What are former Israeli soldiers doing in a Cal Poly classroom?

On Sunday, Aug. 30, two former Israel Defense Forces soldiers — Ariel Saat, of the IDF's Givati Brigade, and Eliyahu Green, a former captain in the IDF's Duvdevan Unit — addressed students in a classroom in Cal Poly's Baker Science building. The event was organized by the campus group Mustangs United for Israel in conjunction with an off-campus Hillel organization. They were entirely within their rights to organize the event (as were the students who protested it). That does not make it a good idea. There is an important distinction that increasingly gets lost in American debate over Israel: Jewish identity, support for Israel and support for the Israeli military are three different things. Bringing members of the IDF onto an American university campus under the auspices of organizations associated with Israel and Jewish campus life does nothing to clarify that distinction. It actively blurs it. And these were not simply two Israelis invited to discuss Israeli society or culture. They were presented as veterans of specific IDF combat units whose histories deserve scrutiny. The Givati Brigade has faced serious allegations of violations of international humanitarian law spanning decades. During Israel's 2008–09 assault on Gaza, 21 members of the al-Samouni family, including nine children, were killed in an attack examined by a subsequent UN fact-finding mission. More recently, Peruvian prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide involving a soldier from Givati's 424th 'Shaked' Battalion and its operations in Gaza during the current war. The Duvdevan Unit has likewise faced serious human-rights allegations over its operations in the occupied West Bank, including allegations of perfidy involving soldiers disguising themselves as Palestinian civilians and medical or emergency personnel while conducting military operations. These allegations are part of a broader pattern of abuses within the Israel Defense Forces as documented by former IDF soldiers with the organization Breaking the Silence. Such histories are not incidental when veterans of these units are brought into a Cal Poly classroom. They are precisely why students should ask what purpose such an event serves and what message its organizers intend to send. Israel is a foreign state. The IDF is a foreign military. Neither represents American Jews, Judaism nor Jewish identity, and criticism of either is not inherently antisemitic. Yet events like this make those distinctions harder to maintain. If we want criticism of a foreign government and military to remain distinct from prejudice against Jewish people, we should stop treating advocacy for that government and military as an expression of Jewish identity. Bringing IDF veterans to campus under the banner of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations pushes in precisely the wrong direction. There is also a basic question of judgment for Cal Poly. Why should an American public university campus be used to promote the perspective of any foreign military — Israeli or otherwise — without serious scrutiny of that military, the speakers' units and the purpose of the event? Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong and CSU Chancellor Mildred García should be willing to answer that question. The organizers had the right to hold their event, and access to a university classroom does not itself constitute Cal Poly's endorsement. But bringing veterans of controversial IDF combat units to campus is still a political choice — one that students, faculty and the broader Cal Poly community have every right to scrutinize. If the objective is to keep legitimate criticism of Israel distinct from hostility toward Jewish people, putting Israeli soldiers behind a lectern in a Cal Poly classroom accomplishes exactly the opposite. Chirag Asarvala is a 1994 alum of Cal Poly, where he studied biology and philosophy. He has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, San Jose Mercury News, Korea Times and other publications. This story was originally published September 6, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "What are former Israeli soldiers doing in a Cal Poly classroom? | Opinion."