Young American Jews walked off their Birthright tour of Israel. The protest sparked a debate at home
LOS ANGELES - For many Jewish Americans, the question is not whether they will travel to Israel, but when.
Each year, tens of thousands of young people from around the world make the trip - their expenses paid by Taglit-Birthright Israel, a nonprofit that aims to foster their Jewish identity and a connection to Israel by introducing them to the country's everyday life, culture and history. Participants tour sites such as Israel's Holocaust memorial and the Western Wall, and spend part of the trip in the company of Israeli soldiers their age.
That ritual met with some controversy this year after a few participants walked off the program to protest what they considered Birthright's failure to adequately address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. About a dozen American Jews abandoned their summer
