Israel Tour

From Powerbase
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Summer tour of Israel for British Jewish 16-year-olds, run by Zionist youth movements and subsidised by UJIA under its "UJIA Israel Experience" brand

Israel Tour

Type Youth-movement summer programme
Area served Jewish 16-year-olds in the UK, mainly after GCSEs
Services Three- to four-week group tours of Israel
Website ujia.org/israel-tour
Remarks Subsidised by the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA), with bursaries, loans and Mosaic subsidies; itineraries planned with Israel Experience, which RSY-Netzer describes as "part of the Jewish Agency and UJIA"

Israel Tour is a summer trip to Israel taken by British Jewish teenagers, usually at 16, after their GCSEs. It is run by the UK's Zionist and communal youth movements and promoted and subsidised by the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) under the name "UJIA Israel Experience: Summer Israel Tours".[1] UJIA calls it one of the "essential rites of passage" for young British Jews and says it is committed to ensuring "that no Jewish 16-year-old or 18-year-old misses out". It also says "Israel's centrality to Jewish identity and community leadership is increasingly under challenge".[2]

UJIA's accounts record 767 participants in 20 groups in summer 2025, supported by more than £210,000 in bursaries, loans and subsidies.[3] Published itineraries include a military cemetery, a lone soldier's grave, a visit to the Magen David Adom command centre, the City of David site in Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem,[4] and, in Bnei Akiva's case, training in the army's Gadna scheme.[5]

Organisers

UJIA links to the movements it works with, which it says "run varied programmes which cater for diverse religious identities within the UK Jewish community". Its Israel Tour page, checked on 23 October 2026, lists Bnei Akiva, BBYO, Ezra, the Federation of Zionist Youth (FZY), Habonim Dror, JLGB, LJY-Netzer, Noam, RSY-Netzer, Sinai and Tribe.[1]

Tour logistics run through Israel Experience. RSY-Netzer's information for parents says it "works closely with Israel Experience (both in the UK and Israel), which is part of the Jewish Agency and UJIA". It says Israel Experience "maintains contact with the appropriate Israeli security authorities who check all our itineraries on a daily basis". Its leaders also "consult daily with the Security Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel who are in constant contact with the government, police, and military authorities".[6] World Bnei Akiva says it keeps "daily contact with Moked Teva, the Israeli Ministry of Education's situation room, which coordinates directly with key security bodies in Israel, including Government ministries, the Police and IDF".[5]

Numbers and subsidies

Israel Tour participants and financial support
Summer Participants Groups Financial support
2011 1,600 (Jewish Chronicle) – more than £215,000 for around 400 young people
2024 489 14 groups, 6 youth movements over £110,000 in means-tested bursaries to more than 70 participants, plus interest-free loans
2025 767 20 more than £210,000 in bursaries, loans and Mosaic subsidies

The 2011 figures come from the Jewish Chronicle, which reported that "one-in-four of the 1,600 British and Irish teenagers joining Israel tours" were receiving UJIA support.[7] The later figures come from UJIA's accounts. The 2024 accounts call Israel Tour "a rite-of-passage experience for British Jewish teens". They describe the loans as help for the "squeezed middle", families "not eligible for a bursary but are still struggling to meet the full cost".[8] The 2025 accounts say UJIA trained 49 madrichim (leaders), and that after "disruption caused by the Iran conflict, participant retention stood at 93%".[3]

UJIA's financial assistance page sets out three routes:[2]

  • hardship funding for families on means-tested benefits;
  • means-tested bursaries where gross household income does not exceed £85,000;
  • interest-free loans of "up to 60% of the cost of tour".

Its tour page says that for 2025/6 it secured funding from Mosaic for "subsidies of up to £2,200".[1]

UJIA's 2025 accounts state that "all funds allocated by the Charity for expenditure in Israel are restricted to projects within its internationally recognised borders".[3]

Itineraries

FZY

The Federation of Zionist Youth's tour page promises "three weeks of unforgettable memories". Its sample activities include:[4]

  • "Tour of Mount Herzl Military Cemetery" and "Visit grave of a Lone Soldier from the UK" (see Lone soldiers);
  • "Visit to MDA command centre in Jerusalem". By Israeli law, Magen David Adom is an auxiliary to the army's medical service in wartime (see Magen David Adom UK);[9]
  • "Tour of the City of David", a site in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem;
  • "Visit to Hostage Square", "Night out in Eilat + Border Tour" and tree planting.

Bnei Akiva

In 2011 the Jewish Chronicle reported that "for the first time, Bnei Akiva participants will take part in the army's Gadna military service preparation scheme". The same report said some groups would "walk along the West Bank security barrier".[7] World Bnei Akiva's Machane Israel 2025, open to "European applicants" at 3000€ (not including flights), invited participants to "Train like a soldier in Gadna". Its itinerary listed a "Talk with IDF wounded soldier", an "Army Day & Mount Herzl", Ammunition Hill in East Jerusalem, the "Kfar Etzion interactive museum" in the occupied West Bank, and "Volunteering in Gaza Envelope & Sderot".[5] UJIA's directory has an entry for a "Bnei Akiva Israel Machane".[10]

RSY-Netzer

RSY-Netzer describes its tour as a trip that will "introduce what it means to be a Reform Zionist", including "the Kotel or Ammunition Hill".[11] Its parents' page says "RSY-Netzer groups do not travel in the West Bank or in or near the Gaza Strip" and that groups are "accompanied by an Israeli security guard at all times".[6]

After the tour

UJIA says that for many participants Israel Tour "is part of a journey with their chosen Youth Movement".[1] Movements follow it with gap years in Israel, among them the FZY Year Course, Bnei Akiva's Kadima and Mechina Olamit, and RSY-Netzer and LJY-Netzer's Shnat Netzer. Many of these are funded through Masa Israel Journey and UJIA, and some offer the army's Marva course.[12][13] UJIA's Gap Year Scholars scheme requires that scholars "must intend to return to the UK".[14]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 United Jewish Israel Appeal, Israel Tour ujia.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 United Jewish Israel Appeal, Financial Assistance ujia.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United Jewish Israel Appeal, Annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2025 Charity Commission register, accessed 23 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Federation of Zionist Youth, Tour: Programme Breakdown fzy.org.uk, accessed 23 October 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 World Bnei Akiva, Machane Israel worldbneiakiva.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 RSY-Netzer, Parents' Information rsy-netzer.org.uk, accessed 23 October 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jennifer Lipman, Jewish Chronicle, 14 July 2011, "A quarter of tour-goers need cash support", accessed 23 October 2026.
  8. ↑ United Jewish Israel Appeal, Annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2024 Charity Commission register, accessed 23 October 2026.
  9. ↑ Magen David Adom Law 5710/1950, as amended 5736/1976 solutions.ifrc.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  10. ↑ United Jewish Israel Appeal, Bnei Akiva Israel Machane ujia.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  11. ↑ RSY-Netzer, What We Do rsy-netzer.org.uk, accessed 23 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Federation of Zionist Youth, About 1 fzy.org.uk, accessed 23 October 2026.
  13. ↑ World Bnei Akiva, Kadima: World Bnei Akiva, Modern Orthodox Israel Gap Year worldbneiakiva.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
  14. ↑ United Jewish Israel Appeal, Gap Year Scholars ujia.org, accessed 23 October 2026.
Retrieved from "https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Israel_Tour&oldid=296102"