Hasbara Fellowships

Hasbara Fellowships combines immersive Israel programs with year-round campus advocacy. The organization says participants receive hands-on training, a peer network, ongoing staff support and access to resources after returning to North America.[3] Its model asks Fellows to translate the Israel experience into campus leadership through educational campaigns, coalition-building, social media and responses to BDS or other anti-Israel activity.[5] The available evidence for the program's reach and outcomes comes largely from the organization's own reports, supplemented by news coverage of individual missions.[5][6]

Hasbara Fellowships was founded in 2001 by Rabbi Elliot Mathias while he was studying at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem.[1] A 2022 organizational overview states that it was established in conjunction with Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[2] The organization's 2016 annual report described Hasbara Fellowships as "A project of Aish HaTorah," documenting its institutional connection to the Jerusalem-based educational organization.[6]

A 2012 strategy paper by The David Project placed the emergence of campus pro-Israel organizations such as Hasbara Fellowships in the context of increased negativity toward Israel on American campuses during 2000–2004.[7] A rabbinic essay identified Aish Hasbara Fellowships as one of the two largest initiatives defending Israel on campuses in the Diaspora.[8] The organization's stated mission is to train and empower Jewish and pro-Israel university students to fight antisemitism and defend Israel on their campuses.[3]

The centerpiece of Hasbara Fellowships' programming is its Israel immersion program, which brings cohorts of student leaders to Israel for intensive firsthand exposure and advocacy training. Executive director Alan Levine described the program's founding principle as "seeing is believing"—prioritizing direct encounters rather than instructional coursework on how students should make their case.[9]

A 2018–19 program presentation describes the Israel Advocacy Training program as a 16-day experience incorporating 70 hours of advocacy training.[5] Participants are selected based on demonstrated desire and ability to become campus Israel activists, prior pro-Israel involvement and interest in leadership; preference is given to students on campuses exposed or potentially exposed to BDS or anti-Israel activity.[5] The itinerary has included visits to Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza; Sderot; Jerusalem; Gush Etzion; and Hebron, as well as briefings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Knesset, meetings with journalists and policy experts, and practical workshops on public speaking, social media, campus media, coalition-building and strategic planning.[5]

The current Israel Programs page advertises a seven-day, fully funded mission for a select group of 20 North American undergraduates with at least two semesters remaining after the trip. Selection is based on current pro-Israel campus leadership and social-media presence. Although the stated full value exceeds $3,600, the page lists a $249 program fee plus a $400 refundable deposit; only the $400 deposit is described as returnable after two semesters of campus activity as a Hasbara Fellow. The page also lists date ranges of December 21–31, 2026, May 18–30, 2027, and June 15–27, 2027, which are longer than seven days, without explaining the discrepancy.[4] Managing director Robyn Frum described the goal as producing Fellows who return as Israel ambassadors, educating and inspiring their campus communities through human-to-human relationships and personal storytelling.[10]

Levine highlighted the encounters arranged by the program: students have met Muslim Arab members of Israel's parliament and residents of Sderot, whom he described as living under rocket and mortar bombardment with 15 seconds to reach a shelter. He presented these encounters as firsthand material students could use when addressing claims about Israel and security.[9] During the 2019 program, participants visited the Gaza border, met people across the political spectrum, including anti-Zionists, and visited the site where Ari Fuld was stabbed to death, hearing accounts from a nearby security guard and a falafel-stand operator. Fellow Ysbella Hazad said participants were able to explore and make up their own minds.[10]

Beyond the Israel immersion program, Hasbara Fellowships runs a range of on-campus initiatives across North America. Its mission page reports activity on more than 95 university campuses, with hundreds of students brought to Israel each summer and winter, and ongoing staff support and resources provided to Fellows after they return.[4]

The organization's 2016 annual report shows the breadth of its campus footprint: Fellows organized over 1,000 pro-Israel activities across 86 campuses, distributed more than 35,000 pro-Israel materials, and reached over 500,000 students through social-media campaigns.[6] More than 100 coalitions were built with non-Jewish student groups and leaders across 41 campuses, and 12 Israel Fests were supported during that year.[6] The report also documents Fellows bringing Israel Peace Week to 45 North American campuses, with activities including more than 25,000 distributed cards, T-shirts and bumper stickers, a social-media photo campaign, and more than 100 campus programs presenting Israel's desire for peace.[6]

Hasbara Fellowships, in partnership with Israel Ideas, organizes Start-Up Nation Technology Fairs that introduce Israeli start-up companies to students interested in business, innovation and entrepreneurship. In 2016, 13 such fairs showcased 35 different Israeli companies and engaged approximately 2,000 students, roughly 60 percent of whom were not Jewish; 70 non-Jewish or non-Israel-related student organizations co-sponsored the events.[6] By the 2017–18 cycle, the organization's presentation reported fairs at 37 universities, more than 6,000 student attendees, 151 faculty members involved, and 218 non-Jewish student organizations or university departments co-sponsoring, with each fair featuring approximately 15 Israeli technology companies.[5]

In Canada, Hasbara Fellowships Canada hosted an Israel Advocacy Training Workshop—by 2017, in its fourth year—designed to train attendees to defend Israel in workplaces, on campuses, in government, in the media and among peers.[11] The workshop's 2017 edition included sessions on online advocacy, public speaking and the Balfour Declaration, with speakers including Bar-Ilan University professor Mordechai Kedar and panels of IDF soldiers' parents, Israeli NGOs and pro-Israel students.[11] The organization also connected the student journal Dateline: Middle East with students interested in distributing it at universities beyond Montreal.[12]

Hasbara Fellowships has collaborated with other advocacy organizations. Daniel Koren, identified as its Canadian director, contacted bookseller Chapters Indigo after spotting a children's book whose map labeled Israel as "Palestine"; Indigo subsequently acknowledged that the book breached its policy and removed copies from its shelves.[13]

Following the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, Hasbara Fellowships intensified its Israel missions and oriented them explicitly toward understanding and responding to those events. A December 2023 mission, co-organized with IsraelAmbassadors.com, brought approximately 20 students from North American universities to Israel during winter break; participants met relatives of hostages at Tel Aviv's Hostage Square and intended to use what they learned to argue Israel's case on their campuses and abroad.[14]

In 2024, two "Take Action for Israel" missions brought more than 40 students from over 30 North American institutions to Israel. Organizers selected participants based on their campus activism during the preceding year and their commitment to advocacy after returning to university. The itinerary included meetings with Israeli officials, survivors of October 7, hostage families and IDF soldiers, and visits to affected communities.[15] A separate weeklong mission reported by Globes on January 2, 2024, was co-sponsored with IsraelAmbassadors.com and the Movement for Combating Antisemitism. It included students from universities such as MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Columbia and Johns Hopkins. The delegation toured communities near the Gaza border, met survivors, visited the Knesset, and met President Isaac Herzog and public diplomat Noa Tishby.[16] Movement for Combating Antisemitism CEO Sasha Roytman-Dratwa described the goal as making participants "the vanguard of the younger generation in effective pro-Israel advocacy."[16]

A 2025 nine-day mission for 20 student leaders representing 20 North American campuses combined site visits to communities affected by the October 7 attacks, meetings with survivors, hostage families, residents and soldiers, and security briefings with historical and strategic advocacy training.[17] A 2026 two-week mission expanded participation to student leaders from more than two dozen campuses and added workshops on media literacy, social-media strategy, coalition-building, antisemitism and misinformation.[18]

In December 2025, Hasbara Fellowships conducted a ten-day mission on which students visited Hostage Square, Ancient Shiloh and Mount Herzl, and met President Isaac Herzog. The final full day featured a summit with speakers and workshops on applying their experience on campus, including a session by Gil Hoffman on digital advocacy and combating AI-generated misinformation.[19]

The organization's reports provide a consistent picture of scale across its history, though those figures are self-reported rather than independently verified. For 2017–18, Hasbara Fellowships reported more than 3,500 students trained since the program's creation, over 250 active Fellows on 100 campuses, and 175 Fellows in campus leadership positions.[5] It also reported 210 pro-Israel campaigns reaching more than 25,000 students, with Fellows opposing BDS and anti-Israel activity on 41 campuses.[5]

The 2016 summer Israel Advocacy Training program enrolled 78 student leaders from 53 universities—a 44 percent increase over summer 2015—with an itinerary that included meetings with David Keyes, then a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visits to Rambam Hospital and the coexistence-focused Givat Chaviva, and a stop in Sderot.[6] The 2022 overview reported that student missions resumed in August 2021 with 55 student leaders after a period of virtual training. During 2020 and 2021, more than 700 students from 130 campuses participated in the virtual Israel Engage summit, and 40 students took part in a social-media internship reaching over 400,000 people.[2]

Participant satisfaction figures reported by the organization are consistently high. The winter 2016 program reported that 98 percent of participants felt more confident advocating for Israel, 93 percent felt more motivated, and 100 percent said they had the knowledge and skills to advocate for Israel on campus.[6] The 2022 overview similarly reported that 98 percent of participants felt more confident after the Israel program, with 125 Fellows holding campus leadership positions in the preceding year, including 70 serving as presidents of pro-Israel or Jewish groups.[2]

The organization also launched Hasbara 2.0 in June 2016, an alumni program offering advanced advocacy training, leadership development, network-building and Jewish learning; its inaugural cohort included 16 students.[6]

Hasbara Fellowships has been cited in campus disputes over Israel-related advocacy. At UCLA, a student-government "statement of ethics" asked candidates to pledge that they would not participate in Israel trips organized by groups including AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League and Aish International's Hasbara Fellowship.[20] In her account, Ruth Wisse wrote that the student coalition presented participation in such trips as discriminatory or "Islamophobic." She also reported that most candidates and the largest student party declined to sign, while the candidate elected student-council president was among the signers.[20]

In a 2022 essay, a University of Toronto graduate student said that after attending an Aish HaTorah-sponsored Hasbara trip, a professor accused him of being an Israeli agent sent to combat anti-Israel criticism; the author presented the accusation as unfounded. The essay does not identify the trip as a Hasbara Fellowships program and therefore does not independently establish a controversy involving the organization itself.[21] Separately, participants in the December 2023 Hasbara Fellowships mission described campus antisemitism as "palpable, violent, and inescapable."[14]

Former participant Ysbella Hazad described the 2019 program as allowing students to "explore and make up their own minds."[10] Descriptions of program outcomes and campus impact nevertheless rely substantially on self-reporting by the organization and its participants rather than independent evaluation.