Shalom Magazine

By Hadar Arazi
For Shalom Magazine

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has been described as one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, DC. AIPAC advocates pro-Israel policies to Congress and the Executive Branch of the United States, and is a bipartisan organization; the bills it lobbies for in Congress are always jointly sponsored by both a Democrat and Republican. AIPAC is constantly adding to their already high number of members through many local and national events. One of these is the Schusterman Advocacy Institute High School Summit, in which juniors and seniors from all over the US get together in Washington to learn about AIPAC’s message and how they might become future AIPAC lobbyists.

Through my school’s Jewish Student Union (JSU), I was able to have the opportunity to be one of the 407 Jewish high school Students to participate in this summit. During the three days I spent in Washington, I learned about many things. The first day focused on AIPAC’s message: Improving and maintaining a strong Israel-US relation as well as lobbying congressmen and women to pass pro-Israel bills and veto those that are against Israel. The second day focused on why this message was important, how to lobby, and what we would be lobbying for. We were split into groups based on who we would be lobbying, which was determined by where we lived and who our local representatives were.

After we learned all the basics of lobbying, we were given the opportunity to practice with college campus Israel activists. After practicing, we had an opportunity to meet with students who are active on their campuses We learned different ways to participate in Jewish life on campus, as well as basics of pro-Israel activism. On the last day of the Summit, we traveled to Capitol Hill, where we headed toward the Cannon building. There, each group met with their local representatives for our lobbying appointments.