Message from the Executive Director

Dear Friends,

At MGSDII, our mission is clear: to bring high-quality academic courses about Israel to San Diego university campuses. Over the past 21 months, we’ve witnessed growing challenges to academic freedom and open discourse around Israel and the Middle East conflict both locally and globally, as antisemitism and anti-Zionism become normalized.  At the same time, we see enormous opportunities to better serve those looking to learn.

This is a critical moment, as students from all backgrounds continue to seek thoughtful, academically credible education about Israel’s history, politics, society, and culture. MGSDII remains committed to providing these opportunities with academic integrity and a diversity of perspectives.

As the past and current presidents of the Association of Israel Studies recently wrote in a piece for The Times of Israel, “Israel is now a subject on its own or is included in courses in public and private universities, US military academies, and Christian denominational colleges.  Moreover, courses do not only narrowly focus on ‘the conflict’, but occur throughout the humanities, social and political sciences, from the arts, music, and film to history, sociology, and security studies. Courses should not be solely concerned with ‘conflict resolution’. Embedding understanding and solid knowledge about Israel in the curricula is an enormous and ongoing achievement.”

These sentiments align with MGSDII’s mission to bring diverse voices about Israel to many disciplines. Last academic year brought nine visiting professors to San Diego to teach Israel Studies through Film, Law, History, Business, Global Policy, Communications, Public Health, Sociology, Sustainability, Climate Change, and Marine Archeology.

This year, we are excited to welcome nine visiting Israelis to teach dynamic courses that showcase the rich diversity of Israeli academia and culture – including Roni Kuban, the most famous television journalist in Israel today.

We ask you to stand with us and our faculty partners in championing academic freedom and standing against antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Thank you for supporting MGSDII by sharing the impact of quality educational content and providing resources for our mission. If you have not already done so, you can click here to support MGSDII in any amount or by becoming a Salon Member and joining us on September 17th for a dinner reception welcoming our Fall professors.

Warm regards,
Susan