UC Berkeley will offer its new Israel Studies minor this fall.
According to an email from campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the minor's development was proposed for the first time two years ago, sparked by faculty members’ belief that the academic subject of Israel was led with a “great deal of ignorance.”
“The launch of the Israel studies minor is the culmination of more than a decade of dedicated teaching, programming, and scholarship to engage students in the rigorous study of Israel at the top public university in the country,” said executive director of the Helen Diller Institute Rebecca Golbert in a press release.
Mogulof added the minor guidelines require students to take 20 upper division units, consisting of two core courses and three electives.
The core courses available include “Israel: Politics and Society,” “History of Modern Israel: From the Emergence of Zionism to Our Time,” “Comparative Constitutional Law: The Case of Israel” and “War in the Middle East.”
According to the press release, the minor’s implementation is at a critical time in which campuses across the country have become a “flashpoint” surrounding the war on Gaza.
“The minor reflects the rich and multidisciplinary nature of the academic field of Israel studies, intersecting the social sciences and humanities as well as law, business, science and technology,” the Helen Diller Institute website reads.
Electives for the minor range from Jerusalem architectural design to Israeli literature, anthropology, legal principles, religion and spirituality in education, according to Mogulof.
The minor will also integrate experiential learning programs in Israel as a core component of the study, according to the press release.
“If in the past, students and scholars interested in Israel might have avoided Berkeley due to its reputation, this minor firmly establishes Berkeley as a campus students must attend, from far and wide, precisely because of its fantastic reputation in Israel studies,” said faculty co-director of the Helen Diller Institute Ron Hassner in the press release.
Mogulof noted that there will be updates regarding the minor at the start of the upcoming academic year.