College students visit military prison during fellowship trip to Israel





Matthew Brown and Erez Cohen didn’t know one another until they took off on a two-week trip to Israel this month. Brown, from Calabasas, and Cohen, an Oak Park High School graduate, are sophomores at UC Berkeley. They traveled together as part of a fellowship for the Foundation for Defense Ministries, headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Brown and Cohen, both 19, are two of 35 undergraduate fellows chosen from all over the country.

The nonpartisan, nonprofit “think tank” foundation, established shortly after 9/11, studies terrorism’s threats and possible solutions.

The yearlong fellowship begins with a twoweek August trip to Israel. “The first week we spent at Tel Aviv University,” Brown said. “We heard guest lecturers, like an expert on Iran, an Iraqi investigator. . . . The second half of the trip was all a field trip. We saw battlefields, military installations and a terrorist prison. That was the most exciting part.”

When the group got on the bus for their field trip that morning, they had no idea they would be heading to a military prison.

“When they told us where we were going, we thought they were kidding,” Brown said. “We thought we were really just going to the beach.”

The facility wasn’t like American jails in the movies. Brown said there was no talking through fences or on phones behind glass. The open courtyards were filled with captured terrorists loitering around. There were seven or eight blocks with about 120 inmates each, Brown said.

“It was really tense at first,” Brown said. “We were a bunch of scared American kids. But one or two of them walked up and we actually got to talk to terrorists. We talked about security and the way the criminal justice system works.”

Brown said eventually the inmates began to gather around the fellowship group, and everyone began conversing somewhat comfortably.

“There were like 60 people surrounding us,” Cohen said. “These were men who had led terrorist attacks and had been responsible for suicide bombings.”

“It was really interesting,” Brown said. “We talked about what prison life was like, and then we got into a political discussion. They spoke clearly and articulated well what they believed. But their thoughts on America seemed very propagandized.”

Cohen, whose parents are from Israel, found it interesting to see the differences in cultures. “One of the most interesting things was to see the amount of resources that go into security in Israel,” Cohen said. “There are security guards in front of every restaurant, and you have to check your bags before you go into the mall. It was incredible seeing all that stuff.

“Everyone in the U.S. worries about terrorism. They deal with it very well in Israel.”

Brown and Cohen will organize a series of events on the Berkeley campus this year. A goal of the fellowship is to educate other students on the threat of terrorism. The two put together a 9/11 memorial to be held next month and have secured the chancellor of Berkeley as a speaker. They are also planning a series of lectures, debates and film screenings.

In January, they will spend a few days in Washington, D.C., and speak with government leaders about America’s role in combating terrorism. The trip will also serve as a reunion for the fellows.

Brown attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles. He’s studying economics and international relations. Cohen is majoring in industrial engineering.


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