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Established in 2007, TAMID Israel Investment Group offers participants access to experiential business education. The idea began at the University of Michigan after two students recognized the lack of interest in Israel-related campus activities. In response to this lack of interest, the students created TAMID to attract business-minded students to connect with the Israeli economy.

TAMID’s educational program has expanded to take a multi-faceted approach to help participants gain experience working with the economy in Israel. This preparation for business in the country includes an educational program, consulting opportunities, the investment fund program, and the fellowship. The program also offers post-graduate opportunities to invest in the Israeli landscape for those who have graduated.

TAMID turns traditional business education on its head by placing great emphasis on experiential learning. Not quite an educational platform where students listen to a classroom lecture, this program relies heavily on workshops and challenges to learn more about finance, technology, and other areas involved with consulting. In addition to learning core concepts, students also learn about the country’s startup culture to facilitate building connections.

Students can also participate in the program’s consulting platform on either technology or management. The technology consulting component involves students generating data analytics development for Israeli clients and their companies. Students in computer science, mathematics, design, and related backgrounds participate in website development, technology integration, and data analytics projects.

The management side of consulting involves students working in TAMID Group teams to offer clients innovative solutions. The projects that management teams work on run the gamut from consumer research, segmentation, and targeting to branding, business development, and product-market fit, among other activities.

TAMID students also get to participate in one of the best opportunities for business students through the TAMID Investment Fund. Israel has the third most traded companies listed on the NASDAQ, making the experience very valuable.

During their time working with the investment fund, students learn and practice due diligence while simultaneously getting the experience of managing a portfolio. This is the chance for students to participate in an organization-wide trading competition with the potential for each member to benefit from research that has a national impact. Student fund managers have faculty and professional investors to gain experience working in the market.

This opportunity can be a bridge to others. For example, some chapters allow students to raise money to manage a real-life portfolio. Alternatively, students have access to TAMID partnership opportunities with businesses such as the media outlet Seeking Alpha.

Fellowship opportunities are offered through a partnership between TAMID and Onward Israel. The eight-week fellowship program is an internship where outstanding group leaders work in Tel Aviv and enterprising Israeli companies.

Here, students are immersed in the Israel business culture through speaking events and workshops across industries (venture capital, asset management, private equity, etc). As part of their internships, students were involved in market research, beta testing, digital marketing web development, financial modeling, and competitor analysis.

When students graduate from their programs, TAMID Group provides them the chance to remain engaged in the Israeli business landscape through TAMID Pro. In a more leadership role, though, graduates serve as student mentors, coaches to investment teams, and recruiters for the programs.

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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) comprises club members, advocates, activists, students, industry leaders, and synagogue leaders who strengthen and expand the relationship between Israel and the United States. AIPAC also educates those in decision-making positions on the common interests the two countries share, and why strengthening these bonds is important.

At the center of the group’s activities is its multi-pronged policy agenda. The group aims to establish a cooperative missile development program and strategic partnerships across industries. More significantly, the organization works toward establishing peace between the Jewish State of Israel and a demilitarized Palestine.

The organization’s efforts also include addressing shared threats to security that the United States and Israel face. Finally, the group works toward removing Israel’s isolation on world forums and ending boycotts and efforts to divest or sanction the country. In 2021, the group has narrowed its focus on key issues that, once resolved, support the above goals. For example, a pressing issue for the organization is addressing the increasing instability in the Middle East.

Fortifying the relationship between the two countries becomes more important when the key to US security is Israel and helping the country remain a democracy. The first way the organization needs assistance is by providing Israel with the military edge over any possible adversaries. Through the US-Israel missile defense cooperation, the two groups can save lives.

The two groups also emphasize strengthening the relationship between the two countries in the interest of strategic efforts the two have in common. Science, technology, water, energy, health, and agriculture are a few of the sectors the organizations work with each other to address shared challenges.

Since the Israel state was established in 1948, the country has signed peace treaties with Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, and Morocco. All of this has been done through the aid of the United States. The organization believes that the US can set the stage for helping Israel establish peace among other countries.

Existing in one of the world’s hotbeds for terrorist activity, the Israel state faces threats from terrorist groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Iranian militias in Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah. With the help of the US, however, threats from terrorist groups that Iran supports can be pushed back. More importantly, the country can defend itself against the myriad of threats against its own democracy. In terms of long-term threats, Iran is one to both countries because of its nuclear ambitions. AIPAC advocates for the US policy that would prevent this country from building a nuclear arsenal.

Finally, AIPAC works toward diminishing anti-discriminatory practices which are disguised as boycotting, divestment, and sanctions. Israel faces discrimination at the United Nations and through efforts to unjustifiably prosecute the country through the International Criminal Court. AIPAC advocates for a relationship with the US that would prevent these efforts to undermine Israel’s progress on the world stage.

This organization’s policy agenda is supported through the work of the two countries to create a united front. For more information on AIPAC, please visit https://www.aipac.org/about.

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The political science fraternity Pi Sigma Alpha got its origins at the University of Texas in Austin in December 1919 and formed the Alpha chapter in October 1920. Its inaugural class, comprised of undergraduate and graduate students, hosted an impressive membership list that included a future Supreme Court judge, US Attorney General, and a US ambassador. In 2021, the fraternal organization has expanded to a membership of 300,000 with almost 850 college campuses around the country.

Pi Sigma Alpha provides its members the chance to support their academic endeavors through various scholarship programs and awards. The organization’s goals focus on understanding the practical and scientific study of government, helping people understand government issues, and fostering reforms in government. The fraternity offers chapter grants and graduate and internship scholarships to students toward supporting the above aims.

One of the opportunities that students have to procure funding is through Chapter Activity Grants, which allow chapters to launch broader projects. One of the central benefits of the program is that it provides student members with grant and proposal writing experience. They also learn how to draft budgets and how to manage funded projects.

The grants awarded are typically for $2,000 a year and usually go to chapters whose project focuses on virtual or on-campus programming instead of taking trips. Further, they usually choose projects that move beyond the initial ceremony. A few of the activities that the grant money has been used for in the past include lectures, film series, writing workshops, speakers series, and community engagement, among other activities.

Students can get funding individually through McManus Washington Internship Scholarships and the Howard Penniman Scholarship for Graduate Study. The McManus Washington Internship Scholarship provides funding for four students for $2,000 to be used in the fall or spring semester.

One of the four scholarships is set aside for students involved with the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. Students working at the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars can take advantage of another opportunity to give a winner of the scholarship an additional $2,500 to go toward room and board.

The purpose of the scholarship is to assist students working as a part of an internship in Washington, DC. Students can be working under the auspices of their academic institution or a recognized internship organization. Each chapter chooses candidates for the internship scholarship, and the national committee makes the selection based on merit and Pi Sigma Alpha service.

The following academic year, graduate students entering their program qualify to apply for the Howard Penniman Scholarship for Graduate Study. The scholarship program awards five scholarships for $2,000 for one academic year.

Finally, students also support various awards programs, such as Best Class Paper and Best Thesis Award. Both awards provide winners $250 and $100 to those who place second. Another award is the Best Chapter Award given to chapters based on their annual reports and any extraordinary evidence of chapter activity. Winners walk away with $500, and advisors to winning chapters are given $200.

The organization’s purpose in giving students these funding opportunities is two-fold. The first goal is to promote excellence in political science scholarship, and the second is to lay the foundation for expanding the fraternity’s scope in programming.

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Menachem Wolfovitch Begin served as Israel’s first non-socialist prime minister from 1977 to 1983. He helped Israel reach a peace treaty with Egypt, earning him a Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.

Menachem Begin was born on August 16, 1913, in Brest-Litovsk, Poland. His father’s name was Zeev-Dov, and his mother was Hassia Begin. When Menachem was old enough, they sent him to Mizrachi Hebrew School, and he went on to attend the Polish Gymnasium (the equivalent of high school). Afterward he enrolled at Warsaw University, graduating with a law degree in 1935.

Before he turned 13, Menachem Begin served as a member of the Hashomer Hatzair scout organization. After observing several incidents of anti-Semitism throughout Europe, he decided to join a faction affiliated with the Revisionist Zionist Movement (Betar), becoming a steadfast follower of its founder, Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky. The movement was devoted to establishing a Jewish state in Palestine.

Begin rose through the ranks and became the head of Betar’s Organization Department in Poland by 1932. He traveled around Poland on behalf of Betar, and wrote articles for the revisionist press. Later, he was sent to Czechoslovakia to lead the movement there.

From 1936 to 1938 (the time of the Palestine riots), he led rallies protesting British policies in Palestine. Begin protested in Warsaw near the British Embassy, where the Polish police arrested him, holding him briefly. Begin also defied British policies by helping people migrate to Palestine illegally. The British government had imposed restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine.

By 1939, Begin had married Aliza Arnold, and they had three children (Benjamin, Chasia, and Leah). Begin became the leader of Betar in Poland in 1939. Not long after, the Germans conquered Warsaw at the outbreak of World War II. Begin fled to Vilna but was captured by Soviet authorities (the NKVD) in 1940. They sentenced him to eight years in Siberian labor camps. However, he was released in 1941 because of his Polish citizenship and the Stalin-Sikorski agreement, which granted amnesty to Polish citizens.

Begin joined the Free Polish Army in exile shortly after his release and traveled to the Middle East in 1943. He revitalized the Irgun Zvai Leumi, a defunct military organization, and assumed command. Also known by its Hebrew name, Etzel, the organization directed its activities against the British control of Palestine with the goal of establishing a Jewish state. Begin was such a thorn in the side of the Palestinian government that it issued a $13,000 reward for information that would lead to his capture. Begin eluded detection, living in disguise in Tel Aviv.

When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the Irgun Zvai Leumi was dissolved, and the Herut (Freedom) party was formed. Begin and his allies produced candidates for the Knesset (parliament), and he remained a member of the Knesset. He led the Herut party for over 30 years.

Begin also was known for his passionate right-wing and patriotic ideals. He was especially adamant about Israel’s right to retain the Gaza Strip and West Bank. A skilled writer, orator, and politician, Menachem Begin is a key figure in Israel’s brief history.

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AIPAC and Pro-Israel Lobbying in the US

The years between 1948 to 1967 marked an important period for pro-Israel lobbying in America because the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations were established. Both organizations were formed to influence US policy toward Israel and the Middle East. AIPAC’s activities targeted Congress, while the Conference of Presidents targeted the executive branch. The two organizations continue to be the most visible and influential pro-Israel groups in the United States. The Conference of Presidents was created after Henry Byroade, an advisor to the Secretary of State, urged the President of the World Jewish Congress to ensure the Jewish community in America spoke with one voice to the White House and State Department. The President of the World Jewish Congress, Dr. Nahumm Goldmann, convened a meeting held in March 1954 and attended by the major Jewish organizations in America. The meeting had Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Abba Eban, and the leader of B’nai B’rith, the oldest Jewish organization in the United States, Philip Klutznick, in attendance. This event resulted in establishing the Conference of Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations, acting as the American Jewish community’s voice to the American administration on Israel-related issues. AIPAC began as a solo venture but soon became very profitable, with workers and members totaling hundreds of thousands. Isaiah Kenen, an American Jew journalist and lawyer who had previously worked for the Israeli embassy in Washington, was appointed as the Washington representative for the American Zionist Council in 1951. Unlike his successors, Kenen was discreet. He established ties with members of Congress- his strongest support in Capitol Hill being the Liberal Democrats. He successfully obtained funding for Israel, equaling $65 million in 1951 and $73 million the following year. US officials began investigating whether the American Zionist Council could register as a foreign agent, limiting its operations and complicating its funding. The next decision to make was clear. The council had to consider forming a new lobbying organization with a “cleaner” financial foundation. Kenen established the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs as an independent domestic lobbying group granting unlimited lobbying at Congress. He renamed the organization the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1959. The major purpose of AIPAC was and continues to be to enhance Israel-United States relations. But this purpose became temporarily difficult to achieve as the Eisenhower administration was more preoccupied with forming allies with the Western Bloc in the Cold War than with assisting Israel. AIPAC could not prevent the US from providing help to the governments of Iraq or Egypt, nor did it stop the Eisenhower administration from forcing Israel to withdraw entirely from Sinai, which it had taken in the Suez War of 1956. Consequently, the organization was not very successful in accomplishing its mission during its inception. America still considered Israel a humanitarian cause. The 1967 war, often called the Six-Day War, would fundamentally define Israel’s relationship with the United States and the connection between American Jews and Israel. Israel’s astounding triumph over Egypt’s, Syria’s, and Jordan’s forces demonstrated Israel’s strategic importance to the US to American policymakers. The triumph was a source of pride for American Jews. Being affiliated with Israel became a key component of their identity as Jews. Because of the 1967 war and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel became a priority for the American Jewish. And so it was that pro-Israel lobbying became a fundamental part of the politics of American Jews.