After a year-long hiatus, an adapted version of the Harvard College Israel Trek returned, taking 46 undergraduates to the region from Jan. 17 to Jan. 25. Unlike Treks in the past, this trip was the first one to take place during Wintersession and the first one not advertised to the entire College.
The trip has generated significant discourse and debate across campus in previous years. The affiliated student organizations, Harvard Chabad and Harvard Hillel, hail the annual Israel Trek as an opportunity to celebrate Jewish heritage and foster cross-cultural dialogue. Others, such as the Harvard Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC), have condemned past annual Israel Treks, arguing that it promotes a one-sided narrative and ignores Palestinian experiences.
Israel Trek 2025 plans to return in March during the College’s spring recess, similar to past years. However, the Harvard Independent spoke to students participating in the unique Wintersession version to learn more about the trip.
This particular Israel Trek marked a significant shift, as it was exclusively for Jewish students, unlike the usual format of past Spring trips. These changes prompted questions about how the trip was advertised and the accessibility of the application process.
When asked how this winter trip was promoted, senior Robert Fogel ’25 commented on the different targeted demographic compared to usual Israel Treks. “It was advertised within the Jewish community. I think there were definitely signs at Hillel. I do think they did get the word out there, just maybe beyond the Jewish community, it wasn’t heard so much because that wasn’t their target audience,” Fogel said.
Others found out about this version of Israel Trek through their peers. “I’m a part of the veteran community,” Richard Glazunov ’25 said. “So one of the Israeli veterans, Doron, hit me up. We met before, so I told him that I was Jewish, and I guess this winter, they were doing a Trek for Jewish students. So he hit me up and asked me if I was interested. And I said, sure, I’ll check it out.”
Although he couldn’t fully remember its entirety, Glazunov recalled his process for joining Israel Trek. “There was some sort of application form. And then there was a short interview with one of the leaders, and then they let me know that I would be going on the Trek,” Glazunov said.
However, regardless of how students heard about the trip, undergraduates chose to participate for various reasons, ranging from personal connections to Israel to a desire for a deeper cultural and political understanding of the region.
The trip was an opportunity to reconnect with Israel after disrupted plans for some participants.
“I was inspired to join the Israel Trek because I took a gap year in Israel last year, but it was cut short [and] the schedule was changed around because of Oct. 7,” Ben Hyman ’28 said. “I felt like I didn’t get as much time in Israel as I wanted, and I thought there was no better way to experience Israel than with a group of kids your age.”
For other participants, such as Adrian Maydanich ’28, this unique Trek was an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the country’s cultural and religious significance.
“We were able to see the Temple Mount, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Western Wall—some of the holiest sites across three different religions—in a single day,” he said. “I don’t think many people are able to say that. Having the knowledge that I’d be able to share these experiences with my peers, who were all just as passionate as I am about the country, really pushed me to apply.”
Glazunov joined the Trek to learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and hear new viewpoints.
“I wanted to learn more about the conflict outside of a purely Western perspective. And this doesn’t mean I came into the trip unknowing of probable biases,” Glazunov said. “Fortunately, we did get to speak to both Palestinians and Israelis throughout this trip. But I really came to this trip to gain a non-Western perspective on the conflict.”
“I think it’s super, super important to understand what people are living through, rather than just reading headlines and listening, looking at Twitter, and all this other stuff. Even on campus, everybody has such polarized opinions,” he added.
The trip was packed with visits to historical and cultural landmarks. The students traveled throughout Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and visited memorial sites such as Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center and the Nova Festival Massacre Site, which commemorates victims of the Oct. 7 attacks. For many students, these visits were emotionally intense.
“Going to the south and seeing the destruction and memorialization of Oct. 7 at Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the Nova Festival Site [was the most meaningful part of the trip],” Maydanich explained. “You really can’t understand the extent of the Oct. 7 massacre until you see it firsthand. It’s only been a year and a half, so the destruction is still ‘raw,’ in a sense. All of us on the trip were basically speechless throughout the entire day.”
Despite the heaviness of these experiences, he described feeling a reinvigorated connection to his Jewish heritage. “It gave us a renewed sense of pride to be Jews and Zionists who continue to persevere in spite of that destruction and combat the hateful narratives that arose as a result,” Maydanich added.
Beyond cultural and historical exploration, the trip also engaged students in political discussions with Israeli leaders, offering insight into the nation’s internal divisions and perspectives on the ongoing conflict.
Students on the Trek engaged in a roundtable discussion at the Knesset—Israel’s unicameral parliament and house of representatives—followed by a panel with various speakers, including Chair of the Committee on Arab Society Affairs Mansour Abbas, Israeli politician Amit Halevi, and Director for Israel at the Abraham Accords Peace Institute Asher Fredman ’06. These sessions provided insight into the complexities of Israeli politics.
“The first day we were there was the day the ceasefire went through, and there was a hostage exchange,” Hyman recalled. “And so everyone coming into the trip was extremely excited about that. And I’d say what that day illustrated is that there are different perspectives on that deal.”
The trip aimed to expose students to different perspectives on the region. To that end, the itinerary included a visit to a military checkpoint—a barrier erected by the Israeli Defense Forces at the border between Palestinian and Israeli-controlled areas—with a Palestinian tour guide, Rami Nazaal. In previous years, Israel Trek participants had also traveled to the West Bank, but due to security concerns, organizers opted to limit this portion of the trip.
For many students on the trip, one of the most pressing questions was how Palestinians viewed the events of Oct. 7 and their aftermath. Many media outlets and political leaders have said that Palestinians broadly support Hamas and its actions. With limited access to Palestinian perspectives due to the aforementioned safety concerns, Nazaal’s tour of the checkpoint and conversation with the group offered an opportunity for the group to hear a nuanced stance.
“A lot of people on campus have an opinion that Israel Trek is this biased indoctrination for the Jewish Israeli perspective; that’s not the case; they really do present the sides,” Fogel said while discussing the variation of people they heard from.
While this winter trip was considered meaningful and eye-opening for many and did not receive significant backlash, the Israel Trek program is not without controversy. In the months leading up to the 2025 Spring trip, the PSC had voiced their strong disapproval.
Starting in October, posters with the words “Boycott Israel Trek” appeared in dorms and common spaces, along with Instagram posts from the organization stating the same message. A month later, members of the PSC sent messages to students in various upperclassmen houses urging them to reject the trip. They titled their emails: “[PSC] Boycott Israel Trek Office Hours.” In the body, they wrote: “Accepted into Israel Trek? Before you pay your deposit, come talk to us. Join us at our third office hours session to learn more about why we ask students to boycott in light of Israel’s occupation and ongoing genocide.”
To gain further insight into criticisms of the Israel Trek, the Harvard Independent interviewed two Palestinian members of the PSC, both of whom requested anonymity.
According to these members, the PSC takes issue with the claim that the Trek provides a balanced perspective.
“Although Israel Trek claims to have Palestinian perspectives, they never go into the West Bank. They never actually see how Palestinians live under occupation,” an anonymous female student member said. “And they handpick very specific people who are Palestinians, who speak to the perspective that they want to hear, and the majority of the narratives that they hear are Zionist-Israeli narratives, so there’s not a balance there, which is really a loss.”
She specifically criticized this recent January Israel Trek for presenting a narrow and selective perspective, recounting a friend’s experience on the trip as an example.
“[Her friend who went on the Israel Trek] said they talked to one Palestinian person, specifically who they referred to be the 1%, who basically gave them the narrative as a Palestinian who lives in the West Bank—also, that’s a particular perspective as well.”
“You’re not talking to Palestinians in Gaza,” she added.
She further explained that she heard this Palestinian told Trek participants that while they disagreed with the Israeli government’s actions, they placed more blame on Hamas for the current state of Palestine.
“I think that that is, again, a super hand picked perspective that told the people on the trip exactly what they wanted to hear, and that’s not a full narrative. And people returned thinking that is a full narrative, and that’s really a loss,” she explained.
She also described aspects of the trip as insensitive and tone-deaf.
“I sat down at Berg next to a girl who’s talking about how she went clubbing in Israel, and that’s, to me, super tone deaf. Like, you are going into an apartheid state, and you’re viewing it as a vacation, when there are so many Palestinians who don’t have the right to return to their actual home.”
The other PSC member reiterated the PSC’s official statement regarding Israel Trek. “Engaging in Israel Trek is becoming part of a propaganda trip that is legitimizing an apartheid state occupation and now an ongoing genocide,” he said.
Conversations regarding the return of the Israel Trek reflect longstanding tensions on Harvard’s campus, exposing the deep divisions in how students, organizations, and the University itself engage with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ever since the Oct. 7 attacks, there has been a surge in pro-Palestinian protests on Harvard’s campus, taking the form of marches, sit-ins, exhibitions, and a 20-day encampment in front of University Hall.
The University has primarily avoided involvement in the Trek despite mounting pressure to address concerns from both sides.
This debate over the Israel Trek is emblematic of a broader challenge at Harvard: fostering open dialogue on polarizing global issues without alienating members of the institution’s diverse community. As calls for greater transparency and inclusivity in campus programming grow louder, the question remains: How can Harvard navigate these complexities while upholding its commitment to academic inquiry, free expression, and diverse perspectives?
For the students who went on Israel Trek, the answer lies in the region itself.
“A lot of people on campus have a distorted perception about Israel. The truth is, you can’t know this country until you see it—and that’s what we did,” Fogel said.
Pippa Lee ’28 (pippalee@college.harvard.edu) is the Associate Forum Editor for the Independent.