Ethan Lavi, another Lehigh sopho-
more and Weiser’s Hillel co-president,
grew up in the United States with
Israeli parents who moved here before
he was born.

He “100% supports the Jewish state,”
he said. But Lavi worries that under the
judicial reform law Netanyahu and the
Knesset would gain too much power.

At the same time, he knows he can’t do
anything about it.

“All I can do is hope that things will
resolve itself,” Lavi said. “I can’t really
participate in protests that will get
noticed because I don’t live there.”
Noah Rubin, a University of
Pennsylvania sophomore and the vice
president of the Penn Israel Public
Aff airs Committee on campus, has an
Israeli father who came to the U.S.

after serving in the Israeli army.

But the son is American and does
not believe he should be asked to
comment on Israel’s internal politics.

As American Jews, “We should just be
happy that Israel is the only democ-
racy in the Middle East and has due
process,” he said.

Rubin believes that it’s his role to
support Israel. He’s in the process
of planning Penn’s Israel Week, with
events about Israeli culture, technol-
ogy and history.

“Just get people excited about being
proud to support Israel,” he said.

Erez Yarden, a Temple University
freshman and active Hillel member,
lived in Israel until he was 6 before
moving to the U.S. with his family.

Yarden does not support the Knesset’s
proposal. But as an American, Yarden is less
focused on his position regarding the
Supreme Court than on his relation-
ships with Israeli friends and family
members. He supports Israel because his people
live there, not because he agrees or
disagrees with the country’s political
system. He wants to keep in touch with
them and make sure that they are still
able to enjoy their lives.

“It’s the people that you’re looking
out for. Israel remains an important
land with important people,” he said.

“You have problematic policies in
every country. It may be unfortunate
that this is a problematic policy. But in
the end, you’re really only caring about
the people.” 1
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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