Israel Trek Reinstated After Year-Long Hiatus Following War in Gaza

Harvard College Israel Trek, an annual subsidized trip to Israel over spring break, will return in March after a one-year hiatus.

Israel Trek was canceled in 2024 shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks and ongoing war in Gaza. While no official reason was given for the decision, Israel Trek leader Doron Ben Haim ’27 cited a lower “level of certainty” about the trip’s feasibility.

Now, following several successful trips to Israel organized by Harvard affiliates and graduate schools, the annual Trek will be reinstated in March 2025.

“Overall, the situation seems more in control than it used to be,” Ben Haim said. “So, we feel more confident in starting to plan the trip and adjusting as needed.”

Traditionally, Israel Trek has included a day trip to the West Bank with a Palestinian tour guide. This year, however, that segment will be replaced by a visit to eastern Jerusalem, according to Ben Haim.

This year’s planned visit to “a Hezbollah tunnel at the border” may also be canceled “if the conditions would not allow us,” Ben Haim said.

The Israel Trek itinerary is subject to change, with organizers closely monitoring the situation in Israel.

“We have almost five months until the trip in spring break, so a lot of things can change,” Ben Haim said. “The overall plan is to keep following up, see if there are any changes for better or for worse, and recalibrate the plan.”

Past iterations of Israel Trek have faced controversy on campus and calls for a boycott from pro-Palestine student activists.

Natalie L. Kahn ’23, president of Harvard Hillel during the 2023 Israel Trek, said that the Trek created “anger” in previous years.

“I recognize that it will again maybe infuriate people who are anti-Israel on campus,” said Kahn, a former Crimson News editor. “That’s all the more reason that we should be reinstating it and getting it going again.”

“The only reason that anyone would really be opposed to such a trip taking place is that the person does not believe that anyone should go to Israel,” she added. “And so I think that it’s a good way to further expose those people.”

Asked about potential opposition to this year’s reinstatement of Israel Trek, Ben Haim said that boycotting is “not the right way to learn more.”

“One of the main issues that we had on campus last year was that civil discourse was very lacking,” he said. “And I think one of the things we’re trying to do with the Trek is to allow students to have the platform to engage and learn more.”

—Staff writer Hiral M. Chavre can be reached at hiral.chavre@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.