Israeli soldiers drape their country’s flag over an IDF tank near the border with Gaza. Photo: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun

Despite the ongoing war in Gaza, the Raphael Recanati International School at Reichman University, in Herzliya, Israel, has been welcoming hundreds of international students for the new academic year. According to the school, 850 new students have begun studying since the Israel-Hamas war started.

The biggest international school in Israel, where studies are conducted in English, they have 2,500 students, 30 percent of whom come from a total of 86 countries around the world.

To incorporate the current war into the curriculum for students, the school established a new set of courses with the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism and the Institute for Policy and Strategy, both parts of the university. They offer students learning opportunities on the conflict in Gaza, particularly from the “framework of international relations and diplomacy studies.”

Reichman considers itself to be a strong Zionist university, boasting that roughly 70 percent of its international students end up moving to Israel. According to the school, some of the new war-related initiatives have focused on combating anti-Israel rhetoric online as well as boosting Israel’s image in international circles, an idea known as hasbara in Hebrew.

“These days the students of the international school are active on campus and most of them are in Israel, and that is why we are proud that they are here despite the war,” said Jonathan Davis, head of the university’s international school and vice president for external relations.

Davis added that the school is even helping farmers with their harvests — a volunteer activity that has become popular in Israel since the war, as many farms are heavily understaffed due to the lack of Palestinian or international workers since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.

“The war gave them values ​​of Zionism, unity, responsibility, and independence that they never dreamed of,” Davis said of the students. “They explain that it is equivalent to another degree. I am especially proud these days of the hundreds of lone soldiers who are students at the international school who are recruited into the reserves and defend the country.”