HSI President Joshua Suskewicz ’05 credited Summers’ September 2002 remarks with moderating the tenor of on-campus debate.

“I think that activists on both sides at Harvard have worked to keep [debate] civil and fair-minded,” Suskewicz said.

The Ukranian-born Sharansky, a prominent dissident in the Soviet Union who was jailed by the Kremlin from 1977 to 1986, said that human rights activists—who once made the effort to free him from prison an international cause-celebre—have since abandoned the plight of the Jews.

Though in the past he may have drawn a hero’s welcome on college campuses, he now receives sharp criticism from some for his affiliation with Sharon.

Sharansky’s Sept. 18 visit to Rutgers’ New Brunswick, N.J., campus was disrupted by a pie-hurling student from a group called Jews Against the Occupation.

New Jersey “cooks very good cakes,” quipped Sharansky, who survived the activist’s weapon of choice: a Kosher strawberry-cream pie.

Sharansky said he hopes to bridge this gap between Israel and Jews in the diaspora who have strayed from the Zionist movement.

He highlighted the role of the philanthropic partnership Birthright Israel, which has brought roughly 50,000 Jewish young adults to the Holy Land in recent years.

Sharansky, who is a member of the Knesset—Israel’s parliament—from Sharon’s right-of-center Likud Party, is also chair of Birthright’s steering committee.

Seven Harvard students will join an Ivy League Birthright trip in Israel next month, said Birthright recruiter David A. Weinfeld ’05, who is also a Crimson editor.

Jewish students returning from Birthright trips have been effective in galvanizing support for Israel at colleges, Sharansky said. He called Birthright alumni “the first line of defense” for Israel.