AIPAC Regional Director Visits Milton

By ELEANOR RAINE ‘21

Every Wednesday, Milton students hurry from first period class to yet another speaker talking about the inclusion ideals Milton strives for. Most of these speakers are very similar. This week, however, Jewish Student Union (JSU) brought in Eric Giesser, the regional director of AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee). For the past 20 years, Mr. Giesser has been educating people all over New England about American Israeli affairs. A co-head of JSU, Jonah Bussgang ’20 invited Giesser because Jonah is “very familiar with AIPAC's work and thought it would be interesting to have Mr. Giesser on campus to talk.” 

During the 2nd period assembly, Giesser educated Class II students on the ongoing conflict and answered their questions. Instead of Milton’s frequent assemblies on speakers’ sometimes unrelatable personal experiences, Giesser provided much needed background on American-Israeli affairs, a critical current conflict. After the discussion, Jonah stressed the importance of starting a “campus-wide conversation on the topic.” Chloe Brenner ‘20, the other co-head of JSU, added that “we do need to have more open conversations.”

Contrarily, Jana Amin ‘21 was disappointed in Giesser’s ommission of Palestinian views. He mentioned the Palestinians when people began to ask questions, but by “talking for 35-40 minutes about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict without even mentioning the Palestinians, … students walk away believing every word he said, thinking all Palestinians want to destroy Israel and are this big, bad, powerful wolf type persona.” This assembly opened up a greater discussion for students with varying beliefs on the matter.

At Milton, students have many different experiences as members of the Jewish community. Jonah said that “being a Zionist at Milton is difficult” and that “students create anti-Israeli notions...without understanding the other side of the argument”; moreover, he has “had difficult conversations with students that subconsciously say some anti-Semitic things.” The combination of these experiences emphasized to Jonah the importance of bringing in such a strong Zionist leader. 

Gracie Denneen ‘21, on the other hand, remarked that she “feels very welcome as a Jewish person.” Even though she has sometimes encountered people “making jokes,” she “hasn’t run into the situation often.” Sadie Pearlstein ‘21 stated that she’s “never felt any sort of anti-Semitism at Milton.” She added that “often people just don’t understand what the holidays are or what Judaiasm stands for, so they could make ignorant comments.” Nevertheless, the conversations that this assembly hopefully provoked are crucial in furthering the student body’s understanding of this conflict.

The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict affects many people around the world, not just in Israel and Palestine. Because of its historical and religious weight, this conflict is very difficult to talk about. Yes, as Jonah said, “discussing topics like these can be very awkward, uncomfortable, and many times hurtful, but these challenging conversations are so imperative in moving towards understanding and peace.”

Image courtesy of aipac.org