US colleges cancel Israel programs after FAA ban, State dept. warnings

Some US colleges are pulling students from overseas study programs in Israel as the Gaza war rages, though the relative calm beyond the immediate battle areas is raising questions in some quarters about why they had to leave.

Colleges say security was the top concern, citing advisories about hazardous travel from the US State Department and from insurance companies that cover students for health, accidents, security and even the cost of evacuation.

“On the one hand, we want to introduce students to the dimensions of conflict,” said Yehuda Lukacs, director of the Center for Global Education at George Mason University in Virginia. “But this was too much because their safety and security were challenged.”

George Mason was one of at least seven schools nationwide to suspend a summer study program that operates in Israel or the West Bank. Others include Claremont McKenna College in California, UMass Amherst, the University of Iowa, Trinity College in Hartford, Michigan State and Penn State. UMass Amherst and New York University have also halted fall semester programs.

When Israel launched an air offensive against Hamas on July 8 in response to rockets fired into Israel and expanded its assault with ground troops 10 days later, officials at UMass Amherst were initially unfazed.

“We agreed that the program should go on even though rockets were flying,” said Jack Ahern, vice provost for international programs.

But that soon changed when the Federal Aviation Administration told US airlines July 22 they were temporarily banned from flying into Tel Aviv’s airport after a rocket exploded nearby. That lent an air of unpredictability as to whether students could get out if needed.

“With an airport closed for more than 24 hours, we don’t want students stuck,” said Lisa Sapolis, director of Trinity’s Office of Study Away.

UMass Amherst officials decided to cancel the fall semester program based on the State Department advisory, Ahern said.

“To study in a country in conflict can be extremely rewarding,” he said. “It was not a decision we take lightly. We try to err on the side of being permissive and allowing students to go where they want.”

— AP