Amid escalating conflict in Israel, Passages canceled a student trip to Israel late last week.

Don Westblade, assistant professor of religion and organizer of the trip, which was scheduled for Dec. 28 to Jan. 7, said he supported the decision.

“It is also understandably necessary, with the trip date drawing near so rapidly, that the trip should be canceled and replanned for a safer opportunity later on,” Westblade said. “The persisting degree of uncertainty has made the decision to cancel nearly inevitable.”

The trip is sponsored by the Philos Project and the Museum of the Bible Foundation. Since 2015, Passages trips have taken hundreds of Hillsdale College students to Israel, visiting sites such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Sea of Galilee. 

This is not the first time the trip has been canceled. It was also canceled during the Covid pandemic, with the first group of students returning to Israel in the winter of 2021.

A trip to Israel is still planned for May 2024.

“Due to the cancellation of our 2023 winter season, we are working diligently to increase our summer 2024 trip options,” Passages said in a statement. “Based on the most up-to-date information we have available, we are optimistic that the summer rounds will take place safely.”

Senior Fernando Bravo said the trip is a great experience for all Hillsdale students, and he hopes they will be able to return soon.

“My love for Israel and the Jewish community has significantly increased thanks to my experience in the Holy Land,” Bravo said. “Visiting the Holy Land as soon as it is safe to do so will allow us to show our love and support for our Jewish brothers and sisters around the world. The level of impact that just showing up and listening to their experiences can have on their lives and our lives is invaluable.”

For Hillsdale students who were planning on attending Passages, the organization refunded fees and planned a weekend trip to Washington, D.C. over winter break instead.

“It is tragic and not good in any way that Israel finds itself the object of such vicious, anti-Jewish hatred that has erupted in such violence that a trip to that nation is now unsafe,” Westblade said. “That the regimes of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian theocracy would be openly committed to the genocidal elimination of Israel is unfathomably appalling to me and nearly impossible rationally to square with the religious tenets of the Islam each purports to represent.”

Since the war broke out on Oct. 7, at least 11,000 Palestinians and Israelis have died, according to the Washington Post. This includes at least 32 Americans.

Paul Rahe, professor of history and another trip organizer, said it is important to remember the “barbaric” tactics Hamas is willing to use.

“The tactics Hamas has now adopted are those of ISIS,” he said. “Hamas is refusing to allow foreigners — Americans, Europeans, and the like — to leave Gaza. They want them to be collateral damage.”

According to the New York Post, at least 10 kidnapped Americans are still missing.

Westblade said it is important to pray for peace.

“Let us all pray for the peace and long-term security of the people of Israel in particular and of Jewish people everywhere,” he said, “who feel and fear the growing threats of anti-Judaism, all too often in the violent and vicious ways the world has recently been horrified to witness.”