October 2026 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

This newsletter reaches you just after the High Holidays and two days before October 7th. Three years later, we remember everyone who was killed that day, Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel alike, and we hold close the families and communities who still carry that loss. This season asks us to take stock, and the anniversary makes that both harder and more important. For Friends of Givat Haviva, taking stock means asking what we are building together, even now.

This fall, that work has a voice. In between his teaching at American University, where he is a Visiting Professor, Meltzer Schwartzberg Center for Israel Studies, Givat Haviva Director of Strategy Mohammad Darawshe is traveling the country week after week. From Pittsburgh to Buffalo to Cleveland to Washington, he has spoken in synagogues, churches and civic forums. His message is both simple and hard: Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel can build a shared life, and American Jews have a real stake in helping them do it. Audiences are responding because Givat Haviva has the record to back that message up. My thanks to every congregation, church, civic group and friend who has opened a door for him, including FOGH Board member Herb Wainer and his wife Jody.

You'll see that record throughout this issue. A new junior high school is moving forward with the Ministry of Education. Younited filled its international classes again this year, despite every reason to worry it wouldn't. And a national alumni campaign is reconnecting hundreds of thousands of Israelis, Jews and Arabs alike, whose lives were shaped by Givat Haviva's programs over six decades.

That alumni story is personal for me. About forty years ago I trained at Givat Haviva as a young man. I then spent two years living in the Israeli Muslim Arab town of Tira and working with the neighboring Jewish communities of Kibbutz Ramat HaKovesh, Kfar Saba and Ra’anana. What I learned there has stayed with me: trust is built one person at a time, and once it's built, it lasts. That is what I see Mohammad Darawshe and the Givat Haviva team doing today, at a scale I couldn't have imagined then.

In October and November, Mohammad will be in Atlanta; Austin; the Boston area; Houston; New York City and Westchester; the San Francisco Bay Area; and Washington, DC, and the full schedule appears in this issue. If you or someone you know would like to attend an event in one of these cities, or to host Mohammad before his tour ends in mid-December, please reach out to us at info@fogh.org.

None of this happens without your support. Please join us in Washington, DC, on November 15th and 16th for a conference at American University, “Reimagining Shared Society: Jewish and Palestinian Citizens in Israel Challenging Fear, Mistrust, and Polarization.” During the conference, Friends of Givat Haviva will sponsor a panel and dinner on Sunday, November 15th. Click here to view the invitation or reach out to info@fogh.org for more information. Please share this invite with friends and family.

Looking further ahead, please mark your calendars for April 2027. Our National Rabbinic Cabinet will lead a mission to Israel April 2–6, followed by Givat Haviva's annual Shared Society Conference on campus on April 6 and the Friends' gatherings on April 7 and 8. Details for all three will follow soon.

Finally, if you are able, please make a gift this fall to help this work keep growing.

L'Shalom,
Jonathan Lack Executive Director & Board Member Friends of Givat Haviva	Donate Now

“I feel that the American Jewish community lives the experience of being a minority in America, understands the mindset of the minority in Israel, and I think that they see mutual interest in trying to keep the same values that they want to keep in America to protect them as a minority,” Givat Haviva Director of Strategy Mohammad Darawshe told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, after he addressed Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh. While based in Washington, DC, teaching at American University for the fall semester, Darawshe is traveling weekly to cities across the U.S. through mid-December to raise awareness about Givat Haviva programs aimed at building a shared Jewish-Arab society in Israel.

Givat Haviva is proving there are ways Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel can live together and American Jews can support those efforts, the Chronicle reported. “We have a lot of accomplishments that can bring pride if you are engaged in them,” said Darawshe. “As an American Jew you can be very proud.”

Friends of Givat Haviva will host a panel discussion and dinner in Washington, DC, on Sunday, November 15, before the opening of the American University shared society conference. Mohammad Darawshe and Dikla Tomer Kail, Director of Givat Haviva Jewish-Arab Center for Peace Education Department, Sami Jinich, Friends of Givat Haviva Community Engagement and Program Associate, and David Heller, Board Chair Emeritus, Friends of Givat Haviva, will be among the speakers at the daylong November 16 conference, planned in coordination with Friends of Givat Haviva. View the invitation and event details! Reach out to info@fogh.org for more information.

Past Events

Darawshe Addresses Buffalo Synagogue, Church

City Club of Cleveland

Thanks to FOGH Board member Herb Wainer and his wife Jody, Mohammad Darawshe appeared at The City Club of Cleveland on September 4. The program, Israel at a Crossroads: Charting the Path Within and Beyond, was a conversation, moderated by Israel Policy Forum CEO David Halperin, with Darawshe and Dr. Jonatan (Yoni) Shimshoni, Brigadier General (Ret.), Israel Defense Forces; and Executive Member, Commanders for Israel’s Security.

Click here to view the recording.

Darawshe Speaks at Washington Synagogue

On Yom Kippur, Givat Haviva Director of Strategy Mohammad Darawshe spoke alongside former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides before hundreds of congregants at Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, DC.

“I appreciate everything you're doing to help the Arab people of Israel, and also to help those of us who are Zionists who care deeply about the future of the State of Israel,” Nides said.

The two discussed the balance of Israel's Jewish and democratic identities, of how to help Arab citizens of Israel integrate into the workforce while pushing Jewish Israelis to live up to the values of shared society promised in Israel's Declaration of Independence, and of the projects implemented on the ground by Givat Haviva that make Jewish-Arab partnership successful.

“We work on the ground, creating islands of success and partnership which, when we have the right political ecosystem, we can connect and create a tectonic shift,” Darawshe said.

Yom Kippur Sermon Highlights Givat Haviva

Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein, a member of the Friends of Givat Haviva National Rabbinic Cabinet, devoted a substantial portion of his Yom Kippur sermon to Mohammad Darawshe, Givat Haviva’s director of strategy.

“Antisemitism, racism, bigotry of all kinds, war, political violence, economic inequality, environmental catastrophes all seem to be getting worse, not better. Where is this world headed? And, what can we possibly do to make meaningful, lasting change?," said Rabbi Lazarus-Klein.

“I hear it in conversations in our sanctuary, in the public discourse in the news, and, even more disheartening, in conversations with my own kids. The sense of hopelessness is overwhelming.

“I confess that I too started feeling that way. That was until Mohammad Darawshe visited our community for our Selichot service and helped me change my mind about our shared future. He was there to talk about his work at Givat Haviva.

“Mohammad happens to be one of those rare individuals who can see the problems we face and is able to identify clear, attainable solutions. On Selichot (Congregation Shir Shalom), he described several of the successes he has been able to achieve. In the early 2000s, he was able to pilot a program to get Arab women into the Israeli workforce, almost singlehandedly raising their employment percentages from below twenty percent up to upward of eighty percent.

“A few years later, he figured out that if you could bring Jewish teachers into the Arab schools and Arab teachers into Jewish schools, it would dramatically reduce racism. He started with six teachers. Now, there are over 4,000. It has made a real difference in the acceptance rate of Arab Israeli students in Israeli colleges and universities.

“This was more than just a feel good story about Arab Jewish cooperation in a time of great conflict. It was about smart, effective strategies to solve any problem, big or small, anywhere in the world.”

Read Rabbi Lazarus-Klein’s full Yom Kippur sermon.

Givat Haviva Junior High School

Fulfilling the vision of a junior high school on the Givat Haviva campus is proceeding with Ministry of Education support for a new building. “We are very excited about this,” said Givat Haviva CEO Michal Sella. “We are very glad that the Ministry of Education will build the school with us.”

The school for seventh to ninth graders is an extension of the Younited international high school, founded in 2018. While the high school student body is comprised of Israelis, Jewish and Arab, and students from countries around the world, only Israelis will attend the junior high school. It still will be called an international school because, like Younited, it will use the IB international diploma.

Younited opened its school year with the usual enrollment of students from other countries. “We were quite concerned we would not have enough international students this year because we didn’t know how willing parents will be to send their kids to a boarding school in Israel. But like every year we got enough students.” Sella said.

“It’s really important for me and for us to cooperate with the Ministry of Education, to work with the State, no matter which government it is. Our topic is very important for every government,” Givat Haviva CEO Michal Sella declared during the September 16 online briefing update for Friends of Givat Haviva supporters.

Looking ahead to the October 27 elections in Israel, Sella noted Givat Haviva, as an educational organization, has long maintained enduring relationships with the Ministry of Education. “We are still working with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture. We’re going to work with them,” regardless of the elections results and who forms the next coalition government. “Givat Haviva is going to work for the benefit of the Israeli society, for more democratic, and liberal, and shared society. And we know that in every government we will find our partners,” she said.

A national radio campaign in Israel has boosted an initiative to reconnect with hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews and Arabs who participated in programs at Givat Haviva program. Some were in programs at Givat Haviva in the 1960s, and some today are in leadership positions – in business, politics, academia.

When Givat Haviva started this project “we had to find a way to actually find our alumni,” says Michal Sella. "We did a national radio campaign. It was nice to drive every morning and to hear Givat Haviva from the radio. It was very successful."

Quarterly Online Briefing from Givat Haviva

The September 16 quarterly Givat Haviva briefing featured CEO Michal Sella; Director of Strategy Mohammad Darawshe; Friends of Givat Haviva Chief Development Officer Steven Levine; FOGH Board Member Herb Wainer; and FOGH Community Engagement & Program Associate Sami Jinich. Each presented important updates on recent activities on the Givat Haviva campus and events across the United States.

WATCH the September 16 briefing.

In The News

Israeli Arab leader urges integration, interdependency and shared society , Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, September 8.

OPED: A different kind of Israel encounter at camp , Amy Meltzer, eJewishPhilanthropy, September 8.

Through Others’ Eyes in Prestigious
Belgian Contest

A photograph from Givat Haviva’s Through Others’ Eyes (TOE) program has been selected as one of 16 photographs in the King Baudouin Foundation’s 2026 photography competition in Belgium.

In the photograph a group of Jewish and Arab youth participants in TOE are seated together around a table in a composition reminiscent of The Last Supper. Their gathering around one table is an image of partnership, encounter, and the possibility of creating a shared space even within a complex reality.

“We are proud to be among the projects selected,” says Jenan Halabi, coordinator of the TOE program. “For me, the selection of this photograph is an opportunity to bring to an international audience the story of Jewish and Arab young people who choose to meet, get to know one another, and create together.”

An independent jury selected the 16 photographs from more than 600 submitted by projects supported by the foundation.

The TOE photograph will be displayed alongside the other 15 selected works as part of “Stories That Warm the Heart,” an exhibition at the BELvue Museum in Brussels, from September 1 to October 17, as part of the King Baudouin Foundation’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

The public is invited to vote for the photograph and help bring the story of Through Others’ Eyes to an even wider audience. Add your support on Instagram and Facebook .