My audience was largely Jewish, yet for the most part they criticized the Israeli government policy as insensitive and the IDF as inhumane. Many students questioned Israel's right to exist.
I was confronted aggressively by many students, even as I had taken care not to discuss political policy; all I had 
Many students questioned Israel's right to exist.
attempted to do was to instill a sense of allegiance and passion towards Medinat Yisrael. Yet, I was met with such anti-Israel sentiment that there were times I wondered whether it would have been easier to address a non-Jewish audience.
Often, after I spoke students would pose challenges to me that had nothing to do with my subject matter and I could not help but respond by stating the obvious: Israel's right to exist and flourish as a country was voted upon and accepted democratically by the United Nations; a given platform which the Palestinian authority to this day does not legitimize. The IDF is the only army in the world which risks the lives of its soldiers by dropping leaflets from the skies warning those in areas that clearly harbor terrorists, allowing innocent civilians to flee if they wish.
Following my trip, I was distraught at what I had previously heard about but had now witnessed first hand. I would relieve my conscience by reminding myself that the universities I had spoken to were in the United Kingdom, where the media is infested with anti-Israel sentiment; these Jewish students were victims of the precarious circumstances in which they lived.
Returning to my life in Israel I was concerned and disturbed by what I experienced in the Diaspora, but temporarily relieved as I comforted myself with an additional argument for living in Israel, where, I reassured myself, we are protected from such warped perspective and where Jewish leadership was being prepared for the future. However upon reflection, with regards to the events that have transpired on the university campuses in Israel, my conscience has begun to stir again.
Instilling national pride and encouraging subscription to Zionism is becoming very challenging on the Israeli university campuses. In fact, an organization called Im Tirtzu identifies itself as "the only entity that has provided a response to the spread of anti-Zionist currents in Israeli universities." The very fact that anti-Zionism is mentioned with regards to university campuses in Israel is mind boggling, but it is nonetheless a reality.
On November 18, 2007 a student named Ayal Cohen, who was studying film at Sapir University in the Western Negev, came to one of his lectures still dressed in his IDF uniform, having just completed his reserve army service. The lecturer, an Arab named Nizar Hassan, refused to give Ayal entry into the lecture, stating that he refused to teach students dressed in army or police uniforms. The students present were in shock. Through the efforts of Im Tirtzu, Nizar Hassan was removed from the faculty.
This year, during student elections at the Hebrew University, two members of the Campus Lekulanu organization (a left-wing student group) greeted members of Im Tirtzu with the Nazi salute.
The following week, at the University of Haifa, Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, was invited to speak. Sheikh Salah is known for his radical and extreme Islamic views and his anti-Israel rhetoric; yet, he was invited to speak on the Haifa campus in an attempt to demonstrate how the university promotes "democracy and freedom of speech". Upsettingly, Jewish students (more specifically members of Im Tirtzu) were denied entry to the lecture itself. After protesting and demonstrating, the university faculty assured Im Tirtzu that Salah would not be invited again, but the damage was already done.
Im Tirtzu receives daily complaints from Jewish students at Hebrew University that the professors and lecturers "endorse terrorist attacks against Jews, call for international boycotts against Israel, collaborate with anti-Semites and openly call for Israel's destruction." It is hard to believe, but some recent incidents sadly align themselves and attest to these sentiments.
A Jewish student set up a booth on the Hebrew University campus where he sold a new publication from the Minerva Center for Human Rights of the Hebrew University entitled Hizbullah My Eyes Bomb Kiryat Shmonah.
That same week, the Jewish Student Union invited a Palestinian band to play on campus for an end-of-the-year celebration. The chorus of one of the songs performed by the band went "Palestine, Palestine, we are your blood".
This past year on Israel Independence Day, Palestinian students were granted permission by the Hebrew University to hold a party in Frank Sinatra Square. Palestinian flags were strewn across the square and Palestinian music sounded as students celebrated in the same exact spot where only five short years ago, eight Jewish students were killed in cold blood in a Palestinian terrorist bombing.
Recently, I received news that Ken Kramarz, Hillel's North California regional head, has welcomed leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine, an extremist anti-Israel group, into its student organization meetings. According to Edgar Bronfman, Chairman of Hillel, the SJP is an "anti-Israel... anti-Semitic, alarming movement," which "claims to be peace activist", but "has a history of asking known terrorist associates to speak...." and justifying terrorism, calling for “divestment and an end to the existence of the apartheid... State of Israel." 
Impressionable Jewish students have fallen prey to SJP's leaders and have been closely cooperating with them.
By allowing the SJP into its facility and groups, Hillel has allowed itself to become a breeding ground for anti-Israel extremists and activists. Impressionable Jewish students have fallen prey to SJP's leaders and have been closely cooperating with them. Hillel has not taken any steps towards dismissing Kramarz from his position, even as he continues to encourage anti-Jewish and anti-Israel beliefs.
I used to comfort myself by separating the reality of living in the Diaspora, where a Jew is in danger of forgetting or even compromising his identity, and living in Israel, where young Jews who are passionate about their Zionist identity would not underestimate the sacrifices that have been made to turn the dream of a Jewish homeland into a reality. It is a sad day when I am no longer sure that I can confidently make that distinction.
With all of the obvious enemies who, during our taxing history, have attempted to persecute and destroy us, it is time for us to realize, as Im Tirtzu apparently does, that when our fellow Jewish and Israeli brethren question our rights to our land, then the onus falls squarely on us.