Israel Education at UGA

By Amit Matana, UGA '27

On Oct 7, Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel. They brutally raped, slaughtered, and kidnapped men, women, and children in border towns outside of the Gaza Strip, at the Supernova music festival, and in other Israeli areas. This was an inhumane atrocity that resulted in the highest Jewish death toll since the Holocaust and resulted in 240+ Israelis being kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.

Soon after this day and the subsequent ongoing war, media outlets and social media sites were in a frenzy. Misinformation and disinformation spread immediately like rampant wildfire, which is not uncommon whenever there are developments in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

To combat the spread of misinformation, I and a group of other Hillel UGA students set up five tables on campus with the goal of educating our peers peacefully and factually. Each one focusing on a different group affected by the brutalities of October 7: one for the border towns, one for the Supernova music festival, one for the hostages taken, one for the women and the lack of visible support from international women’s organizations, and one empty Shabbat table highlighting the Bibas family - Yarden, Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir - whose youngest child has become a national symbol for the hostages.

This event was necessary in light of everything happening, both in Israel and online. I could not choose to remain silent when powerful words were being carelessly and inaccurately thrown around, and when blatant lies and twistings of the truth were being published, encouraged, and reposted countless times. Awareness starts with education. I understand how challenging it is to find information on unfamiliar and difficult issues, so I tried to find a way to make this information as appealing and accessible as possible.