright, an organization funded by the Israeli government, gives young people in the Jewish diaspora the opportunity to explore the land of Israel at a negligible cost. As I sat in Hebrew school, uncovering parts of a history to which I felt connected, I dreamed of the day that I would be old enough to go on the trip myself.

As I emerge into adulthood and develop a wider worldview, I have begun to realize that Birthright may be more controversial than I had ever imagined. The organization has brought over 600,000 young adults — 80 per cent of which are from North America — to one of the most politically complex places on earth, while claiming to be apolitical.

“The idea that the trip is somehow apolitical is to actively look away from the core purpose of the trip,” says David Zinman, cohost of TREYF, a podcast that discusses politics in North American Jewish communities.
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Free booze and booty calls with soldiers

Corey Balsam, the national coordinator of Independent Jewish Voices Canada, says that Birthright doesn’t have to be overtly political to be political. “When they say it’s apolitical, the middle is still quite Zionist and very much in support of that project,” he says.

Balsam went on the trip with Birthright in 2003. “There’s a long history of me being attracted to Israel for various reasons. Mainstream Jewish upbringings can do that,” he says.

His grandfather was a Holocaust survivor, which created a very strong image of Israel for him. He went to have fun — “They make it so that it’s jam-packed with all sorts of great stuff. They pay for your alcohol and they actually encourage you to make babies.” Balsam felt pressure to embrace his environment and keep his critical perspectives to himself.

Israeli soldiers are part of the Birthright trip. “The idea of this is so you can see them as a peer,” says Balsam, adding that although it’s fine to humanize everyone, this is an intentional strategy that creates concern.

“You are less likely to criticize the Israeli army because you made that connection, and you’ve likely slept with one of them,” he says. “It is very problematic that youth fetishize the soldiers and Israelis.”

‘If people see what they are not supposed to see, forget it, it’s done.’

The issues with Birthright begin with its name. Being born Jewish does not mean that Israel is your birthright. Growing up, I have felt spiritually connected to Israel, yet in a real sense, Israel is not my home.

The dissonance between Palestinians being barred from their homes and North American Jews being flown to their “birthright” for free is extremely unsettling. The danger is that Birthright can create a real sense of belonging.

“It’s intoxicating with this feeling of belonging and connection and the sense you have control and ownership over this land. It is for our own egos and our own identities,” says Balsam.

Stepping off the plane and seeing a sign that says “Welcome Home” can really get into the heads of bright-eyed North Americans Jews.

“If there were to be a trip that takes Jews to truly see Israel and Palestine, all the different aspects, beautiful and ugly, that would be something totally different,” says Balsam. “In the end, that would serve fundamentally the opposite purpose. If people see what they are not supposed to see, forget it, it’s done.”

Whose birthright is it?

Rana Nazzal, a Palestinian artist and activist who grew up in Canada, explains that the idea of birthright is a difficult one.

“As a Palestinian, I am a daughter of a refugee and a Palestinian in the West Bank. So, on the one hand, my father who was born in Tiberias and [lived] there until he was seven years old is not able to return to his hometown, while students who were in high school with me, with no familial ties to the region, were able to go and claim their quote unquote ‘birthright.’”

Nazzal has inherited her mother’s Palestinian citizenship. Her mother is not a refugee but is still not allowed to go to Tiberias. Although she has a West Bank ID, she is only allowed access to a very small part of the West Bank. For example, she’s not able to access the Dead Sea.

“It’s always difficult when you have international friends who are visiting, who have the ability to go see your hometown and you can’t see it,” says Nazzal.

There’s much more going on with Birthright than the organization lets on, according to Nazzal. “They are not just bringing young people on these trips, they are also taking them on this very choreographed propaganda tour to sell them a certain idea of Israel.”

“Israel has a concept about who their ideal citizen is and they are not shy about it — this is the Ashkenazi Jew,” says Nazzal, explaining how Israel functions as an apartheid state through racial and ethnoreligious discrimination.

The ‘demographic threat’

Zinman thinks Birthright’s claim to be apolitical is ridiculous. “The purpose of Birthright,” Zinman says, “is to reinforce colonialism in Palestine, by encouraging Jews in Canada and the U.S. to participate in advocacy against what Israel sees as a ‘demographic threat.’”

Israeli politicians often use this term to create fear about the growth of a non-Jewish majority in Israel — Nazzal says that her father can’t return because he’s viewed as a demographic threat.

To achieve a majority Jewish population, Israel needs Jewish immigration, says Zinman. Zionists call this “aliyah.” This is one of Birthright’s aims: to encourage settlement by American and Canadian Jews. Those diasporic Jews who go on a Birthright trip and do not move to Israel will likely advocate for others to continue colonization.

For Nazzal, the conflict is not between Jews and Palestinians. The problem lies with Zionism.

“Often people try and transform this into a religious issue. One of the things I appreciate about living in Canada is that I have met so many non-Zionist Jews, and I know that most people I have met are against militarization and Zionism in general.”

The issue with organizations like Birthright is that they enforce the disconnect between cultures.

“I think one of the hardest things that we confront is just this very persistent dehumanization of Palestinians that has happened for so long,” says Nazzal.

A propaganda trip

Almost 20 years ago, Montrealer David Goldapple went on a Birthright trip. He went wanted to go on a vacation with his friends. He expected a focus on creating a stronger connection to Israel but found the trip relied on propaganda.

“At the time I was dating someone who was not Jewish,” says Goldapple. He felt uncomfortable on the trip because of an emphasis on the virtues of having children with other Jews.

“I would say that the goal is almost explicitly to get Jews together, procreate and move to Israel. They bring you in a lot of situations where there’s nothing to do but get drunk and hook up, and I was a bit disappointed with the trip that way.”

Should Birthright add more education to its programming? Zinman doesn’t think this is the solution. “The more information that Jewish youths around the world can have about colonial violence in Palestine, the better, but I don’t believe the goal should be to get programs that further colonialism in Palestine to just be more informative about Israeli violence. I believe the goal should be to end colonialism,” says Zinman.

The only way to legitimize such a trip, according to Balsam, would be to have the participants spend significant time in the places that they weren’t “supposed” to see.

Diasporic Jews hold a lot of privilege in being able to access Israel and Palestine. To not use this privilege to understand their surroundings, to speak to people back home and share their experiences, is fundamentally irresponsible.