2012 saw JINSA’s Military Academies Program in Israel double in size, allowing 57 future U.S. military officers from the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and the Coast Guard Academy to experience Israel in a hands-on manner that emphasized personal interactions with Israelis from all backgrounds but especially their IDF counterparts.

General Dan Haloutz, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, recently completed a series of lectures to cadets and midshipmen at three of America’s military academies. The lectures are a component of JINSA’s U.S. Military Academies Program which also includes a three-week Study Trip to Israel.

Read the firsthand accounts of Cadets and Midshipmen who traveled to Israel with JINSA's Military Academies Program. This program creates a unique and rare opportunity for American cadets and midshipmen to interact with their counterparts in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – a relationship we view as critical for the future cooperation between these two allies.

Read the firsthand accounts of Cadets and Midshipmen who traveled to Israel with JINSA's Military Academies Program. This program creates a unique and rare opportunity for American cadets and midshipmen to interact with their counterparts in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – a relationship we view as critical for the future cooperation between these two allies.

Major General Amos Yadlin, the recently retired head of Israeli Defense Intelligence, conducted a seminar and delivered a major lecture to the Brigade of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy on October 27, 2011.

What becomes clear from these reports is their relative lack of knowledge about the region prior to the visit and the participants’ desire to know more. Their understanding of the complexity of the Middle East is dramatically enhanced, as nearly all participants comment on the differences between the Israel they have seen on television and the Israel they visited with JINSA. Some participants noted a changed sensitivity to how the news covers the IDF, or can now recognize that the media has manufactured Jerusalem to seem like an active war zone.