Bellaire Students “Turn Up for AIPAC”: Featuring Jessica Lefkowitz

Students saw this view of the famous Washington monument from the Capitol. 

On a typical Monday, most Bellaire students head to school at 7 a.m. Yet on one Monday, one group of students had woken up hours before – to pass through Secret Service security and see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak.

In a crowd of 16,000, Bellaire students learned a lot at this year’s AIPAC Policy Conference, a convention hosted by the American-Israel Public Action Committee. Prime Minister Netanyahu was one among a long list of great speakers such as Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Mosab Hassan Yousef, commonly known as “The Green Prince” from a documentary made about his life.

I had never been involved in Pro-Israel affairs before and was invited to attend as part of the High School Democrats of America’s delegation. I was blown away not only by the impeccable organization of the entire conference and the absolutely fantastic speakers, but also by their effort to engage youth in issue advocacy and reach out to and respect students. I interviewed fellow Bellaire student Jessica Lefkowitz, a junior, for her opinion on the conference.

“It was really cool to see [Netanyahu] live and hear him speak in person!” she wrote excitedly about the Monday morning General Session which began at 7. It was definitely surreal, I would agree, to see a world leader and be greeted hours later by countless news reports about an event you had just witnessed. Yet prominent leaders weren’t the only ones who filled the General Sessions, and Jessica especially liked some of the other presentations as well.

“I loved when they showed videos explaining someone’s personal story, and then the people came out and spoke,” said Jessica. AIPAC had, for example, invited a young child and his family to the stage – the child had a disability that had previously prevented him from being able to hike with his family, but new technology invented by an Israeli veteran enabled him to pursue his passions.

“That one,” Jessica told me, especially “stood out in her mind,” a touching story of a “marine and a boy who wanted to go do outdoor activities.” Personally, I remember being especially moved by two other moments: Yousef’s speech, in which he called for understanding and following gut instincts in search of doing the right thing, and a moment when the parents of three kidnapped and murdered Israeli boys came out and were able to address the crowd about their loss and turn it into a story of hope and encouragement.

Beyond the General Sessions were also “breakout” sessions, in which participants could learn about specific issues. Jessica appreciated how “they didn’t just get trained people to speak, but instead invited professionals and workers in the fields so we were able to learn about the topic from people who study it every day.” As a debater, I found it especially interesting to see several authors of pieces of evidence I had used in debate rounds standing before me and answering my questions.  

One of the breakouts was especially notable: the high school session, aimed at encouraging youth into pro-Israel political activism. It was the first year that a high school breakout session had been opened at the policy conference and really spoke against the trend of general political apathy that seems to be evident among American youth. For Jessica, who had “always wanted to learn more and know the facts . . . and had always been super interested in Israel and other foreign affairs,” the conference confirmed her interest in activism.        

To follow up the educational sessions, the policy conference ended with a trip to the US Capitol to lobby US lawmakers.

“This was my second time lobbying Congressman Culberson,” Jessica told me. Lobbying was actually “really fun and not something that many people get to experience. It was cool!”

After flying back home Tuesday night, Bellaire students most likely had a lot of makeup work . . . but given the amazing educational and inspirational experience they garnered in Washington, DC, it was probably worth it.