In conversation with Dennis Ross and Ghaith Al-Omari

On September 13, UNC Hillel had the honor of hosting Ambassador Dennis Ross and Ghaith Al-Omari at Hillel for a personal dinner with student leaders and at The FedEx Global Center for a community-wide conversation about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Ambassador Ross and Al-Omari have a 25-year friendship built upon mutual appreciation and empathy, even though their political opinions do not necessarily align with each other. They emphasized to our students that in any fraught dialogue, debaters must respect the other party by sticking to well-researched facts and work together to come to a common understanding.

We are incredibly grateful for Hillel International’s support in creating such an impactful night.

One of our UNC Hillel students, Caroline R., who was at both the dinner and talk remarked:

"I was struck by how willing the Daily Tar Heel op-ed author was in confidently asserting a point about Israel travel seemingly without much background on the issue. During dinner with Dennis Ross and Ghaith Al Omari, I asked them how we students can prepare ourselves to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict and how we can be confident that we are knowledgeable enough to have a voice.

"The speakers responded by explaining that it is okay to explain your opinion even though you may not know every detail of the situation, and they also reminded me that if it’s an issue I want to speak on, learning more about it is the next step.

"For the rest of the evening, I was captivated by Ross and Al Omari’s ability to speak about the issue in such a distinguished and respectful way. I was intrigued to go to an event where knowledgeable speakers from both backgrounds and cultures were able to demonstrate how to have a civil discussion about such a convoluted issue. We all attend UNC to learn, whether it be from a textbook, professor, or each other, and this event gave me a great opportunity to do just that."