derive research and thought. The overall purpose of the department is to provide a centralized support service to all parts of the union and specifically to assist NUIS representatives with clear information and analysis to equip them for effective performance and informed decision-making in the development of union policy. The Department for Social Involvement The department acts to advance student involvement in the social sphere in Israel. It aims to enhance the personal awareness and participation of students in projects promoting a positive and equal social reality in Israel. By encouraging individual and group student initiatives, the department molds the student’s status as one who plays a crucial role in regard to struggles relating to the academic world as well as in other fields such as social justice human rights, environment and society. The Department of Fundraising and Foreign Relations By generating a joint dialogue and a relationship based on common values and understandings, the department aims at developing and deepening the relationship between the student public in Israel and the student publics all over the world. The department represents NUIS in the international arena, taking an active role in the Israel public diplomacy efforts, and it is a full member of the European Student Union (ESU) and the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS). The department also represents NUIS in the national and international philanthropic and business world in order to increase NUIS income for the benefit of the Israeli students public. Spokesperson and the Department for Public Relations The department is responsible for the branding and image of the student union. Works to explain and reflect the Union’s policy and its decision making as well as promote its goals and core projects in various fields to the Student Associations. Additionally, the department operates in the new media channels among them: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in order to strengthen the direct and unhindered connection between the students in Israel and the world. Activities The Union attracted international attention in 2010 when its president, Boaz Torporovsky, announced a plan to send a Kurdish Freedom Flotilla "to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance to the Kurds of Turkey." Torporovsky describes the plan as a reaction to the Free Gaza flotillas. He told a reporter that, "There’s a lot of hypocrisy in the world. Turkey, which leads the campaign against Israel and makes all sorts of threats, is the same Turkey that carried out