Due to our border location, Sapir’s campus remains closed. Classes started online in the last week of December. In spite of the College’s proximity to the border we have had a number of visitors throughout January. Starting with January 2nd with a group of academics from YU who came to Sapir as part of New York’s JCRC trip.
On January 14th, Keren Ima’s leadership came to see the College, including: the foundation’s President, Dr. Sharon Nazarian together with co-founder Mrs. Soraya Nazarian and CEO, Esther Landis Barak. Professor Nir Kedar briefed the Keren Imma leadership about how the war has impacted the Sapir Community and the projects the College has implanted for students and staff.
On Tuesday, January 23, Sapir hosted an AJC Mission visit of AJC board members and supporters together with senior staff from the New York and Israel offices. Professor Nir Kedar briefed the visitors on the events from October 7 to date, followed by the School of Audio and Visual Arts faculty member and Cinema South Director, Tamir Hod and Bashir Alzayadni, first year law student
Tamir shared his personal story of his experience of the war losing friends, colleagues and students, evacuating and moving five times, until he decided to return to the region and work from an empty campus. Currently Sapir’s Film School is spread out in various locations in Ashdod and Bar Ilan University. Tamir is determined to hold the 22nd Cinema South Film Festival, as a mobile event that will offer screenings at the various evacuation centers throughout the country. He told the AJC mission that he believes in the power of culture; that he has seen how it provides an extra layer of resiliency to the diverse audiences who participate in the Cinema South events.
Bashir told the AJC group that he chose to study at Sapir as it provides a welcoming and supportive program for all students, and that he joined the College’s Gateway to Academy for the specific support offered Bedouin community students so that he could join the law school. Bashir, a resident of Rahat, is living temporarily in Tel Aviv to ensure that his family voice is heard. His uncle Yousef Ziyadne, a 53-year-old Bedouin dairy farmer, was abducted from Kibbutz Holit and taken to Gaza along with his sons Hamza, 22, and Bilal, 18, and his daughter, Aisha, 16. Aisha and Bilal were released on Thursday 30 November. Yosef and Hamza are still being held captive.