Abstract
In summer 2024, Birthright sent over 4,500 young American Jews to Israel on 10-day, peer-educational trips, just as it had been doing since 2000. Unlike at any other period, these young Jews chose to go to Israel while multiple military conflicts were ongoing, and when a spike in antisemitic hostility related to criticism of Israel was occurring at many of the college campuses they attended. The unprecedented context of summer 2024 trips raises important new questions about the Birthright program and US Jewish young adults in general. This report explores the kinds of young Jews who chose to apply to Birthright during this challenging summer and participants' beliefs when they arrived in Israel. The report also examines whether the quality of the experience was disrupted by the war, the extent to which the Birthright trip influenced participants' relationship to Israel, and the trip's effect on their responses to hostile discourse surrounding Israel after returning to the United States.