If Birthright sends you to Israel to learn about the country, and you decide you want to learn about Palestinians while you're there, Birthright will cancel your return ticket.
"Visiting Israel in 2018 and not receiving comprehensive education about the occupation is like visiting the South in the 1950s and not talking about Jim Crow segregation. Young Jews deserve the truth about what’s being done in our name."
Lot of people in comments saying Birthright will make you pay for your return trip if you leave their tour at any time for any reason. Okey doke. But not sure that makes Birthright look any better.
Some strange responses to these tweets. It's obvious to me, and I would have assumed it was obvious to everyone, that what these young people did was a consciously chosen, intentional act of witness, education, and protest.
Since this is still blowing up: The young people who walked off the Birthright tour did so as part of an organized, planned protest. Again, that was obvious to me, and should have been obvious to others, from the start.
"If you don't like what Birthright is doing, don't go on their tour" is a reasonable position to take, but so is "if you don't like what Birthright is doing, protest what they're doing." These folks chose the latter path.
Also note that the quote about Israel and the American South above is not mine—the quote marks should have been a tipoff. It's taken from the site I linked.
Finally, I may be stupid, but I'm not "argue with hostile strangers on the internet about Israel" stupid. If you're looking to debate the occupation with me, you'll have to buy me a beer and do it face to face. Sorry.
The protests were organized in conjunction with @IfNotNowOrg, which has a whole website up detailing their criticisms of the Birthright program. Feel free to check it out. notjustafreetrip.com
