JINSA’s Robert Perry Military Academies Program IN ISRAEL

“IN ISRAEL” is in caps because today marks the successful completion of the first Military Academies Program to actually be IN ISRAEL since the current phase of the Palestinian war began in 2000. The cadets and midshipmen of the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point spent the intervening summers in Washington, learning about the Middle East the best they could using the resources of our nation’s capital. It was an excellent experience, but nothing beats being IN ISRAEL.

“IN ISRAEL” is in caps because today marks the successful completion of the first Military Academies Program to actually be IN ISRAEL since the current phase of the Palestinian war began in 2000. The cadets and midshipmen of the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point spent the intervening summers in Washington, learning about the Middle East the best they could using the resources of our nation’s capital. It was an excellent experience, but nothing beats being IN ISRAEL.

The Military Academies Program, inaugurated in 1988, is an antidote to the limited, one-dimensional view of Israel portrayed in the media – the primary source of information about Israel for most Americans. One participant described his new understanding: “All we ever see on TV or read about in the newspapers are the problems in Israel, the Palestinian conflict, the occupied territories, and the border tensions… we never hear about daily life… and the spirit of a people as they strive for peace.” IN ISRAEL.

We held our breath as we planned for the cadets’ return TO ISRAEL.

We were hugely disappointed when the Naval Academy dropped out late in the planning – but not as disappointed as they will be when they find out how much the others saw and did. We worked closely with the Defense Attaches Office (DAO) at the U.S. Embassy IN ISRAEL to create a three-week itinerary that met the educational, religious, social, historical and security requirements for the participants IN ISRAEL. We thank them for their encouragement and willingness to keep track of the details. They were outstanding!

The Military Academies Program IN ISRAEL is part of a larger point that needs to be made. We believe 2004 is a turning point in Israel’s war against the terrorists and the state (or entity – the PA) that supports them. A concerted and difficult IDF campaign to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism, arrest or kill the leadership, and erect a barrier to infiltration has made Israel more physically secure. There may still be terrorism – as there may be anywhere in the world – but any thought the Palestinians had about destroying Israel has to be gone.

Israel has always been a wonderful country – beautiful, friendly, democratic and pro-American, high-tech and ancient, with deserts, beaches and mountains and wonderful people. Tourists should always have been IN ISRAEL for those reasons alone. And now they are. During the first five months of the year, 551,900 tourists arrived IN ISRAEL; an increase of 75 percent over the same period last year and 64 percent more than in the corresponding period in 2002, according to the Israeli government.

JINSA is pleased to have provided some of them.

We look forward to continuing the Robert Perry JINSA Military Academies Program IN ISRAEL for many years to come.