Caravan for Democracy High School Edition Returns to Pittsburgh - Prepares High School Students for Anti-Israel Sentiments on College Campuses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leora Kaufman
Caravan for Democracy HSE Coordinator
212-308-5595
lkaufman@thelikud.org

Media and counter-propaganda expert David Olesker, director of the Jerusalem Center for Communication and Advocacy Training, will address high school students from the Agency for Jewish Learning.  The event will take place at Chatham College, Singer Hall in the Coolidge Building, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Launched in 2004 by Jewish National Fund, American Friends of Likud, and Media Watch International, Caravan for Democracy HSE empowers high school students to respond to anti-Israel acts and rhetoric in an intelligent and informed manner when they arrive at college.  Since its inception, Caravan for Democracy HSE has held more than 60 events in over 20 cities and has educated 6,500 high school students about Israel and the Middle East.

David Olesker was born in Britain in 1957.  He studied at Sunderland Polytechnic College and, after making aliyah in 1982, at Yeshiva Or Somayach in Jerusalem.  After moving to Israel, Olesker worked with the World Zionist Organization’s Educational Resource Center at Kiriat Moriah for six years where he helped pioneer the application of informal education techniques to train advocates for Israel. 

In 1989, he founded an independent organization called ICAP in order to bring these techniques to a wider audience.  The Jerusalem Center for Communication and Advocacy Training builds upon ICAP’s work to further refine and disseminate these techniques. 

Olesker travels frequently to the United States and other countries to teach the techniques he developed in Israel. 

He has worked with Israel’s diplomats, emissaries of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency, Jewish student and community activists around the world, and the staff of such organizations as the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith (ADL) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

For more information, contact Leora Kaufman at 212-308-5595 or lkaufman@thelikud.org, or visit http://www.caravanfordemocracy.org/.

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Jewish National Fund (JNF) began in 1901 collecting coins in blue boxes to purchase land and return the Jewish people to their homeland. In over 109 years, JNF has evolved into a global environmental leader and become the central address for partnering with the land and people of Israel. JNF has planted 250 million trees; built over 1,000 parks and recreational areas; constructed security roads; educated students around the world about Israel; created new communities so that Jews from around the world would have a place to call home; discovered new means of growing plants under arid conditions, bringing green to the desert; and built over 200 reservoirs and water recycling centers, increasing Israel’s water supply by 10%. Today, JNF is supporting Israel’s newest generation of pioneers by bringing life to the Negev Desert, Israel’s last frontier. 

A United Nations NGO, JNF sponsors international conferences on desertification, shares afforestation techniques, and funds research on arid land management. JNF is a registered 501(c)(3) organization and continuously earns top ratings from charity overseers. For more information on JNF, call 888-JNF-0099 or visit www.jnf.org.