A Place to Belong

It would make sense for the number of international students coming to study in a country at war to tail off, but registration at Reichman University's Recanati International School is, in fact, 5% higher this academic year than last — when Israel was not in a state of war and the atrocities of October 7 were still unthinkable.

"I came to a place where I feel I belong," says an American student who transferred from Rutgers University to Reichman's International School this year. "I want to focus on my studies without the weight of external prejudice. Last year, the climate of antisemitism on my campus in New Jersey didn't let me do this."

"I grew up in Iowa, the only Jewish kid in my high school, so I chose to go to the University of Denver where there are hundreds of Jewish students," says another. "What I found there, however, was antisemitism everywhere, from the lecture halls to the dorms."

"For me, being Jewish at Cleveland State University this past year was really hard," says a young man, now enrolled at Recanati. "CSU is a great school, but it's no longer a good fit for me."

"I don't even think about going back to university in France," says a transfer student from Paris. "It's too antisemitic there. France is where I'm from, but my people are here."

Others newly enrolled at the Recanati School this past year cite similar reasons, including anti-Zionist demonstrations at the University of San Francisco, an assault by Hamas supporters in the dorms at Universitat de Barcelona, harassment and death threats at IE University Business School in Madrid, and repeated failing grades given by a pro-Islamic lecturer at the London School of Economics. This is according to Jonathan Davis, Reichman University's Vice President for External Relations and Head of the Raphael Recanati International School. (He declines to name the students quoted, to protect their privacy.)

An innovative and interdisciplinary international school

"While intensifying antisemitism around the world means that now, more than ever, is the time to study in Israel, our International School has been flourishing for 24 years," says Davis. "It currently has more than 2,400 students from over 90 countries, constituting a full third of Reichman University's 8,200-strong student body. This is the largest number of international students in any academic institution in Israel, making us the country's biggest academic absorption center."

The Raphael Recanati International School was founded just seven years after Prof. Uriel Reichman created the University itself (then known as IDC-Herzliya), Israel's first private, non-profit institute of higher education. Modelled on US Ivy League schools and defined by Jewish, pluralistic and democratic values, Reichman is ranked in first place by Israel's Council for Higher Education in student satisfaction among the country's 65 universities and colleges. Like the University to which it belongs, the International School is known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach in its English-language graduate and undergraduate technology- and business-oriented study tracks.

An international school with a sterling reputation is not, however, enough in itself to bring young men and women from places as distant as the US, Australia, South Africa and Europe to study within a different academic system, different mentality and different culture, in either peace or war. Davis attributes Recanati's remarkable record, in large part, to the School's dedicated and experienced 20-member team.

"They come from a spectrum of backgrounds, many of them themselves immigrants, and they embrace our international students as family," he says. "They're sensitive to the challenges these youngsters face, and are committed to providing all the help and all the services they need to succeed. This is their way of contributing to Israel. I call it their Zionist therapy," he adds with a smile.

Deciding for themselves

The students themselves are also an important part of the School's success, he continues. "They are young men and women in a period of personal growth and increased autonomy, who are thinking independently and making their own decisions. Some come from traditional Jewish homes or attended Jewish day schools or Zionist youth movements. Several have spent gap years in Israel, and around 300 (almost 10%) are former lone soldiers. They identify with the Jewish State, and this is where they want to be."

Twins Sarit and Salomon Fogel from Caracas, Venezuela, for example, are in their second year at Reichman, Sarit studying Communications and Salomon in Business Administration. "We fell in love with Israel during our gap year here," says Sarit, "and we're so thankful to Reichman and the Recanati School for giving us the university experience we dreamed of."

Ariel Kremen, 22, from Barcelona, Spain, says that he "knew from the first second that Recanati was the best place to develop my passion for entrepreneurship. It's an incredible journey and an amazing opportunity to be part of the Reichman University family."

Noa Barazani, 26, from Dallas, Texas, is in the School's Global MBA Innovation & Entrepreneurship track, which she sees as "the perfect place to mix top-notch learning with hands-on experience."

Yael, 21, from São Paulo, Brazil, is a second-year Business Administration & Economics student, who "couldn't ask for a better experience at the university! I actually started at another Israeli university before Reichman, but switched after my first semester. Everything here is special, and I'm grateful every day to study here."

And Junil Lee, 23, from South Korea is in the final year of his Computer Science degree. He chose not to go back home on the military cargo plane sent to evacuate South Korean nationals by their government after the Hamas assault. "I'm very happy with my decision. I love the people here. It's a unique experience," he says.

Escalation of antisemitism

Davis is unsurprised by the sharp increase in registration at the Recanati International School during this past year. "Numbers have always escalated when security issues press and Israel is threatened — be it during the Second Intifada of 2000-2005, the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the Gaza War of 2014, or what's happening now," he notes. "This time, with the global surge in antisemitism, Israel's battle for survival is impacting directly on Jews worldwide, even in cities with large and active Jewish Federations and communities."

He is referring to the marginalization, harassment and threatening of Jewish students on college campuses across the Western hemisphere, an antisemitism often masked as anti-Israel protests. The Jewish campus organization Hillel records 1,574 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, a 700% increase over the previous year. There were equally sharp rises in antisemitic incidents in France, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, South Africa and Mexico, among other countries.

While many Israeli universities pushed back the start of their academic year, originally scheduled a week after the Hamas massacre, partly contingent on the release of IDF reservists, Reichman University opened its English-language tracks in a hybrid classroom/remote format after only a short delay.

"We saw that even with the war raging, a significant portion of our international students were staying in Israel and wanted to continue with their studies," says Davis. "At the same time, the influx triggered by antisemitism was also becoming apparent.

"Antisemitism is not, of course, a recruiting tool for us," he continues. "I don't tell students: 'It's too dangerous where you are! Come to our School!' I'm not a Zionist pyromaniac and I don't believe in scare tactics. But the figures are out there for everyone to see, and they inevitably influence the decisions made by students on North American, European, South African and Australasian campuses. Their decisions are totally personal. It's for each individual to determine for him- or herself. But once a student decides to come here and study with us, then my team and I will lie on barbed wire to help them!"

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