Hundreds of Christian college students receive training to prepare them to respond to anti-Israel and antisemitic activity on campus, following incident-filled academic year.
By World Israel News Staff
Hundreds of pro-Israel Christian college students received training this weekend to prepare them to combat anti-Israel and anti-Jewish activity on campus during the coming academic year.
Passages, an organization dedicated to bringing Christian college students to Israel on organized trips – modeled after the 10-day Birthright Israel trips – held the weekend training program for over 250 Christian students and alumni in Washington DC.
The students, from dozens of universities and colleges across the U.S. and South Africa, received sessions on Israel, its history and how to advocate for the Jewish State and show solidarity with Jewish students on their campuses.
The participants also met with two families of hostages brutally taken from Israel and held in Gaza and held a prayer session with the families on the National Mall, where anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations had taken place recently while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before a joint session of Congress.
They chanted “Bring Them Home” as a group, standing behind the hostage families, and then sang Israel’s National Anthem HaTikvah.
“This was a really important weekend of training and uplifting hundreds of passionate Christian students who want to advocate for Israel and stand with their fellow Jewish students on campuses, where they are expecting an extremely challenging upcoming semester,” said Rivka Kidron, Co-Founder of Passages and a former Advisor to Israel’s Prime Minister.
“Passages was created precisely for these moments, as an organization that will be a force-multiplier to help spread Israel’s case in the places where they are most challenged. They have been given the most important tools to meet these challenges and stand with Israel and the Jewish people.”
The students met with the families of Romi Gonen and Or Levy, who were kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on October 7th, who spoke to the conference participants about their experiences and how they are working to free their relatives.
“Meeting with these passionate Christian students has been an extremely uplifting experience for us,” said Yarden Gonen, Romi’s sister, who has become one of the faces of the hostage families around the world.
“We know that they have taken on our mission of ensuring that our loved ones are not forgotten, and that they will share our stories with their families, friends, churches, communities and on their campuses.”
“It was a special moment for us to feel their love, hear their prayers and their chants of “Bring Them Home” in the heart of Washington, openly and proudly, and that they will maintain this passion and commitment until all of the hostages have been brought home.”
Passages also had a delegation of South African students which was brought by South African Friends of Israel, who face arguably even greater challenges back on their campuses, in a nation whose government has taken an extremely hostile position towards Israel.
“We at South African Friends of Israel thank Passages for inviting our students to their DC conference,” said Danny Botn, CEO of South African Friends of Israel. “Our students are devoted Christians and see the importance of strengthening our bonds with Israel, especially at such a challenging times in South Africa with our government taking a discriminatory stand against the Jewish State, which is not a true reflection of the average African.”
“I am not sure there is another organization that can have such an impact on our university campuses,” said Michael McAfee, President and Founder of Inspire Experiences, which partnered with Passages to coordinate the conference. “Now better-prepared thanks to this conference, these students will go back to their campuses and create networks with other student bodies and organizations, especially Jewish and Zionist ones, to ensure that pro-Israel students are not caught unaware again, as many were last semester, when many universities became no-go areas for them.”