Top lobbyists, analysts and politicians urged close to 100 Boston-area college students to get involved in local politics at yesterday's day-long conference titled "Boston, Israel, and YOU!"

The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the leading pro-Israel lobby in the United States, and the Harvard Students for Israel co-sponsored the leadership-training seminar at Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel.

The speakers encouraged attendees, who came from 12 Boston-area colleges and universities, to participate in politics at a local level and to think of themselves as America's leaders.

Local politics is often neglected by student activists, said Steven Grossman, former Democratic National Committee chairperson and current member of AIPAC's Board of Directors who spoke at a panel on citizen lobbying.

He said pro-Israel students should

follow the example of five Brandeis students whom he helped start a successful political organization.

"They concentrated much more on local races because they can get their arms around local races. I strongly urge people to get involved in local races," Grossman said.

In her remarks closing the conference, AIPAC Leadership Director Jill Rider said that acting in local politics is also a way to lobby politicians before they become powerful.