On February 23rd, CAMERA Fellow Kailee Jordan hosted Sderot-based journalist Noam Bedein to SFSU to discuss life under constant Hamas rocket fire.
In hosting the event, Kailee said that she wanted people on campus to catch a glimpse of a tangible and realistic experience in Israel, as well as how strong the Israeli citizens must be in order to survive and even prosper, despite the fear of rocket fire every day. Understanding the effects of living under fire is crucial to understanding Israel’s situation as a whole, and is therefore important to acknowledge when educating others about Israeli society.
One particularly touching aspect of Noam’s presentation, according to Kailee, were the videos of and drawings by young Israeli children who are forced to run with their families to bomb shelters. Many of them display symptoms of trauma, induced by frequent warning alarms which mean that a rocket is about to fall somewhere in the civilian area.
Despite having difficulty with the school administration, which had been reluctant to allow Kailee to use a university space for the event on the grounds that the event was “controversial,” Noam’s talk drew 30 students and fostered a robust discussion about Hamas and IDF policies.
