JACKSON, Wyo. — To help raise awareness and funds to support humanitarian efforts in the Middle East, the Teton County Model UN Club (TCMUN) will be hosting the event, The Current Situation in Israel and Gaza: Finding Humanitarian Unity in the Midst of a Crisis, on Nov. 2 from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Jackson Hole High School (JHHS) auditorium.
The idea for the event was conceived by JHHS senior and Deputy Secretary General of TCMUN, Gabriel Kantor, after feeling compelled to help civilians in need of medical aid in Israel and Gaza, and a desire to bring more clarity to an already complex and emotionally charged situation.
Kantor, whose sister and extended family reside in Israel, asked his history teacher and head advisor of TCMUN, Jeff Brazil, if he would be interested in helping him organize an educational and fundraising event for Israel and Gaza, emphasizing that objectivity was of vital importance.
“This is a pretty contentious topic and this event provides an opportunity to approach the crisis not just from Palestinian or Israeli perspectives, but to approach it from a human perspective,” Kantor explained. “I want to bring in speakers to explain the situation, the history of the conflict and shed light on how this war has impacted people on the ground.”
Following an introduction by Rabbi Zalman Mendelsohn, Kantor, along with his TCMUN peers and Brazil, will moderate the event and lead a dialogue between two leading experts on the Middle East crisis, Dr. Jonathan Schanzer and Bassem Eid.
Schanzer, Kantor’s uncle and Senior VP of Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), will be joining the event remotely. He has written numerous books on the Middle East and previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers, according to the FDD. Schanzer has held previous think tank research positions at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Middle East Forum.
Eid is a Jerusalem-based Palestinian peace advocate, journalist, political analyst and human rights pioneer. He is the former director of the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group and spent the first 33 years of his life in the United Nations Refugee Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee camp of Shuafat, according to the IED Institute of European Democrats. Eid will be speaking at the event in-person.
Since Oct. 7, more than 1,400 Israeli civilians have been killed and some 3,300 others have been injured in Israel, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health. At least 3,793 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza and approximately 12,500 have been injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.
“I’m hopeful that things will get better, but realistically it’s hard to know how long this will go on,” Kantor said. “As long as it’s still going on, I want to do whatever I can to help.”
All proceeds will be split 50/50 between Friends of United Hatzalah, Israel’s national community-based volunteer EMS organization and Anera, a Palestinian Refugee Aid Organization.
Event Schedule:
- From 5:30 to 6 p.m. — Doors Open
- 6 to 6:10 p.m. — Program and Speakers Introductions by Rabbi Zalman Mendelsohn
- 6:10 to 6:45 p.m. — A Speaker Conversation with Jonathan Schanzer and Basseem Eid
- 6:45 to 7 p.m. — Audience Question and Answer
- 7:00 p.m — Close Presentation and Fundraiser with JHHS senior Gabriel Kantor and JHHS teacher, Jeff Brazil
To make a donation prior or after the event, contact Gabriel Kantor at gabkan@student.tcsd.org.
