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The Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee called for a boycott of travel to Israel on Sunday following the reinstatement of Israel Trek, an annual subsidized trip to Israel over spring break.
The upcoming 2025 trip marks Israel Trek’s return following a one-year hiatus. The 2024 trek was canceled in March over safety concerns following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and the ongoing war in Gaza.
The boycott is the fourth time in six years that PSC has launched a campaign targeted at dissuading students from traveling to Israel. In 2019, the group circulated a pledge to boycott the Trek, but the trip was ultimately called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic instead.
Executive Director of Harvard Hillel Jason B. Rubenstein ’04 wrote in an emailed statement to The Crimson that the PSC boycott is a result of “fear that allegations of genocide, which enjoy great currency in 02138, may not survive contact with reality 5,000 miles away.”
“The entire purpose of the trip is to deepen your thinking by broadening the set of experiences you can draw on,” Rubenstein wrote. “Opposition to Trek is grounded not so much in suspicion of Trek itself, but in suspicion of your ability to arrive at the truth, or perhaps a fear of your ability to do so.”
But for Eva C. Frazier ’26, a leading organizer with PSC, the Trek represents an effort to whitewash the Israeli government’s human rights abuses against Palestinian civilians.
“Engaging in Israel Trek is becoming part of a propaganda trip that is legitimizing an apartheid state occupation and now an ongoing genocide,” Frazier said.
Israel Trek has referenced its affiliation with “diverse perspectives, including high-ranking Jewish, Arab Israeli, and Palestinian officials,” in emails advertising the trip.
But PSC members said that they believed students should still boycott the Trek because the planned events on the agenda are insufficient.
“You’re not going to be able to view the Palestinian experience in the West Bank or in Gaza or in Israel in one day,” Frazier said. “The experience for 43,000 Palestinians has been brutal.”
On Monday, the PSC held “Boycott Israel Trek Office Hours” for students to learn more about why they were calling for people to avoid traveling to Israel.
“We think it’s a really important space for students to come and learn more before joining such a harmful experience,” said Frazier.
Doron Ben Haim ’27, an Israel Trek leader, expressed the Trek’s commitment to diverse perspectives in a statement to The Crimson.
“We respect and acknowledge differing views on this topic and are committed to creating a space that values each perspective as part of a genuine learning experience,” Ben Haim wrote.
“While we are aware of calls to boycott this Trek, we regret that these efforts have often extended to nearly any program linked to Israel or Israelis,” he added.
Overall, PSC organizers criticized a lack of neutrality in Israel Trek.
“Anything that you’ll see there, especially when it’s called the Israel Trek, is going to be very one-sided,” said Violet T.M. Barron ’26, a prominent pro-Palestine activist on campus and Crimson Editorial editor.
Ben Haim, however, emphasized the Trek’s aim to “take the conflict seriously and make every effort to approach it with balance and integrity” in his statement.
“While the name ‘Israel Trek’ reflects the geographic focus of the trip, the experiences and discussions are far-reaching and nuanced, offering students a firsthand look at the diversity of narratives that shape the region,” he added.
Harvard Israel Initiative President Charles M. Covit ’27 said he disagreed with claims that the Trek did not have educational value for participants and expressed hope that the boycott would not affect students’ interest in the Trek.
“I think that it’s a shame that they’re trying to apply that kind of social pressure on kids that might be interested,” said Covit, a Crimson Editorial editor.
“The best way to actually learn is to go there for yourself and talk to people,” Covit said. “Why not take the opportunity to learn?”
—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.
