 "Photo: Photo courtesy of John McClymont")
 "Photo: Photo courtesy of John McClymont")
When the Hezbollah rockets rained on the Israeli city of Haifa in late July, Matt Allwardt and John McClymont were just 60 miles away, in Tel Aviv, learning to prevent such attacks from happening on U.S. soil, Allwardt said.
The Chico State juniors were among 39 college students from around the country to participate in an undergraduate fellowship sponsored by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The fellowship was created to show students how Israel fights terrorism and how the United States can prevent terrorist attacks.
Because of the knowledge they gained, Allwardt and McClymont decided to start a student group this semester called Students Defending Democracies in an effort to raise awareness and promote discussion about terrorism in the United States, McClymont said.
For its first event, the group will be showing "United 93" in Bell Memorial Union Room 210 on Monday to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks, Allwardt said.
"The group is nonpartisan and is not pro-Israel or pro-Palestine," McClymont said.
The group has three main stances: terrorism is never justifiable, democracies have the right to defend themselves and a terrorist should never be considered a freedom fighter, Allwardt said.
"The group is open to anyone that has similar beliefs," he said.
Allwardt and McClymont were set to go on the fellowship before the war started but decided to fly to Israel anyway because they would be under the care of Israelis who deal with terrorism all the time, McClymont said.
"In Tel Aviv, you couldn't even tell there was a war going on," he said. "Most of the action was occurring up north."
The fellowship consisted of in-class tutorials and lectures at Tel Aviv University and in-the-field demonstrations by the Israel Defense Forces. In one demonstration, trained attack dogs sneak up on mock terrorists or enemy combatants and wrestle them to the ground.
"These things were beasts," McClymont said. "They have to muzzle the dogs all the time."
Israeli police have to focus on stopping domestic crimes in the region and preventing terrorist attacks, Allwardt said.
"In the U.S., we don't have to hassle with simple things like going to the mall," Allwardt said. "In Israel, if you go to the mall, they have a guy outside patting people down to check for bombs."
Security guards at clubs and bars aren't checking for ID cards but are instead checking for bombs, McClymont said.
In January, Allwardt and McClymont will go to Washington, D.C., for the second part of the fellowship to see how the United States is defending itself against terrorism.
Mike Murphy can be reached at
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