AJ Edelman Is Initiating Dialogue at Campus Protests

“Hamas is a terror group that butchers innocent civilians while Israel is a force for good. Change my mind.”

That was the message AJ Edelman taped to a table at a park as he sat down to answer questions… from anybody.

While one man screamed vulgarities about Israel and yelled, “Hamas was right!”, most of the people that AJ engaged with were open to hearing his point of view. He posted a video of his experience to his Instagram afterwards, narrating over it, “Instead of pain and division, let’s see if we can have a common dialogue. Let’s replace hate with handshakes.”

AJ, who is originally from Boston, is a member of the Israeli bobsled team and an eight-time Israeli National Champion in sliding sport. In 2018, he competed in the Winter Olympics in South Korea, representing Israel, and became the first Orthodox Jewish man to participate in the Olympics.

Prior to Oct. 7, the 33-year-old M.I.T. and Yale grad would discuss the Israeli sport wherever he went; he was not known for being a political activist for his adopted country.

“I made a conscious and educated decision in the past 10 years to devote my time to best representing Israel through sport,” AJ said.

However, after that tragic day, everything changed. Like the rest of the Jewish world, he was horrified to see what transpired on Oct. 7. His priorities immediately shifted; he was preparing to head to Lake Placid in New York for bobsled practice, but his life took a different turn. He saw the spread of misinformation about Israel – especially on apps – and that young people were believing it. He knew he had to stand up for the country he loves.

So, AJ set off to college campuses, to protests, to public areas where he could engage with people and show them the truth about what was happening during the Israel-Hamas War. He also posted updates about it on social media and wrote a column about his experience at a protest at Columbia, where he was shoved on the ground for wearing a yarmulke.

“My focus has heavily been on advocating for Israel in a way that it can uplift our own community and reach people on the sides who are not so emotionally invested,” AJ said. “These are just normal human beings who are trying to put food on the table and provide for their families and don’t have the chance to research everything. They just see what they’re being shown on social media.”

AJ’s Time on College Campuses

Aside from being shoved at Columbia and shouted at by others, overall, going to college campuses has been a positive experience for AJ.

Engaging in conversations with people has yielded tangible results.

“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “Engaging in conversations with people has yielded tangible results. If someone comes to yell at you, you’ll never change their mind. The whole purpose is to engage with people on the side and invite doubt into those people’s minds who have only heard the arguments from pro-Hamas individuals.”

There are so many inconsistences in people’s arguments, AJ finds, that it’s easy to show them the truth. He’s not there to change anyone’s mind – only to spark their intellectual curiosity and demonstrate there is another side to the story.

“People walk away with a much healthier dose of skepticism,” he said.

AJ is all for letting the protests happen and documenting them for historical purposes. He doesn’t believe in shutting them down.

“In 10, 15 or 20 years, when this happens again, I want people to see it,” he said.

AJ also thinks that many approach the situation incorrectly – they assume that there are a few people at the protests who care about Palestine, while the rest just go along with it because it’s cool.

“That’s not the case when it comes to young people,” he said. “They want to challenge the status quo. They’ve been molded to believe in a framework of viewing life that holds there to be only two sides. It’s very black or white; you are either the aggrieved, or you are the oppressor. When you are presented with a choice of whether you are for or against Israel, your default choice is, ‘I am against Israel.’ And then, you become more and more vocal and indoctrinated and okay with dehumanizing Jews.”

But there are stories of hope. When AJ was at M.I.T., a Nigerian student came up to him and asked him about the “indiscriminate bombing” – in her own words – that Israel does.

“I asked her, ‘What do you mean by indiscriminate bombing?’” he said. “She said, ‘I don’t know.’”

They went back and forth, and he explained what happens in the leadup to Israel bombing a building. He said they drop leaflets, call individual apartments and have a device that explodes only on rooftops so that people hear it and know to evacuate.

“She said, ‘I had no idea about any of this. I’ll Google it,’” AJ said. “That was one of the most memorable conversations I had, not only because it broke some massive barrier, but because it invited one element of intellectual curiosity. When she went home to confirm that information, she could tell her friends who told her there has been indiscriminate bombing that that’s not the case. She is acting as an extension of my effort, and I’m an extension of the efforts of those who educated me. It’s all a team effort.”

Lessons on Fighting Back

Along with continuing to go to protests and showing people the truth, AJ is raising funds for his team, which he hopes can compete in North America.

“I have a mission and a dream of what Israeli bobsled can accomplish,” he said. “We have four Druze people on our team, a religious Jew – me – and non-religious Jews. It’s an amazing extension of Israel itself.”

When it comes to fighting back against the tidal wave of misinformation about Israel, people can learn some key lessons from AJ. For instance, he doesn’t scream at those who scream at him, and instead lets others see it play out – it only strengthens his position. He also presents the facts in a calm and clear manner and doesn’t actively try to alter someone’s position. They can do that on their own.

In all his work, AJ is a visibly proud observant Jew, and he encourages others to be visible as well, even in a time when it seems scary and there is an urge to hide.

“It’s very hard for people to respect you if you don’t respect yourself,” he said. “It is the Jewish condition to want to try to be a chameleon to find acceptance. The reality is, if someone doesn’t like Jews, there is no such thing as the ‘right’ kind of Jew that they would like.”

He continued, “Don’t take off your kippah. Be proud of being Jewish.”

AJ also hopes that people take this opportunity, this moment in time when it seems hard to be a Jew, to lean into and learn more about their Judaism.

“Try your best to find your purpose that Judaism gives you,” he said. “Religion has an incredible potential to provide structure, meaning and definition to your life.”

 

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