Taglit Birthright - Revision history

Jamie Stern-Weiner: /* History */

2014-07-02T22:48:30Z

History

David at 11:06, 17 February 2014

2014-02-17T11:06:29Z

David: /* Funding */

2014-02-13T16:23:39Z

Funding

Hilary Aked: /* History */

2013-12-27T20:33:56Z

History

David: /* Funding */

2013-09-01T10:29:24Z

Funding

David: /* Funding */

2013-09-01T10:27:09Z

Funding

David: /* Itinerary of a Taglit trip */

2013-09-01T10:23:46Z

Itinerary of a Taglit trip

David at 10:22, 1 September 2013

2013-09-01T10:22:18Z

Jamie Stern-Weiner at 16:40, 31 August 2013

2013-08-31T16:40:13Z

Jamie Stern-Weiner at 16:39, 31 August 2013

2013-08-31T16:39:03Z

Show changes

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 Between 2000-2007, more than 150,000 young Jews travelled to Israel through Taglit. The second intifada reduced numbers briefly, but they quickly recovered, and by summer 2006 the number of applications was double the number of available places (10,000). In 2007, a donation by Sheldon and Miriam Adelson through their foundation allowed Taglit to increase the number of places by more than 50%, bringing more than 30,000 people to Israel.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 13-14, 190n55</ref> In 2008 Taglit took 45,000 to Israel, after a large gift from Sheldon Adelson expanded the program's capacity.<ref>Kelner 2010, 5-6.</ref>
 In 2013 it was reported that since 2000, Birthright had brought 'over 350,000 young Jews from 64 countries to Israel'.<ref>Benji Rosen[http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Adelson-joins-900-Birthright-participants-in-celebrating-Israeli-entrepreneurship-335952 Adelson joins 900 Birthright participants in celebrating Israeli entrepreneurship], Jerusalem Post, accessed 27 December 2013</ref>
 ==Activities==

@@ Line 182: / Line 182: @@
 *[[Sheldon Adelson]] - major donor
 *[[Shimshon Shoshani]] - CEO
 ==Contact, References and Resources==

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 Taglit had an annual budget of $86 million in 2008, $76 million in 2010 and $87 million in 2011.<ref>Connie Bruck, [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/30/080630fa_fact_bruck?currentPage=all The Brass Ring: A multibillionaire’s relentless quest for global influence], New Yorker, 30 June 2008; Josh Nathan-Kazis, [http://forward.com/articles/134636/government-of-israel-to-give-more-to-birthright-pr/ Government of Israel To Give More to Birthright Program], ''Forward'', 21 January 2011</ref>. Much of this is provided by the billionaire casino tycoon [[Sheldon Adelson]], who donated $5 million to Taglit in 2006,<ref>Ynet, [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3436025,00.html Adelson family donates $30 million to Taglit-birthright Israel], 12 August 2007</ref>, $36 million in 2007,<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2007/047/024/2007-047024330-0472d4aa-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2007)], p. 11</ref>, $27.5 million in 2008,<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/047/024/2008-047024330-0578795f-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2008)], p. 11</ref>, $21.35 million in 2009,<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2009/047/024/2009-047024330-06890b25-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2009)], p. 11</ref> $9 million in 2010<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2010/047/024/2010-047024330-07a71b72-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2010)], p. 11</ref> and $8.8 million in 2011.<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2011/047/024/2011-047024330-08b952de-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2011)], p. 11</ref> In 2013 Adelson pledged $40 million to the [[Birthright Israel Foundation]], bringing the overall donations to Taglit by him and his wife [[Miriam Adelson]] to a reported $180 million.<ref>JTA, [http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/adelsons-donate-40-million-to-birthright-1.525693 Adelsons donate $40 million to Birthright], ''Ha'aretz'', 23 May 2013</ref>
-When the Adelson Foundation announced that it would halve donations to Taglit in 2009 and 2010, Taglit cut the number of Jews it sent to Israel to 30,000, from 42,000 in 2008. In response the Israeli government announced that it would increase its contributions, from $26 million in 2011 to $40 million in 2013. As part of this arrangement the Birthright Israeli Foundation also had to increase its fundraising, which it sought to do not only through large individual donations - which make up 60-70% of the total raised by the Foundation - but by expanding its smaller donor base. 14,000 individuals gave to Taglit in 2010, compared to 2000 in 2008. In 2011, Jewish Federations of North American CEO Jerry Silverman estimated that the Federations give about $13 million a year to Birthright, some of which is channeled through the Jewish Agency.<ref>Josh Nathan Kazis, [http://forward.com/articles/134636/government-of-israel-to-give-more-to-birthright-pr/ Government of Israel To Give More to Birthright Program], ''JTA'', 21 January 2011</ref>
+When the Adelson Foundation announced that it would halve donations to Taglit in 2009 and 2010, Taglit cut the number of Jews it sent to Israel to 30,000, from 42,000 in 2008. In response the Israeli government announced that it would increase its contributions, from $26 million in 2011 to $40 million in 2013. As part of this arrangement the Birthright Israeli Foundation also had to increase its fundraising, which it sought to do not only through large individual donations - which make up 60-70% of the total raised by the Foundation - but by expanding its smaller donor base. 14,000 individuals gave to Taglit in 2010, compared to 2000 in 2008. In 2011, [[Jewish Federations of North America]] CEO Jerry Silverman estimated that the Federations give about $13 million a year to Birthright, some of which is channeled through the [[Jewish Agency]].<ref>Josh Nathan Kazis, [http://forward.com/articles/134636/government-of-israel-to-give-more-to-birthright-pr/ Government of Israel To Give More to Birthright Program], ''JTA'', 21 January 2011</ref>
 In the first ten years of Taglit, the Israeli government funded it to the tune of $100 million.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011]</ref>
-In April 2013 Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid met with Sheldon Adelson. According to Lapid, Adelson requested the meeting 'to ensure that the government would continue its matching grant of about $40 million to Birthright'.<ref>Judi Rudoren, [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/world/middleeast/fresh-israeli-face-plays-down-political-decline.html?gwh=320BF80C5B5564C93A49A2DCDA427164 Fresh Israeli Face Plays Down Dimming of Political Star], ''New York Times'', 19 May 2013</ref>
+In April 2013 Israeli Finance Minister [[Yair Lapid]] met with Sheldon Adelson. According to Lapid, Adelson requested the meeting 'to ensure that the government would continue its matching grant of about $40 million to Birthright'.<ref>Judi Rudoren, [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/world/middleeast/fresh-israeli-face-plays-down-political-decline.html?gwh=320BF80C5B5564C93A49A2DCDA427164 Fresh Israeli Face Plays Down Dimming of Political Star], ''New York Times'', 19 May 2013</ref>
 ==Impact==

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 In November 1998, at a [[Council of Jewish Federations]] convention in Jerusalem, Steinhardt, Bronfman and [[Natan Sharansky]] (chair of Israel's Ministerial Committee on Israel-Diaspora Relations) unveiled 'Birthright Israel', or 'Taglit' ('Discovery') in Hebrew. This soon came under leadership of Israel's Ministry of Education and a former director general of the [[Jewish Agency]]. Recruitment began in 1999 for the first trips. A $3m advertising campaign promoted it (an advert in Rolling Stone contrasted an image of a baby about to be circumcised with one a young man floating on the Dead Sea: 'Sometimes it's hard being Jewish. Sometimes it isn't'). Hillel launched recruitment drives on campus. Internet-based registrations opened in early September and closed one and a half months later with 12,000 applications for 5,000 slots. The first trip was in Dec, 1999.
 Between 2000-2007, more than 150,000 young Jews travelled to Israel through Taglit. The second intifada reduced numbers briefly, but they quickly recovered, and by summer 2006 the number of applications was double the number of available places (10,000). In 2007, a donation by Sheldon and Miriam Adelson through their foundation allowed Taglit to increase the number of places by more than 50%, bringing more than 30,000 people to Israel.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 13-14, 190n55</ref> In 2008 Taglit took 45,000 to Israel, after a large gift from Sheldon Adelson expanded the program's capacity.<ref>Kelner 2010, 5-6.</ref>
+In 2013 it was reported that since 2000, Birthright had brought 'over 350,000 young Jews from 64 countries to Israel'.<ref>Benji Rosen[http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Adelson-joins-900-Birthright-participants-in-celebrating-Israeli-entrepreneurship-335952 Adelson joins 900 Birthright participants in celebrating Israeli entrepreneurship], Jerusalem Post, accessed 27 December 2013</ref>
 ==Activities==

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 Bronfman and Steinhardt, as well as [[Lynn Schusterman]], personally visit and address many of the Taglit groups and are reportedly known of by all participants. Schusterman, head of the [[Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation]], is 'one of the most powerful and influential philanthropists to emerge recently on the Jewish scene'. After experiencing a Taglit event in winter 2001, Schusterman became a major figure in Birthright Israel.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 67-68</ref>  Schusterman was one of a larger group of philanthropists that contributed millions of dollars to Taglit. She comes along to all the trips, where she is 'treated like a rock star'.
-Steinhardt often encouraged Taglit participants to hook up with each other, to the point where a myth emerged—'partially true'<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 69; cf. [http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011], who reports directly witnessing Steinhardt make the offer</ref>—that he would pay for the honeymoon of any couple that met as a result of a Taglit trip. 'Birthright boasts that alumni are 51 percent more likely to marry other Jews than nonparticipants'.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011]
+Steinhardt often encouraged Taglit participants to hook up with each other, to the point where a myth emerged—'partially true'<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 69; cf. [http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011], who reports directly witnessing Steinhardt make the offer</ref> — that he would pay for the honeymoon of any couple that met as a result of a Taglit trip. 'Birthright boasts that alumni are 51 percent more likely to marry other Jews than nonparticipants'.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011]</ref>
 Taglit had an annual budget of $86 million in 2008, $76 million in 2010 and $87 million in 2011.<ref>Connie Bruck, [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/30/080630fa_fact_bruck?currentPage=all The Brass Ring: A multibillionaire’s relentless quest for global influence], New Yorker, 30 June 2008; Josh Nathan-Kazis, [http://forward.com/articles/134636/government-of-israel-to-give-more-to-birthright-pr/ Government of Israel To Give More to Birthright Program], ''Forward'', 21 January 2011</ref>. Much of this is provided by the billionaire casino tycoon [[Sheldon Adelson]], who donated $5 million to Taglit in 2006,<ref>Ynet, [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3436025,00.html Adelson family donates $30 million to Taglit-birthright Israel], 12 August 2007</ref>, $36 million in 2007,<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2007/047/024/2007-047024330-0472d4aa-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2007)], p. 11</ref>, $27.5 million in 2008,<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/047/024/2008-047024330-0578795f-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2008)], p. 11</ref>, $21.35 million in 2009,<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2009/047/024/2009-047024330-06890b25-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2009)], p. 11</ref> $9 million in 2010<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2010/047/024/2010-047024330-07a71b72-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2010)], p. 11</ref> and $8.8 million in 2011.<ref>[http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2011/047/024/2011-047024330-08b952de-F.pdf Adelson Family Foundation tax filing (2011)], p. 11</ref> In 2013 Adelson pledged $40 million to the [[Birthright Israel Foundation]], bringing the overall donations to Taglit by him and his wife [[Miriam Adelson]] to a reported $180 million.<ref>JTA, [http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/adelsons-donate-40-million-to-birthright-1.525693 Adelsons donate $40 million to Birthright], ''Ha'aretz'', 23 May 2013</ref>

@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 Prominent themes on Taglit trips include: Israel as both the ancient land of the Jews ''and'' a modern Western state ('[t]here is great emphasis on Israel's similarity to America in its commitment to freedom, rule of law, checks and balances, and ''vox populi'''); and ''Mi-Shoah L'Tkuma'' ('from Holocaust to Renewal'), which presents Israel as a response to threats: Holocaust, assimilation, intermarriage.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2010, 49</ref>
-According to the [[IDC Herzliya]] website groups including Birthright, [[Hillel]], [[AIPAC]], [[March of the Living]], [[AJC]], [[UJC]] among others have planned visits the [[Asper Institute Institute for New Media Diplomacy]], at the [[Sammy Ofer School of Communications]] over the course of 2008 and 2009.<ref>[http://portal.idc.ac.il/en/schools/Communications/research/asper/Groups/Pages/groupshome.aspx Groups and Missions], [[Asper Institute for New Media Diplomacy]], [[Sammy Ofer School of Communications]], IDC Herzliya, accessed 22 June 2009.</ref>
+According to the [[IDC Herzliya]] website groups including Birthright, [[Hillel]], [[AIPAC]], [[March of the Living]], [[AJC]], [[UJC]] among others have planned visits the [[Asper Institute for New Media Diplomacy]], at the [[Sammy Ofer School of Communications]] over the course of 2008 and 2009.<ref>[http://portal.idc.ac.il/en/schools/Communications/research/asper/Groups/Pages/groupshome.aspx Groups and Missions], [[Asper Institute for New Media Diplomacy]], [[Sammy Ofer School of Communications]], IDC Herzliya, accessed 22 June 2009.</ref>
 ===Politics===

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 Taglit was established as a response to a perceived crisis in the North American Jewish community. In the 1990s the threats that had galvanised American Jews over the preceding 20 years were no longer operative: Soviet Jewry was now free, the Holocaust memorialised, barriers to advancement in America dissolved, and political advocacy for Israel increasingly contentious within the Jewish community. American Jewish activists increasingly, therefore, mobilised against a new threat: that of growing American Jewish indifference to Judaism.<ref>Kelner 2010, 39-40</ref> As the threat of antisemitism receded the threat of assimilation loomed: North American Jews, explains one of the lead designers of the Birthright curriculum, 'have, perhaps, been ''too'' successful in adapting to their host cultures'.<ref>Leonard Saxe and Barry I. Chazan, ''Ten Days of Birthright Israel: A Journey in Young Adult Identity'' (New York: Brandeis UP, 2008), 26</ref>  Evidence at beginning of the 1990s of a marked rise in intermarriage and weakened Jewish religious and ethical commitment caused 'considerable anxiety' among Jewish leaders.<ref>Kelner 2010, 39-40; Saxe and Chazan 2008, 27-28</ref> Taglit was one of a number of measures intended to 'change... [this] tide of assimilation' among North American Jews.<ref>Saxe and Chazan 2008, 27-28</ref> For those designing Taglit, 'Israel figured... largely as an instrumentality to serve diasporic needs and only to a lesser degree as an end in itself':<ref>Kelner 2010, 39-40</ref> Israel, the safe haven for diaspora Jews supposedly at perpetual risk from gentile antisemitism, was now being used as a weapon against excessive Jewish integration.
-The American-centric focus of Taglit is evident in its stated objective to strengthen the Jewish diaspora, rather than to facilitate ''aliyah'' to Israel. As a 2001 Hillel Birthright staff manual explains,
+The American-centric focus of Taglit is evident in its stated objective to strengthen the Jewish diaspora, rather than to facilitate ''aliyah'' to Israel. As a 2001 [[Hillel Birthright]] staff manual explains,
 :'Some models of the Israel Experience seek to bring the participant to Israel permanently. Some models of the Israel Experience seek to teach the participant about Israel. Our model of the Israel Experience seeks to create a Jewish Educational Experience by means of the use of Israel. Israel is a setting, a context, an opportunity. Israel is the means, not the end.'<ref>Cited in Kelner 2010, 33</ref>
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 Birthright doesn't run the tours itself; rather it hands out funding to other organisations to run them, according to guidelines (a curriculum, etc.) it draws up. It sends teams to monitor and ensure the guidelines are being adhered to.
-More than five dozen organisations initially applied to run Birthright trips. The most important early partner was Hillel, which advertised the trips on campuses.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 12-13</ref>
+More than five dozen organisations initially applied to run Birthright trips. The most important early partner was [[Hillel]], which advertised the trips on campuses.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 12-13</ref>
 Keira Feldman reported for ''The Nation'' on Taglit's eligibility requirements:
@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 Prominent themes on Taglit trips include: Israel as both the ancient land of the Jews ''and'' a modern Western state ('[t]here is great emphasis on Israel's similarity to America in its commitment to freedom, rule of law, checks and balances, and ''vox populi'''); and ''Mi-Shoah L'Tkuma'' ('from Holocaust to Renewal'), which presents Israel as a response to threats: Holocaust, assimilation, intermarriage.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2010, 49</ref>
-According to the [[IDC Herzliya]] website groups including Birthright, [[Hillel]], [[AIPAC]], [[March of the Living]], [[AJC]], [[UJC]] among others have planned visits the [[Asper Institute Institute for New Media Diplomacy]], at the [[Sammy Ofer School of Communications]] over the course of 2008 and 2009.<ref>[http://portal.idc.ac.il/en/schools/Communications/research/asper/Groups/Pages/groupshome.aspx Groups and Missions], Asper Institute for New Media Diplomacy, Sammy Ofer School of Communications, IDC Herzliya, accessed 22 June 2009.</ref>
+According to the [[IDC Herzliya]] website groups including Birthright, [[Hillel]], [[AIPAC]], [[March of the Living]], [[AJC]], [[UJC]] among others have planned visits the [[Asper Institute Institute for New Media Diplomacy]], at the [[Sammy Ofer School of Communications]] over the course of 2008 and 2009.<ref>[http://portal.idc.ac.il/en/schools/Communications/research/asper/Groups/Pages/groupshome.aspx Groups and Missions], [[Asper Institute for New Media Diplomacy]], [[Sammy Ofer School of Communications]], IDC Herzliya, accessed 22 June 2009.</ref>
 ===Politics===
@@ Line 101: / Line 101: @@
 Palestinian narratives, and any narrative of Israeli oppressors vs. Palestinian victims, are made to seem simplistic and unsubtle; they serve as a 'foil against which Israeli perspectives can be contrasted as being marked by liberal open-mindedness and reasoned moderation.' Hence strident anti-Israel positions are delegitimized on the tours ''precisely by'' showing off their own ability to deal with nuance (albeit in a highly bounded way).<ref>Kelner 2010, 81</ref>
-Despite the often extreme right views of big Taglit funders -- Sheldon Adelson, for instance, who urged Birthright participants to 'don't let Muslim student organisations take over the campuses',<ref>Alex Kane, [http://mondoweiss.net/2011/12/gingrichs-backer-adelson-outdoes-invented-people-smear-in-address-to-birthright-youth.html Gingrich’s backer Adelson outdoes ‘invented people’ smear in address to ‘Birthright’ youth], ''Mondoweiss'', 27 December 2011</ref> or the several other big donors who also financially support Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011]</ref> -- Taglit's guidelines call on the programs to 'respect the integrity and sensibilities of participants and not attempt to missionise'. Taglit monitors for political bias through compliance officers, who observe groups and survey members.<ref>Kelner 2010, 63</ref> There is some evidence that guides tend to avoid being overtly preachy:
+Despite the often extreme right views of big Taglit funders -- [[Sheldon Adelson]], for instance, who urged Birthright participants to 'don't let Muslim student organisations take over the campuses',<ref>Alex Kane, [http://mondoweiss.net/2011/12/gingrichs-backer-adelson-outdoes-invented-people-smear-in-address-to-birthright-youth.html Gingrich’s backer Adelson outdoes ‘invented people’ smear in address to ‘Birthright’ youth], ''Mondoweiss'', 27 December 2011</ref> or the several other big donors who also financially support Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011]</ref> -- Taglit's guidelines call on the programs to 'respect the integrity and sensibilities of participants and not attempt to missionise'. Taglit monitors for political bias through compliance officers, who observe groups and survey members.<ref>Kelner 2010, 63</ref> There is some evidence that guides tend to avoid being overtly preachy:
 :'A post-trip survey of 2,476 Birthright Israel alumni found a roughly even split between those who felt that the trip staff were "reluctant to say negative things about Israel" and those who felt that they were not. There was a wider consensus that the guides generally avoided forcing their opinions on the tourists. When asked whether there was too much "preaching" on the trip, 70% disagreed (37% strongly, 33% slightly) and 30% agreed (7% strongly, 23% slightly). Significantly, those who felt that their guides were preaching to them tended to give the guides lower overall ratings'.<ref>Kelner 2010, 64</ref>
@@ Line 116: / Line 116: @@
 Another of Taglit's purposes appears to be to transform young American Jews into advocates for Israel upon their return:
-:'In the words of CEO [[Gidi Mark]], Birthright trains participants to “go back to anti-Zionists on their campuses and say to them, ‘Don’t tell me what you saw on CNN—I was there.’” In May 2010 Hillel president [[Wayne Firestone]] denounced campus divestment campaigns for seeking to “delegitimize and demonize Israel,” declaring Birthright alumni to be “the only way to combat these efforts.” In November, at an assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, Bronfman shared the cheerful news that half of all pro-Israel activists on college campuses had been on Birthright. “Many of our Birthright alumni come back and are ready and eager to be advocates for Israel,” Susie Gelman, a Birthright board member and funder, told me. “In the current atmosphere, it takes on even more of a significant role than could’ve been anticipated when Birthright began.”'<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full#axzz2dZ0Kq7OG Feldman 2011]</ref>
+:'In the words of CEO [[Gidi Mark]], Birthright trains participants to “go back to anti-Zionists on their campuses and say to them, ‘Don’t tell me what you saw on CNN—I was there.’” In May 2010 Hillel president [[Wayne Firestone]] denounced campus divestment campaigns for seeking to “delegitimize and demonize Israel,” declaring Birthright alumni to be “the only way to combat these efforts.” In November, at an assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, Bronfman shared the cheerful news that half of all pro-Israel activists on college campuses had been on Birthright. “Many of our Birthright alumni come back and are ready and eager to be advocates for Israel,” [[Susie Gelman]], a Birthright board member and funder, told me. “In the current atmosphere, it takes on even more of a significant role than could’ve been anticipated when Birthright began.”'<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full#axzz2dZ0Kq7OG Feldman 2011]</ref>
-Examples of speakers who have presented to Taglit groups include: [[Natan Sharansky]]; [[Dov Weisglass]]; [[Colette Avital]]; Yossi Beilin; [[Tzipi Livni]]; [[Michael Melchior]]; [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]; [[Ehud Olmert]]; [[Yossi Sarid]]; [[David Horowitz]]; David Landau; Akiva Eldar, Aharon Barak; Prof. Gadi Wolfsfeld.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 103-104</ref>
+Examples of speakers who have presented to Taglit groups include: [[Natan Sharansky]]; [[Dov Weisglass]]; [[Colette Avital]]; Yossi Beilin; [[Tzipi Livni]]; [[Michael Melchior]]; [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]; [[Ehud Olmert]]; [[Yossi Sarid]]; [[David Horowitz]]; [[David Landau]]; [[Akiva Eldar]], [[Aharon Barak]]; Prof. [[Gadi Wolfsfeld]].<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 103-104</ref>
 ====Case Study: Lebanon War, 2006====
@@ Line 141: / Line 141: @@
 In the 1990s local Jewish fundraising federations had become increasingly active promoting Israel tours, but the key institutions advocating their expansion were independent family foundations 'that were eclipsing the federations as the primary agenda-setting power' in North American Jewry.<ref>Kelner 2010, 40</ref> By the end of the 1990s, more than 4,000 foundations were giving over $1bn a year to Jewish causes, roughly $300m of which came from about 20 donors known as the 'the megadonors' ([[Charles Bronfman]], [[Edgar Bronfman]], [[Morton Mandel]], [[Lynn Schusterman]], [[Steven Spielberg]], [[Michael Steinhardt]], [[Leslie Wexner]], and others).<ref>Kelner 2010, 40</ref>  While community-based federations still raised twice as much as foundations, their fundraising campaigns were plateauing (in real terms, declining). Taglit thus reflected a change in American Jewry's fundraising: it was relying 'less on consensual decision-making and more on entrepreneurial initiative'.<ref>Kelner 2010, 40</ref>
-Two foundations took the lead with presenting Taglit as a solution to the problem of attenuated Jewish identity in America: Charles Bronfman's [[CRB Foundation]], established in 1986 to enhance Israel-diaspora relations and the [[Jewish Life Network]] (JLN), established in the early 1990s by hedge fund operator Michael Steinhardt to 'revitalise Jewish identity'.<ref>Cited in Kelner 2010, 41</ref>
+Two foundations took the lead with presenting Taglit as a solution to the problem of attenuated Jewish identity in America: Charles Bronfman's [[CRB Foundation]], established in 1986 to enhance Israel-diaspora relations and the [[Jewish Life Network]] (JLN), established in the early 1990s by hedge fund operator [[Michael Steinhardt]] to 'revitalise Jewish identity'.<ref>Cited in Kelner 2010, 41</ref>
-In the early 1990s CRB undertook research into Israel experience programs, and found that Jews who'd been on Israel trips were likely to be more committed to a Jewish identity. Barry Chazan, then a consultant for CRB, argued based on the research that the Israel experience was 'one of the most powerful resources that the North American Jewish Community has at its disposal to face the challenge of adult Jewish identity and involvement'.<ref>Chazan, cited in Kelner 2010, 41</ref>
+In the early 1990s CRB undertook research into Israel experience programs, and found that Jews who'd been on Israel trips were likely to be more committed to a Jewish identity. [[Barry Chazan]], then a consultant for CRB, argued based on the research that the Israel experience was 'one of the most powerful resources that the North American Jewish Community has at its disposal to face the challenge of adult Jewish identity and involvement'.<ref>Chazan, cited in Kelner 2010, 41</ref>
 At a 1994 Jewish Federation convention, Israeli deputy Foreign Minister [[Yossi Beilin]] proposed that 'every young Jew [should] receive a birthday card from the local Federation on his or her seventeenth birthday with a coupon for travel and accommodations in Israel during the next summer vacation'. Such a visit would be considered every Jew's 'birthright'.<ref>Cited in Kelner 2010, 41</ref> Beilin suggested American Jewish Federation funds being spent on social services in Israel be reallocated to fund the tours. Federations were opposed, but the megadonors were interested.
@@ Line 155: / Line 155: @@
 In the early years, at least eight of Taglit's big funders, including Steinhardt and Bronfman, were also trustees of [[AIPAC]]'s think-tank, the [[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]].<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011]</ref> Other donors included: [[Lev Leviev]], [[Marc Rich]], [[Roger Hertog]] and [[S. Daniel Abraham]].
-Bronfman and Steinhardt, as well as Lynn Schusterman, personally visit and address many of the Taglit groups and are reportedly known of by all participants. Schusterman, head of the [[Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation]], is 'one of the most powerful and influential philanthropists to emerge recently on the Jewish scene'. After experiencing a Taglit event in winter 2001, Schusterman became a major figure in Birthright Israel.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 67-68</ref>  Schusterman was one of a larger group of philanthropists that contributed millions of dollars to Taglit. She comes along to all the trips, where she is 'treated like a rock star'.
+Bronfman and Steinhardt, as well as [[Lynn Schusterman]], personally visit and address many of the Taglit groups and are reportedly known of by all participants. Schusterman, head of the [[Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation]], is 'one of the most powerful and influential philanthropists to emerge recently on the Jewish scene'. After experiencing a Taglit event in winter 2001, Schusterman became a major figure in Birthright Israel.<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 67-68</ref>  Schusterman was one of a larger group of philanthropists that contributed millions of dollars to Taglit. She comes along to all the trips, where she is 'treated like a rock star'.
 Steinhardt often encouraged Taglit participants to hook up with each other, to the point where a myth emerged—'partially true'<ref>Saxe & Chazan 2008, 69; cf. [http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011], who reports directly witnessing Steinhardt make the offer</ref>—that he would pay for the honeymoon of any couple that met as a result of a Taglit trip. 'Birthright boasts that alumni are 51 percent more likely to marry other Jews than nonparticipants'.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/article/161460/romance-birthright-israel?page=full# Feldman 2011]

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 :'The fundamental asymmetry in the experience of Arab and Jewish narratives helps to accomplish the important ideological work of the tours in securing diaspora Jewish support for Zionism’s claim of a right to Jewish self-determination in the ancestral land. By making these claims subjectively compelling and experientially self-evident, the tours work to win Jewish hearts and minds in the face of global campaigns to delegitimize Jewish assertions of national rights in Israel.'<ref>Kelner 2010, 195</ref>
-Another ''de facto'' political function the tours perform is 'decentering the conflict' (i.e. associating the Golan Heights, Israel, Jerusalem, etc. with things other than violence and conflict). This itself is 'a significant political achievement'.Kelner 2010, 76</ref>
+Another ''de facto'' political function the tours perform is 'decentering the conflict' (i.e. associating the Golan Heights, Israel, Jerusalem, etc. with things other than violence and conflict). This itself is 'a significant political achievement'.<ref>Kelner 2010, 76</ref>
 Another of Taglit's purposes appears to be to transform young American Jews into advocates for Israel upon their return: