Penn Israel Connection sponsors 'Israel Day'

The Penn Israel Connection -- an umbrella organization for all Israel-related groups at the University -- sponsored an "Israel Day" yesterday to increase visibility about the nation on campus. "Our goal is to raise awareness on campus about Israel and the aspects you don't see in the news -- about culture, travel, education . . . and also to recruit activists on campus," said College senior and co-director of the program Richard Gorelick. Gorelick, who is co-director of the program with College seniors Oren Friedman and Eric Gershwind, said he has been involved with PIC for the past few years and spent a semester at Hebrew University in Jerusalem last year. "Going to Israel made me want to come back and share what I learned about Israel back here in the U.S. of A.," he said. Jason Hoffman, college representative for the Washington, D.C.-based World Zionist Organization manned a table on the Walk supplying students with information on Israel. "Our two main goals are to promote pro-Israel activism on campus and to get students to go to Israel," he said. Gorelick said about 20 people participated in organizing the day's event, including members of international groups such as the WZO, American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Hillel of Greater Philadelphia. The Israeli folk dance group Ayallah performed briefly on the College Green until technical problems and rain forced them to break up. Participants in the program said they were pleased with the turnout, which they said was "tremendous" in the morning, before the rain, and regained momentum in the late afternoon.

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