By examining writing about Israel education since the founding of the State, this paper highlights three questions that have surfaced repeatedly in Jewish educational discourse: What is the purpose of teaching American Jews about Israel? Who is best equipped to teach American Jews about Israel? How can Israel education foster positive identification with Israel without whitewashing over the imperfections of the Jewish State? By exploring how each question has manifested in Jewish education, it examines why—for very different reasons—these questions have endured over time, and considers what it might take to arrive at lasting conclusions about them.

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"My Heart Is in the East and I Am in the West": Enduring Questions of Israel Education in North America.

��� H I ot all of the battles following Israel's June 6 invasion of Lebanon were fought in Beirut. A heated skirmish waged with words broke out in the United States over American press coverage of Israeli actions, and the often acrimonious debate shows no sign of abating now that the dispersal of the Palestine Liberation Organization has become fact. For instance, former U.S. senator James Abourezk, a founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination League, writing a week or so after the invasion began, asserted that "the American media, with few exceptions, have joined in an Israeli propaganda effort that would have made Joseph Goebbels proud."1 His angry view was echoed by Alexander Cockburn in theJune 22 Village Voice, who wrote ofa "heartlessness" in U.S. print coverage that surpassed anything he could remember "since the early days of the Vietnam war."2 The highly regardedjournalist, Seymour Hersh, had a two

Focus on israel

Citations

"My Heart Is in the East and I Am in the West": Enduring Questions of Israel Education in North America.

The U.S. Press and Lebanon

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2012-13 Israel Studies Report and Directory