On the evening of June 3, 2009, American teenagers swarmed the bars of downtown Jerusalem. Amid the remains of beer bottles and hookah, the kids were not in the best condition for their impromptu interviews about recently-elected President Barack Obama with American filmmaker and journalist Max Blumenthal. Out came the statements that instantly flooded the Jewish blogosphere and even appeared on the pages of the Israeli newspaper, the Jerusalem Post:"I don't know politics, but he's a sh*thead."

"He does care about Jews, and he does care about the Arabs. The thing is he doesn't understand that this country is ours."

"He's not from the U.S. He's like a terrorist."

It's easy to label these kids as idiots. It's also easy to write off Blumenthal as a poor journalist portraying the predictable actions of "drunk racist white kids," as Ta-Nehisi Coates did in the The Atlantic magazine. But Blumenthal's YouTube sensation (officially titled "Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem on the Eve of Obama's Cairo Address") invites some more serious discussion.

It's not uncommon for a Brandeis student to travel to Israel. Whether for the first time or the 40th time, all of us embarking on the 6,000-mile journey need to bear in mind who and what we represent. Now more than ever, it's time for us to educate ourselves and consider other perspectives in order to form substantial opinions. Because of its political interests in Israel, America plays a large role in the Israeli mindset. As its citizens, we must be honest with ourselves about what we do and do not know and be careful when expressing passion without reason-here or abroad.

Some Brandeis students have echoed this sentiment, citing experiences with peers on either end of the political spectrum. Leah Silver '12 recalled an experience with a classmate on the night Obama was elected. "Why don't you like Obama?" Silver asked her classmate. "Well, he's just not good for Israel," the classmate responded. The two proceeded to engage in a circular argument. Silver told me, "It was clear she grew up in a background that said, 'You have to believe this,' but never got a foundation for it."

More generally, Anna Drapekin '12, who spent her summer at a secular university program in Israel, said in an e-mail interview about students on our campus, "Brandeis students are different from the students in the video in their opinions. They are similar to them, however, in that their claims are callow and poorly supported. Just like the students in the video they are ill-informed. It has become a trend and fully expected for Brandeis students to support the far left opinion no matter what."

These two anecdotes represent just two perspectives of the Brandeis community on American-Israeli politics. With such a diverse Jewish community, students visiting Israel will represent a variety of the many facets of American Jewry. Emily Diamond '12 said about her yearlong experience on a Conservative Jewish American post-high school program, "People were able to change their opinions and rethink them in seminars and lectures."

On the contrary, Alison Uliss '12 said, "We didn't really talk about politics." She and Rebecca Erenrich '12 both attended women's seminaries in Israel, where, as Erenrich explained, "Only a handful knew stuff about politics."

Drapekin relayed a different experience with her peer group. "These individuals were, therefore, Zionists, and they were well informed. With this in-depth understanding, they often and confidently disagreed with President Obama's current decisions concerning Israel. They, however, unlike the students in the clip, were able to articulate their thoughts and, in an un-inebriated manner, explain thoroughly the reasons for their opinions."

Why bring up these varied accounts of experiences in Israel? Because each one-seminary, yeshiva, academic year courses, summer courses-has a notable a presence on campus, probably more notable than you'd immediately think. Although Waltham is fairly far removed from Jerusalem, people will turn to campus Jews in order to integrate another perspective into their knowledge of Arab-Israeli politics and American-Israeli relations. "Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem" is not limited to Jerusalem. Truth be told, alcohol or no alcohol, without a proper foundation to your passionate argument, you're just as idiotic as those kids.

Brandeis students will continue to participate in yearlong, summerlong and weeklong Israel courses and programs, immersing themselves in Jewish texts, tradition and culture. Yes, Israel is holy, and it's amazing and beautiful, and yes, the drinking age is 18. But it's also full of people who care deeply about their land on an intellectual level. No matter your experience, the point remains the same: Reason before you rush to state an unfounded opinion. Israel is a place to party, but first it's a place to think and learn. Regardless of your level of inebriation, an opinion on something so sensitive and easy to misinterpret requires some preliminary thought.