Israel at Heart

Dispatches from the field

Stories

The human story of Israel, told by the people who lived it: on campuses, on stage, on the court, and on screen.

Featured · Ambassador Stories

In conversation with Black America

In 2006, and again in 2011, Israel at Heart brought Ethiopian-Israeli lawyers, students, and graduates across the United States to speak with African American audiences, about race, identity, and belonging, and as professionals and future leaders rather than a story of hardship.

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Sports Diplomacy

When the court did the talking: Israel at Heart's basketball delegation

Israel at Heart bet that if you put Israeli and American students on the same court, the real conversations would take care of themselves. Nine games across Boston and New York proved the point.

The Ambassador: the reality show that predicted the future

In 2004, at the height of the Second Intifada, Israeli prime-time television held a competition to find not the next pop star, but the country's next ambassador. It predicted a world where every Israeli would become one.

Investing in leadership: twenty years of the Israel at Heart scholarship program

Founded in 2006 with Reichman University, the program set out to remove the barriers facing gifted young Ethiopian-Israelis. Twenty years on, more than 220 graduates serve across Israel's public and private life.

Culture & Music

Letting the music speak: Ivri Lider at the iconic Limelight

Israel at Heart brought one of Israel's leading musicians, Ivri Lider, to a legendary New York club and let the music do the talking. A sold-out, diverse crowd left having discovered a different side of Israel.

Screams Before Silence: the documentary that helped the world listen

In the year after October 7, 2023, a film set out to preserve the testimony of sexual violence that much of the world was slow to hear. Led by Sheryl Sandberg and supported by Israel at Heart, it traveled from the White House to more than a hundred campuses, free to watch in eighteen languages.

The Civil Commission: documenting the truth about Hamas's sexual crimes

An independent commission, backed by Israel at Heart, set out to document Hamas's sexual crimes of October 7 to a standard that could withstand judicial scrutiny and never be denied. Its landmark report is Silenced No More.

The One: fifty years later, Israel was ready to tell the story

Fifty years after the Yom Kippur War, the pilots of the Air Force's legendary 201 Squadron finally told their own story of surprise, loss, and recovery. The documentary aired one day before history echoed on October 7, 2023.

Investing in people: Israel at Heart and a generation of African students

Since 2010, Israel at Heart has backed a different kind of ambassador: talented young African asylum seekers. What began as scholarships grew into Israel's first nationwide organization for African students in higher education.

Publishing Israel: books that outlast the headlines

For two decades, Israel at Heart has helped publish books that preserve Israeli and Jewish history for readers, students, and libraries around the world, in a longstanding partnership with Gefen Publishing House.

OctoberDoc: preserving history while it is still being written

In October 2025, the Tel Aviv Cinematheque hosted OctoberDoc, the first festival devoted entirely to documentaries about the October 7 attacks and the war that followed, produced by Kastina Communications and supported by Israel at Heart.

Sports Diplomacy

Building community through sport

For thousands of African asylum seekers in Israel, soccer has become far more than a game. Israel at Heart backs refugee teams from across Africa with uniforms, equipment, and fields, so the game can build belonging.

How we told Israel at Heart's story

Twenty years ago, before social media, Israel at Heart earned its way into newspapers across Europe and Israel with a story that needed no spin: three young Israelis, campus to campus, being themselves.

Ambassador Stories

Standing up for Israel: the mission to The Hague

In February 2004, as the world's court weighed Israel's security barrier, dozens of Israel at Heart student ambassadors flew to The Hague, not to argue the law, but to stand with isolated communities and put the human cost back in the picture.

Opening doors: Israel at Heart and a generation of Ethiopian-Israeli leaders

From the first delegations, every Israel at Heart group included an Israeli of Ethiopian origin. What began as representation grew into a fellowship, a summer internship program in the United States, and a generation of professionals who speak for themselves.

Culture & Music

When Shotei HaNevua brought Israel to America's campuses

In 2005, Israel at Heart tried something new: instead of sending student speakers, it sent a band. Shotei HaNevua played Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and more, letting the music open doors that politics often closed.

Ambassador Stories

Behind the scenes

Twenty years of Israel at Heart, told from the inside: the cold calls, the host families, the late nights, and the simple conviction that people understand each other better when they meet each other.

Culture & Music

When Tel Aviv came to Central Park

In June 2009, to mark Tel Aviv's 100th birthday, Israel at Heart helped turn a corner of Central Park into a Tel Aviv beach: tons of sand, matkot, Israeli food, and a reggae-and-DJ dance party that had thousands of New Yorkers on their feet.

The souls behind Israel at Heart

Mutasim Ali and Monim Haroon fled the genocide in Darfur as children. In Israel, the family behind Israel at Heart helped a generation of African refugees reach university. Two of the African Students Organization's leaders tell that story, in their own words.

Sports Diplomacy

From Gondar to gold: Israel at Heart and the runners who bring Hatikvah to the world

Haimro Alame has twice stood for Hatikvah as a European team champion and has finished fourth in the world. Gezachew Fanta holds the Israeli record at 100 kilometers. Both came to Israel from the Gondar region of Ethiopia, and both describe what they found in Joey Low and Israel at Heart in the same terms: not help, but the kind of backing a father gives, before the result and without conditions.

Every story starts with one conversation.

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