... Three employees of the worldwide organization Israel at Heart, a group that educates college students about life in Israel, discussed their experiences in and perspectives on the Middle Eastern country where they have lived for several years.

Merav Mov is a 23-year-old woman who served in the Israeli National Guard; Shlomit Aylin, also 23, immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia at age three; and Eytan Schwartz, a 30-year-old game show winner. The three spoke on both the major social and political issues in Israel today, as well as what Judaism means to each of them personally.

“We want people to know about the vibrant life in Israel,” Schwartz said. “The hangouts, the sports, the nightlife, the food — people don’t know about it. We want people to understand how much we love living in Israel.”

The feud between Israelis and Palestinians came up later in the conversation. Senior Rania Eltom, president of the Muslim Students Awareness Network, and sophomore Omar Shakir, co-president of the Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, left the event following several comments that they said they found disrespectful.

“I was requested to attend the event by organizers the day before, so I came out of respect for them,” Eltom said. “However, when we entered the event, it was made very obvious that we were outsiders. As soon as the speakers started generalizing Palestinians as wanting to kill all soldiers, it hit a nerve within me, especially [since it was] one day after three Palestinian school kids were shot dead by Israeli soldiers.”...

...Eltom added that she was very offended when the speakers talked about how suicide bombers are glorified in Palestinian classrooms...