The Hopkins Americans Partnership for Israel (HAPI) held its first event last Sunday, featuring United States Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), who addressed the importance of a strong relationship between the United States and Israel. About 35 people attended the event, which was only open to student leaders.
HAPI was created by sophomore Ari Weiss this past fall in an attempt to elevate political activism concerning Israel on campus. He got in contact with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to figure out how to establish a group on campus and contact members of Congress for support.
“I’d been part of CHAI [Coalition of Hopkins Activists for Israel] for a while, but I was more interested in having a political edge with Israel advocacy,” Weiss said. “I’m really interested in teaching everyone that Israel isn’t just a Jewish concern, but it’s a universal concern that everyone can understand the importance of.”
Weiss and HAPI co-president sophomore Jonathan Hettleman decided to pick Cardin as their speaker because of his commitment to a U.S.-Israel relationship.
“He’s a senator from Maryland, so we thought that he would be a good candidate. He’s had a great track record of fighting for the U.S.-Israel relationship in the past,” Hettleman said. “He’s being a real champion in the world of pro-Israel politics that he would be a great person to come on campus and speak.”
Hettleman introduced Cardin by detailing his 20 years of experience in the House of Representatives and his first term in the Senate. He then explained the goals of HAPI to the audience.
“HAPI seeks to engage and advocate to student leaders and members of Congress the importance of supporting Israel, the only Jewish Democratic state premised on many of the democratic ideals that we, as Americans, have guarded and fought for since our inception.”
Cardin opened his speech by telling a joke about how he became the number one ranked lawyer in his class at the University of Maryland after he was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates and served in the Ways & Means Committee, which allocates funds to law schools.
He went on to talk about a discussion that he had with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the relationship that the U.S. has with Arabic countries in the Middle East.
According to Cardin, Clinton told him that, “Sometimes we just have to overlook some of the fundamental disagreements we have because of the strategic importance of the country to the U.S.”
Cardin said that he responded by mentioning how important Israel was to the U.S.
“And then I pointed out the obvious to Secretary Clinton, that there’s one country and only one country in the Middle East that we share a common value that is strategically critical to U.S. interests. And that’s the state of Israel,” he said.
He stressed that the topic of Israel is especially unique in American politics because of its bipartisan support in Congress. He attributed this support to the effectiveness of AIPAC, which has lobbied for the United States to continue to support Israel, and urged HAPI to bring those ideas to the Hopkins campus.
“Hopkins has an incredible reputation . . . it’s an institution that is solid, that represents excellence and represents a community concern, but is not just a group that’s going to do something because it’s politically in vogue,” Cardin said. “Starting a presence here to be involved in strengthening the U.S.-Israel relations to me is so critically important, and putting Johns Hopkins’ name behind it makes it even that much more valuable.”
Although he wants students to be politically active concerning Israel, he stressed that the topic should not become a partisan debate. He thinks that they should instead focus on getting students to vote. Sophomore Jenny Ferentz agrees that the topic of Israel should not be debated between Democrats and Republicans.
“I think that Senator Cardin’s speech brought up many important points and gave good advice for those who are invested in the conversation in America concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as not to make the issue a wedge issue between the Democratic and Republican party, as well as the fact that the only solution to the conflict is a two state solution,” Ferentz wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Cardin argued that if as many people as possible go to Israel, they will become increasingly passionate about the country and want to help work for peace. Sophomore Alexa Mechanic, who went on the Hopkins Birthright trip to Israel this winter, agreed.
“After visiting Israel this past winter, the vulnerability of the nation hit me. Israel is surrounded by a multitude of unstable and at times threatening countries, and actually seeing the physical boundaries between Israel and these countries is what made the issues at hand so real,” she wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Cardin stressed the need for our support insofar as the same regimes that threaten Israel also threaten the United States and our desire for peace.”
Cardin thinks that this peace will only occur through direct talks.
“The United States is a leader in the world on these issues, and we have every right along with our government to do the right policies, to do what we believe is the best thing for the United States,” Cardin said. “And that’s what you’re doing tonight.”
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