Haas/Koshland reunion marks program’s 25th anniversary

Jennifer Packer will soon attend a reunion with people she has never met.

She is one of several past recipients of the Haas/Koshland Memorial Award attending a 25th anniversary reunion, the first such gathering of former winners ever held.

Jennifer Packer

The award is given annually to one person, providing up to $20,000 toward a year of study and personal development in Israel. The award is named for the late philanthropists Walter A. Haas Sr. and Daniel E. Koshland.

Hass/Koshland alumni planning to attend include writer Lisa Alcalay Klug and entrepreneur-activist Daniel Lubet-zky, as well as members of the Haas and Koshland families.

Packer won the award in 1992. As a budding journalist, she spent her Haas/ Koshland year in Israel working for the UPI bureau there. During her time there, the Marin native had plenty of adventures.

“It was incredibly eye-opening for me,” she says. “I spent a lot of time in East Jerusalem. I went to Gaza and Ramallah. I interviewed a terrorist in Gaza at the Islamic University. I have carried it forever.”

Today, Packer is a senior adviser with the Israel Project in Washington, D.C. The Israel-based agency promotes fair global media coverage of Israel.

Before that, the Columbia University graduate enjoyed a career as a reporter with newspapers such as the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

But Packer considers her 12 months in Israel to be a pivotal point in her life.

“It was very significant,” she says. “I already knew what direction I was going in, in terms of career. This was my entree into a good journalism job. I had the chance [in Israel] to cherry-pick the stories I wanted to write.”

As an example, Packer sites an article about Gaza as home to one of the world’s highest rates of pseudo-hermaphroditism (babies born with traits of both genders). No one understands why. “It was definitely one of the weirder stories,” she says.

Not every Haas/Koshland award winner pursues journalism. Many go into religious studies, Israeli history and all manner of topics. The sky’s the limit and that was a big part of the appeal for Packer.

In anticipation of the reunion, she says, “I’m curious to hear what the other recipients have done.”