Monday was the first day of the 2018 Naomi Chazan Activism Fellowship.

People traveled from Australia, the UK, Canada, and the U.S. for a prestigious 10-day trip in Israel and the occupied territories. They are exploring the challenges that Israeli and Palestinian activists are pushing past to bring about much-needed change.

Each NIF affiliate sends a staff person with their fellows – and this year, we were lucky enough to have our outgoing NIF/Shatil Social Justice Fellow (our year-long fellowship in Israel) Jacob Levkowicz leading the American contingency of the program – that’s him on the bottom right!

The trip participants will bring back inspiration and lessons to their communities.

You can follow the fellowship on social media at #NIFFellowship18 #FollowtheFellows. We look forward to not only seeing the fellows’ adventures over the next week and a half but also what their plans are once they return home.

Past fellows have used what they learned in Israel to help broaden the conversation around Israel using a variety of mediums: from photo exhibits, to movie screenings, to articles, to video calls, and more.

Some people say that young diaspora Jews don’t care about Israel – we beg to differ!