SSI Hosts 2nd Tour of Lt. Col., Eyal Dror (Res.)
Since the establishment of the state of Israel, thousands of lives around the world have been saved due to Israeli humanitarian missions around the globe. During the earthquakes in Turkey and Haiti, during the collapse of the Surfside building in Florida, and other disasters around the world, the Jewish state and the Israeli Defense Forces always showed up to save lives. A topic that the people who openly advocate against Israel love to ignore.
Beginning on March 27, 2023, Students Supporting Israel hosted Lt. Col in Reserves Eyal Dror at various SSI chapters across the U.S. and Canada to speak about ‘Operation Good Neighbour,’ which saved thousands of lives on the Israeli-Syrian border during the Syrian civil war. The lectures discussed the challenges of contact with a civilian population from an enemy state, transporting life-saving equipment through the Golan Heights, and the famous evacuation of the ‘White Helmets.’
Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) Eyal Dror is an IDF reserve officer serving in the Golan Heights with 24 years of service in diverse positions throughout the security forces’ coordination and liaison units.
Eyal Dror was the founder and commander of the historic, national-level Good Neighbor Project. Dror’s Tour Schedule included five campuses and two community events at the following locations:
March 27th, 2023 — Toronto Metropolitan University
March 28th, 2023 — University of Manitoba
March 29th, 2023 — Miami University
March 30th, 2023 — Texas A&M University
March 31st, 2023 — American University
April 2nd, 2023 — Minneapolis
Dror’s story reached hundreds of people during the tour. In June 2016, Lt. Col Dror established the Israeli Defence Forces’ Humanitarian Aid Unit for the Syrian population affected by the civil war. The operation led to nearly 700 humanitarian operations on the Israeli-Syrian border, most of them to provide medical assistance. The final task was a 10-hour rescue of 420 people comprising the ‘White Helmets’ and their families, the renowned Syrian humanitarians forced to flee by the advancing forces of President Assad’s regime.
This was Dror’s second time doing a speaking tour with Students Supporting Israel. Dror said that this tour was essential. He explained that this was different and more challenging than most of his tours in the way that this tour comprised schools that don’t have a sizeable pro-Israel community or a population who are educated about Israel. Dror found that some of the students at these schools had never met an Israeli or had a speaker on a subject like this.
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba’s chapter of Students Supporting Israel experienced protests against Dror coming to speak at the university. This did not stop the students or Dror from continuing the event with security present as well. Students from the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) were among the crowd. At first, there was no disruption until Dror opened the floor for questions. President of Students Supporting Israel at the University of Manitoba, Rachel Buchwald, described what happened as an ambush. Buchwald explained that the SJP students started asking inappropriate questions to Dror and did not allow him to respond. As one person asked a question, the person next to them asked another. Some of the questions included “Why did you kill my grandma?” and “You, as an IDF officer, have saved the lives of 1000s of human beings of Muslims in Syria. Don’t you see any hypocrisy that while you were saving the lives of Muslims, your army will knowingly murder children in Gaza?” Dror explained that there is a different way to ask this question, and there are explanations; however, with the SJP students’ inability to listen to answers and expertise, there is no ability to have a dialogue. Dror also explained that it was one question after another, and the SJP students were unwilling to listen or have a dialogue. SSI President Rachel Buchwald explained that even though there was disruption by protestors, the event was important, and believed the audience she intended to reach was impacted greatly.
Following this event, Dror received a message on Instagram from a Muslim student at the University of Manitoba. It read,
“Hey man. Do not be fazed by the anti-semitic Palestinian people you encountered at the campus when you came. I was looking for you to shake your hand and thank you for your service but I got caught up with the other Jewish people that were there, I’m Muslim myself and I wholeheartedly support the Israeli people and in the Quran it says the Israeli people have every right to have a state of their own”.
Dror explained how amazing it felt to receive a message like this, especially after the chaos of the event.
Toronto Metropolitan University
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) was another school that had protests against the event and Dror’s arrival. Dror worked with SSI at TMU to coordinate security for the event anticipating the possibility of protestors. President of Students Supporting Israel at TMU, Shira Mammon, received an email from her university the day before the event. The email was in response to the protestors, and the university canceled the event, security, and room reservation. Dror said, “This is not a way of respecting freedom of speech, and I do not think that it is good for the university to cancel events.” The SSI group moved the event to another location and successfully carried out the event.
Campuses across the United States had prominent and successful events. The 2nd Eyal Dror tour was a success even with the bumps in the road at the Canadian Universities; however, as a grassroots organization, we must be able to adjust and carry on the events regardless of the challenges that come up. Overall, Dror believed that this tour was critical and needs to continue. He hopes that his story and his expertise can educate as many students as possible and inspire them to consider other perspectives of Israel.
