Category: Uncategorized

Source: The Times of Israel

DURING TIME OF INCREASED CONFLICT IN ISRAEL, A RECORD-BREAKING $12M IS RAISED AT AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM EVENT

BY KELLY HARTOG October 25, 2015, 11:06 pm

LOS ANGELES — It was an evening to rival any number of Los Angeles red carpet events as The American Friends of Magen David Adom celebrated its third annual Red Star Ball at the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom on October 22.

Men donned smart suits and tuxedos and women shimmied in tulle, taffeta and silk, many in MDA’s signature red and black colors as they sat down to a three-course dinner at the fundraising event.

Celebrity attendees included an Israeli film star making her mark in Hollywood, Odeya Rush, actress Karla Souza (“How to Get Away with Murder”), Michael Richards (who played Kramer on “Seinfeld”), and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who was the special guest performer of the evening.

A longtime American Red Cross supporter (Magen David Adom is its Israeli affiliate), Seinfeld performed a 30-minute set that comes before his Israeli stand-up debut, with four sold-out shows this December.

 

According to a recent Maxim magazine, Seinfeld is the highest paid comedian of 2015. Also a well-known philanthropist, Seinfeld is attached to several charities, including his wife Jessica’s Baby Buggy initiative, and has made “surprise” appearances for other foundations, including at a Gregg’s Gift comedy nightdedicated in the name of Gregg Grossman who died of addiction problems at 27.

But it was the cancellation of a charity appearance that in 2011 sparked a high-profile media row between the comedian and the Donald.

Seinfeld, who has donated to both Democrat and Republican politicians’ campaigns, pulled out of an Eric Trump Foundation benefit, to be hosted by father Donald, aiding the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital because the comic was “increasingly uncomfortable” with the current leading Republican candidate’s personal attacks against US President Barack Obama.

It’s unlikely Seinfeld would be welcomed at a Trump White House: Back in 2011, as an end-cap to the Trump affair, the star told Extra, “Let me say this about Donald Trump. I love Donald Trump, all comedians love Donald Trump. If God gave comedians the power to invent people, the first person we would invent is Donald Trump… God’s gift to comedy.”

At the LA charity ball, following a short film showing Magen David Adom volunteers at work in life-threatening situations, Seinfeld quipped, “I always like to perform after emergency activities are shown with injured people and blood flowing. Perhaps we’ll have a little more blood flowing tonight after my show.”

But as the video made clear, this wasn’t just an evening of glitz and glamour. It was also one of gravitas. AFMDA set a $10 million fundraising target for the night to help Magen David Adom in Israel purchase among other things, new ambulances and emergency medical supplies.

The bar was set high because Magen David Adom relies solely on donations, as the Israeli government does not fund it. By evening’s end attendees had donated $12 million (double the amount raised at the 2014 ball) – including a $5 million donation from philanthropists Sheldon and Miriam Adelson. Many of the funds raised will be put toward the building of MDA’s national underground blood services center.

The center will eventually house and protect Israel’s entire blood supply from terror attacks and natural disasters.

Last year, the event focused on the work done by Magen David Adom during Operation Protective Edge. This year the focus turned to the recent spate of stabbing and shooting attacks around the country and the thousands of Magen David Adom volunteers who risk their lives to save others.

Dina Leeds, who hosted the evening with her husband, Fred, read out a list of sobering statistics, noting that between October 1 and October 20, MDA teams have provided medical treatment for 174 casualties in Israel. Of those, many were treated for shock, 115 were injured, 78 are listed in mild condition, 18 in moderate condition, 11 in severe condition and nine have died. Leeds then went on to name each of the nine individuals that were murdered.

In what has become a tradition of the gala, AFMDA flew out several MDA volunteers and those who have been helped by MDA in Israel. Among them was Hananel Alvo, who several years ago was stabbed on his way to work. Thanks to the life-saving work of MDA paramedics, Alvo survived severe injuries and decided to give back by becoming an MDA paramedic.

The night was also an opportunity to honor several individuals who continue to support Magen David Adom and the State of Israel. Ruth Flinkman-Marandy and Ben Marandy received the Lifetime Achievement Award, while philanthropists Gila and Adam Milstein received the Humanitarian Award. They are the founders of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, which supports 80 Jewish and Israeli organizations.

Israeli-born Milstein said, “Tonight our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters in Israel who are now facing a wave of terror attacks. Moments like this bring great focus to simple truths. Our support for Magen David Adom means no less than the difference between life and death.”

He went on to speak of two recent stabbing victims: a 13-year-old Pisgat Ze’ev boy and the 20-year-old female soldier stabbed in the West Bank just north of Jerusalem. Both, he said, are alive today thanks to the lifesaving efforts of MDA emergency services that were on the scene within minutes.

Ensuring that AFMDA continues its efforts by reaching out to the younger generation, Barak Raviv was honored with the Next Generation Award. A senior vice president and portfolio management director at Morgan Stanley in Los Angeles, Raviv also has his own foundation and recently donated a pediatric examination room at Share Zedek medical center in Jerusalem.

In a short film clip, Raviv said, “But the charity that is closest to my heart is Magen David Adom. Their humanitarian efforts around the globe impressed me and I wanted to be a part of it. I partnered with friends and donated my first ambulance to MDA at the age of 30.” He’s since donated several more.

Accepting the award, Raviv said, “There is no question that Magen David Adom is the margin between life and death. Make no mistake — there will be more attacks, more rockets will be fired and unfortunately more missiles will be launched. And when we ask ourselves, ‘What have we done to help the people of Israel?’ you will be able to proudly stand and say, ‘I was here. I funded the underground blood center; I helped save lives in Israel.’”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Source: JNS.org

(JNS.org) The fast-growing Israeli American Council (IAC) recently drew 1,300 Israeli Americans to its second annual national national conference in Washington, DC, with conference sessions ranging from the Iran nuclear deal to Israeli culture to fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Expanding beyond its Los Angeles headquarters in recent years, the fast-growing IAC says it now reaches 250,000 people nationwide through its nine regional offices.

“We have become a movement,” said IAC National Chairman Adam Milstein. “America is our home. Israel will always be our Jewish homeland. And as Americans of Israeli descent we are uniquely positioned to strengthen the relationship between both countries.”

At the Oct. 17-19 conference, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer said IAC “represents a powerful idea whose time has come.”

“If Israel’s enemies can’t do it with their armies, and they can’t do it with terror, they’re going to try to do with an economic boycott. This is what the IAC is here for,” said U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.).

JNS.org profiled IAC before its first national conference was held in November 2014.

“I think the Israeli people are best equipped to communicate the truth about Israel, because they are not naive like many in the American Jewish community,” Milstein told JNS.org at the time. “They know the Israeli people, they know that we have very high standards of human rights and freedom, they know the propaganda war of Hamas and Iran.”

IAC is the lead partner in the launching of the new Talk Israel mobile app, which calls itself the “first mobile app to bring you pro-Israel digital content from dozens of sources tailored to your personal preferences and interests using machine learning.”

By Jacob Kamaras/JNS.org

Israel news is abound these days, and myriad sources from the mainstream to the niche are serving it up—particularly during times like the current wave of Palestinian terrorism. But which content should a pro-Israel advocate read, trust, and share with others to make an impact?

The recently launched Talk Israel mobile app seeks to give a well-organized and personalized feel to Israel news consumers’ content experience. Calling itself the “first mobile app to bring you pro-Israel digital content from dozens of sources tailored to your personal preferences and interests using machine learning,” Talk Israel culls content from various sources, analyzes it, and crafts a personal news feed (called “My Stream”) for each user based on both their preferences among pre-selected news categories and the stories they read once they are using the app.

The objective? Getting Israel supporters—through the vehicle of the news and information they read and share—to do more than preach to the choir.

“The challenge that we looked at, and wanted to give a technological solution to in this case, was bringing pro-Israel content beyond the base,” Dr. Amir Give’on, Talk Israel’s co-founder and CEO, tells JNS.org.

The app was launched with the support of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation and with the Israeli-American Council as its lead partner.

From Give’on’s perspective, a particular circle of individuals might either only talk amongst themselves or encounter those whose arguments they clearly disagree with. Those two extremes, he says, each represent about 10 percent of the population on any given issue—but Talk Israel’s goal is for pro-Israel content to reach the other 80 percent.

“We wanted to create an app that pro-Israel activists would be able to receive and see content based on their own personal preferences,” says Give’on, a former aerospace engineer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We believe that if people get things that are more relevant to them personally, they’ll talk about it more and they’ll be able to reach outside their circle.”

So how does it all work?

First, Talk Israel monitors and aggregates Israel content through Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds. Once a piece of relevant content is identified, it moves to the analysis phase, in which Talk Israel breaks the content down into 50 different “DNA” elements, as Give’on calls them. For instance: Is it light or serious? Is it short or long? Is it a video or text, or text accompanied by a video?

Users downloading the app can customize their content preferences from a menu of topics including medicine, environment/agriculture, human right, sports, science, arts and entertainment, coexistence, technology, business/economics, lifestyle/food/travel, BDS, terrorism, anti-Semitism, Hamas, Iran, IDF morality, and more.

But the customization doesn’t stop there. Just like each piece of content on Talk Israel has “DNA,” so does each user—not only through their pre-selected topic preferences, but through the ongoing choices they make while using the app. On their personalized content menu, they can swipe left to bypass an article, swipe right to save it, or click it to go to the original piece, where they can also share the content via text, email, and Facebook. Throughout the process, Talk Israel builds its users’ DNA based on what type of content they are reading and how they are engaging with the content, and then feeds users future content based on their DNA.

As Talk Israel also understands that it doesn’t “know everything” about a user even with their DNA at hand, says Give’on, the app occasionally experiments by sending users a piece of content that they wouldn’t normally select. “Every once in a while, we throw something at them different,” he says, so that users’ DNA can be adjusted. For example, particular users who haven’t selected food or technology stories in the past would perhaps be interested in such content if exposed to it.

Besides their personalized news feeds, users can see menus of recent or trending content, or select articles by topic.

Of particular importance to Talk Israel, says Give’on, is that users share content.

“If I notice you read a lot technology, but you share human rights, I’ll show you more human rights,” he says of the app’s algorithm.

Media outlets or other content providers, in turn, can submit their work to the app at http://talkisrael.org/submit-content/.

“Our goal is really to bring in organizations, to bring in content creators, and really see what they want,” Give’on says, explaining that he can offer content producers information such as how far down a Talk Israel user is reading within their article.

Give’on says he believes pro-Israel organizations “all have the same mission” despite approaching it from different angles—which is precisely where the Milstein foundation comes in. The Los Angeles-based foundation supports a diverse group of more than 60 pro-Israel organizations.

Hadas Sella, the Milstein Family Foundation’s executive director, calls Talk Israel’s leaders—including Give’on, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Gadi Rouache, and Chief Technology Officer Daphna Wegner—a “brilliant team” to work with. She stresses the foundation’s “reputation as connectors” in the pro-Israel world as an important benefit for Talk Israel, while Give’on similarly expresses that the app was looking for partners to “jump in and really be part of this team” rather than hands-off investors.

“We knew we needed a partner with the connections and passion to bring everything to the table…we needed more than just the funding to do this,” he says.

“It’s so refreshing to the non-profit world to have this business-minded, technology-oriented product,” says Sella.

The Talk Israel app can be downloaded in the iTunes App Store here or in Google Play here.

Download this story in Microsoft Word format here.

Source: CNN iReport

The State of Israel continues to be a very relevant topic in the news on an almost daily basis. It is a state of rich history and continues to evolve, however most of us read about Israel but that is about as far as it goes. Adam Milstein has made it his mission to do what he can to support Israel for younger and older generations. It is clear what his mission is and how he is going to get there. I urge you all to watch the video and learn more about Adam and his strategic vision. Adam Milstein is a leader of the Israeli-American community and passionate champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Learn about his vision for strengthening the ties between these two like minded nations.

 

 

Adam Milstein to Chair National IAC Board; Shoham Nicolet to become Chief Executive Officer

By educating, engaging, organizing, and mobilizing Israeli-Americans, the IAC will continue to play a vital role in strengthening the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the U.S.-Israel alliance.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (PRWEB) SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

This week, the Israeli American Council (IAC) announced new appointments to its top lay leadership and professional positions, with Adam Milstein becoming Chairman of the organization’s National Board of Directors and Shoham Nicolet taking over as Chief Executive Officer. Milstein and Nicolet will begin their new roles in October, taking the helm of America’s fastest growing Jewish organization, which now includes seven regional offices, and a significant membership presence across the country. Both appointments will be marked in a ceremony during the National Israeli-American Conference, hosted by the IAC, which will take place in Washington, DC from October 17-19, 2015.

“I am honored and excited to assume the IAC chairmanship at this important moment for the Jewish people,” Adam Milstein said. “By educating, engaging, organizing, and mobilizing Israeli-Americans, the IAC will continue to play a vital role in strengthening the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the U.S.-Israel alliance. I look forward to working with our national and regional leadership, nationwide staff, and partners to advance the IAC’s mission on a range of issues – from promoting Jewish and Israeli identity, to fighting the delegitimization of Israel, to building bridges between our community and others across the United States.”

A native of Israel and a co-founder of the IAC, Milstein is the managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties, a private commercial real estate investment firm, and the President of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, which focuses on strengthening the State of Israel and the Jewish People. Over the past two years, he has spearheaded the effort to rapidly grow the IAC by setting up local councils across the U.S. He recently formed the organization’s task force dedicated to fighting the delegitimization of Israel. Milstein also co-founded the IAC’s Sifriyat Pijama B’America program, a Hebrew and Jewish family engagement literacy initiative that mails free, high-quality Hebrew Jewish children’s literature and music on a monthly basis to children ages 2-8 throughout the United States.
Milstein serves on the boards of more than a dozen non-profit organizations, including StandWithUs, the Israel on Campus Coalition, the Jewish Funders Network, Hasbara Fellowships, the Los Angeles Board of Birthright Israel and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) National Council. Milstein served in the IDF during the Yom Kippur War and graduated from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in 1978. Upon arriving in the U.S. in 1981, he earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California.

Shoham Nicolet will take over as the Chief Executive Officer of the IAC. A seasoned social entrepreneur, Nicolet was the founding CEO of the IAC eight years ago, serving in that role for four years, until he transitioned onto the IAC National Board in 2011. A native Israeli, Nicolet was a lieutenant in the IDF. He is an expert in collaborative technologies and online learning. Nicolet is the co-founder of the collaborative messaging platform hivve.me, a board member of the Reut Institute — a strategy group focused on issues related to Israel and the Jewish world — and a board member of ICON, a non-profit connecting Israelis and Americans working in the Silicon Valley. He received his B.A. in Business and MBA from American Jewish University.
“I am thrilled to be returning to the IAC full-time as CEO,” said Shoham Nicolet. “What began as a conversation amongst a few friends in 2007 has grown into a national movement – and a critical bridge between the U.S. and Israel. I have been honored to be a part of this effort – and look forward to joining forces with Adam Milstein, our national and local boards, and our professional staff to help build on the organization’s great success and advance its vital mission in the years to come.”

About the IAC: Headquartered in Los Angeles, the IAC is committed to building an engaged and united Israeli-American community that strengthens our next generations, the American Jewish community, and the State of Israel. The IAC strives to achieve these goals through programs and events for all ages – and by empowering and supporting a wide array of non-profit organizations within the Israeli-American community.

For more information about the Israeli-American Council, please visit http://www.israeliamerican.org

For more information about the second National Israeli-American Conference and to register, please visit http://iackenes.org

Posted on September 17, 2015 by: JNS

From left to right: former Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and Jewish philanthropist Adam Milstein at the Israeli-American Council’s first-ever national conference in Washington, DC, in November 2014. Credit: Shahar Azran.

(JNS.org) The Israeli-American Council (IAC), an organization providing various means of support for the estimated Israeli-American population of 500,000-800,000, has named new top professional and lay leaders in advance of the group’s second annual national conference.

Philanthropist and businessman Adam Milstein—president of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, which supports more than 60 Jewish and pro-Israel organizations—will be the new chairman of the IAC’s board of directors. Shoham Nicolet, a social entrepreneur who co-founded the collaborative messaging platform hivve.me, will be the IAC’s new CEO.

The IAC’s stated mission is “to build an active and giving Israeli-American community throughout the United States in order to strengthen the State of Israel, our next generation, and to provide a bridge to the Jewish-American community.” The organization has regional offices in Los Angeles, Boston, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC. The IAC’s own programming and other programs it sponsors combine to reach 200,000 Israeli Americans annually.

“I am honored and excited to assume the IAC chairmanship at this important moment for the Jewish people,” Adam Milstein said. “By educating, engaging, organizing, and mobilizing Israeli-Americans, the IAC will continue to play a vital role in strengthening the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the U.S.-Israel alliance.”

From Oct. 17-19, the IAC will hold its second National Israeli-American Conference in Washington, DC. Last year’s major speakers included former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman.

Nicolet is returning to the IAC staff after previously serving as its founding CEO for four years.

“What began as a conversation amongst a few friends in 2007 has grown into a national movement—and a critical bridge between the U.S. and Israel,” he said.

At the Adam and Gila Milstein foundation, we often find ourselves doing a million things at once: evaluating grant applications and pitches from organizations seeking our support, linking our partner organizations with one another, responding to media outlets seeking our input, and (my personal favorite) getting new and exciting initiatives off the ground. The list goes on and on.

We try our best to remain connected with every single passionate person looking to become more involved in the fight to defend Israel and safeguard the Jewish homeland.

At the Foundation, we answer every single email looking for the opportunity to get involved with pro-Israel activism or looking for a place to critically engage with Israel.

In the hopes of offering a more comprehensive and efficient platform to have everyone’s questions answered, I’m writing a three-part series of blogs offering advice on how you can get involved to make a big difference today. Below you will find my second blog.

 

Part 2: Campus Battlegrounds

In my first post, I talked about the vital role education plays in developing a community of activists.  The atmosphere on American college campuses today crystallizes the importance of education in our fight to defend the Israel. American college campuses are at the epicenter of a growing movement to delegitimize and destroy the state of Israel. With the effective advocacy strategies, we can harness the power of our community to reverse the growing tide of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism on college campuses. Here’s how:

____

1. On Campus:

For the first time in history, American college campuses no longer have a pro-Israel majority. The movement to delegitimize Israel is gaining traction, and there is a pressing need for our pro-Israel students, academics, and community leaders to fight back.

• “Know Your Rights” is a new legal handbook for students that was created at the request of students and with the input of constitutional lawyers. The booklet informs students of their rights on campus and apprises them of effective ways to fight anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and BDS.

• http://www.endbds.com/or 1.844.END.BDS7 are a website and hotline that connect pro-bono lawyers with pro-Israel students, faculty, community members, and businesses combatting anti-Israel activity in need of legal help. Students and others can complete an online intake form or call the hotline to receive free legal help.

• University faculty are encouraged to join Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME).

• Students are encouraged to join one or more of the following pro-Israel student organizations:
  • AEPI (the Jewish fraternity)
  • Chabad On Campus
  • Hillel
  • Mishalenu (mainly for Hebrew speakers)
  • Students Supporting Israel
  • If you are in Southern California, check out Jewish Awareness Movement (JAM)

If you’re in New York, try to get involved with Fuel for Truth

• Become a campus fellow for one of the following organizations:
  • CAMERA, CAMERA on Campus
  • Hasbara fellowships, Israel Program
  • StandWithUs, Emerson Fellowship

• Apply for micro-grants for pro-Israel activism*:
  • Hasbara Fellowships – Grant Request Form
  • Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) – ICC Microgrants
  • Milstein Family Foundation (yes, self-promotion) – Milstein Micro-Grants for Student Led Initiatives

* I am not a student, and I am sure that there are plenty of other wonderful opportunities out there for grants – please write to me to inform me of other resources that are available to students.

 

2. In High School:

Engaging students is a critical part of cultivating pro-Israel activism. But we can’t limit our focus to college campuses — we need to engage students at a young age, beginning in high school.

There are numerous organizations and programs specifically for high school students. Some of the best include:

• AIPAC Schusterman high school program
• Alexander Muss High School in Israel
• BBYO
• Bnei Akiva
• iCenter
• Israel Scouts (Tzofim)
• Jewish National Fund
• Jewish Student Union (JSU)
• NCSY
• StandWithUs
• Step Up for Israel
• United Synagogue Youth (USY)
• Most local Federation and synagogues have high school programs that engage teens with Israel

 

3. Parents:

• Send your child to Israel, period. Exposing teenagers and young adults to Israel can be an important step in cultivating a relationship with Israel. Birthright Israel, for example, is both fun and educational.
• Make sure your son or daughter is familiar with all of the aforementioned organizations, as well as:
  • AIPAC
  • The Israeli American Council (IAC)
  • Christians United for Israel (CUFI)

• Get involved yourself. Parents can request to meet with school officials to discuss what the administration is doing to ensure that the campus is a safe, open, and friendly environment for Jewish and pro-Israel students.

 

4. Engage your alma mater:

For those of us who went to university, our alumni networks are a powerful, yet often untapped, network for pro-Israel advocacy.

• Connect with Amcha Initiative and CAMERA, who will help you contact college administrators and offer advice on how to engage your alumni network.
• Read and engage with your college’s newspaper. You may be shocked to learn that your campus has become increasingly hostile to Israel, and it’s important that you have facts to support the concerns you will share with college administrators and other alumni.
• If you’re a campus donor – leverage that to demand a better environment for Jewish students.

Student organizations need financial support, professional guidance, and resources. As Jewish students face increasingly hostile campus environments, support from their community is more important than ever.

 

Source: Times of Israel

The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation is proud to support AIPAC’s Campus Allies Mission, which brings non-Jewish, pro-Israel political activists to Israel for the first time. Participants learn about the importance of the relationship between the United States and Israel and gain a deeper understanding of Israel’s strategic, social, and security issues, right in the heart of the Holy Land.

One of our Campus Allies Alumni, Alex Schriver, has shared how the Campus Allies Mission has impacted his life. You can read his post below.

From 2011 to 2013, I served as the National Chairman of the College Republican National Committee. As a representative of the CRNC, I was selected along with four other young leaders to visit Israel for the first time through the AIPAC Campus Allies trip.

I was not exactly sure what to expect from this 10-day sojourn. I don’t use the term ‘life-changing’ lightly, but no other phrase feels quite right for describing my time in the Jewish State. Seeing the bible come to life before my very eyes is something I wish I could share with everyone from my church back home.

While the historical and political education I received in Israel continues to shape my views working on Capitol Hill, my time there was also an incredibly personal religious experience. I prayed at the Western Wall. I was baptized in the Jordan River— the same waters in which John baptized Jesus. I heard Mathew 5-7 read aloud at the Temple Mount, where Jesus first told his followers to “be perfect, as your Heavenly father is perfect.” And I will never forget reading John 19 at the Garden Tomb; reflecting upon our Lord’s resurrection there still gives me the chills to this day. When my plane departed from Ben Gurion Airport, I held an entirely new appreciation for the nation, people, and many cultures of modern Israel.

Today, I serve as Chief of Staff for U.S. Congressman Bradley Byrne of Alabama. I could not be more proud to work for a man who has unequivocally defends the State of Israel in both words and actions.

I will always be indebted to AIPAC Campus Allies. In just 10 days they showed me more about Israel— and myself— then I ever would have thought possible.

Source: Times of Israel

Volunteer: “What can I do to help?”

Me: “How do you want to help?”

Volunteer: “Tell me what the options are, and I’ll tell you where I can fit in”

Me: “I don’t think that’s a good idea, it’ll take me a week”.

This is an abbreviation of a real conversation I have often (including my bluntness).

As the Executive Director of the Milstein Family Foundation, I hear the question “What can I do to help?” all the time. Day after day, I meet dedicated people who want to do SOMETHING to advocate for Israel. Many just aren’t sure where to get started. And I don’t have all the answers myself. But by working for a foundation that collaborates with so many great organizations – I have some ideas.

I decided to take note of the conversations I share with our committed volunteers and streamline them into a three-part series of blogs, which offer advice on how to productively get involved in the Pro-Israel community. You’ll find my first post below.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Part 1: Education

Before anything else, education is key for becoming an effective community activist. How can you defend something you may not fully know about? How can your efforts make headway if nobody else knows what you know? How can you use the tools at your disposal to advance your cause? Here are the first few steps I recommend for success:

1. Educate yourself

Get informed. It’s tough to defend Israel without understanding what you’re defending it from, and without being fluent on the facts and talking points.

Take the time to learn the issues.  There’s no one place to learn everything, so here is a bevy of suggestions to read with your morning coffee. Most of these sources send weekly newsletters – sign up to learn what’s happening in the world and in your community! You’ll be a far more effective advocate for it. Many of these sources have Facebook and Twitter accounts worth following, as well.

• Algemeiner
• From the Grapevine
• Honest Reporting
• Israel 21c
• Israel Video Network
• Israel Up Close
• Jewish Insider
• Jewish News Service (JNS)
• MEMRI TV
• StandWithUS
• The Israel Project

 

2. Educate others

We are all ambassadors for the groups we belong to. Every day, people take my words and actions as representative of women, Jews, Israelis, lawyers, and UCLA Anderson alumni. So like it or not, all Jews are ambassadors for the Jewish State—we all have networks of friends, neighbors, and colleagues who we can and should educate about Israel. There are a variety of ways to inform others:

 

• Go to http://talkisrael.org/, an app that collects all kinds of pro-Israel news, and sign up to request their beta version.
• Attend synagogue board meetings to ensure Israel is a topic of discussion and a proud item of support.
• Bring Israeli products to work, and share! Most coworkers will love Dead Sea lotions and some good pita and hummus.
• Step Up For Israel is a revolutionary online education platform. It offer courses and other information for all ages.
• Organize a movie screening for films like Crossing the Line 2 and Beneath the Helmet.
• If you’re an Israeli-American, check to see if there is an Israeli-American Council chapter nearby and get your family and friends involved in their activities.
• Organize a speaking event. The Jewish National Fund’s Speaker Bureau is a good starting point for exciting speakers.

 

3. Social Media

Numerous studies show that people are increasingly turning to social media to get their news. It’s our responsibility to counteract all of the lies spewed about Israel with the truth. Whether you have 1 million or 10 followers, it’s important that you follow, share, tweet and pin pro-Israel content.

Likes and comments on social media are undervalued. The more buzz surrounding a post, the more exposure it will get. It can be difficult for some individuals (including non-Jews) to advertise their pro-Israel stance to the world, but having a constant stream of likes and comments gives novice activists the confidence to stay active. No matter how busy life gets, we all have a few seconds each day to like and share posts online.

Here are a few good groups to follow and share from:

• Friends of the IDF
• Open Dor Media
• Milstein Family Foundation (Of course!)
• Prager University – The Milstein Foundation is particularly proud of sponsoring “The Middle East Problem” video.
• StandWithUs
• Students Supporting Israel
• The Israel Project
• Adam Milstein on twitter.

 

Source: Times of Israel

The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation is proud to support AIPAC’s Campus Allies Mission, which brings non-Jewish, pro-Israel political activists to Israel for the first time. Participants learn about the importance of the relationship between the United States and Israel and gain a deeper understanding of Israel’s strategic, social, and security issues, right in the heart of the Holy Land.

One of our Campus Allies Alumni, Micah Fielden, has shared how the Campus Allies Mission has impacted his life. You can read his post below.

The Milstein Campus Allies Trip run by AIPAC in 2012 had a profound impact on my life. At the time, I had just finished my term as the Student Body President of the University of Kentucky. My Christian upbringing and political beliefs made me a strong supporter of Israel, but I had not yet had the chance to visit. AIPAC allowed me to see the Jewish State for the first time. It was, in a word, inspirational.

Thanks to the networking opportunities offered my AIPAC trip, I was able to make connections with high-level staffers on the Mitt Romney presidential campaign and later leverage those connections to get a job. In hindsight, its hard to believe that my path from a Romney campaign project manager in the Digital Department, to a Trip Coordinator planning rallies, events, and other logistics around the country all began with a trip to Israel. My AIPAC trip not only taught me about the Jewish State, it catapulted my career to new heights.

While working on the Campaign, I became great friends with a lady that knew of my desires to attend law school. This relationship led me to accept a position at the Georgetown University Law Center, where I am a member of the Class of 2016. I’m about to enter my final year and will be joining a firm in New York City following graduation.

I can hardly believe all the remarkable things that have come from my trip to Israel, professionally and personally. It helped refine my understanding of the US-Israel friendship, helped me find a job out of college, and ultimately gain admission to the law school of my dreams. I will be forever thankful for the generosity of the Milstein family as well as AIPAC. If my own experience is any indication of the future, I am confident Campus Allies will continue to inspire future generations of young, pro-Israel leaders.