Torn between parental concern for their safety and a desire to pay homage to the Holy Land, some students might forgo an all-expense-paid trip to Israel this summer.

Separate Birthright Israel trips are being offered this summer through Northwestern’s Fiedler Hillel Center and Rabbi Dov Klein, director of the Tannenbaum Chabad House. Only three students have registered for the Hillel-sponsored trip, set for July, Rabbi Michael Mishkin said.

Klein said 36 people have signed up for his June program and about 200 have registered for July. The third trip, to take place in August, has a July 1 registration deadline. But Klein said must all of those signed up are not NU students.

Last summer, more than two-thirds of the 40 Northwestern students registered for the Hillel-sponsored trip pulled out after a suicide bombing in a popular night club in Tel Aviv, Israel, drew parental concerns.

Funded by an organization of the same name, Birthright Israel provides trips for Jewish students, ages 18 to 26, to visit Israel during summer and winter holidays. To be eligible for the program, participants must be visiting Israel for the first time with a group of peers.

Some Birthright organizers said the experiences provided by a Birthright trip outweigh the risks of traveling through a country rocked by violence against civilians.

Throughout Birthright Israel’s history, no students have died or been harmed due to problems with security, said Mishkin, Hillel’s director and a Birthright Israel counselor.

Many of last year’s Birthright participants agree the conflict in Israel is less severe than portrayed in American media.

“The Israel I saw was different than the one I heard on the news,” said Alex Lin, a Weinberg senior who took a Birthright trip last June. “I could have been in Los Angeles.”

Lin said his sense of security could be attributed to the extreme safety measures taken by the Birthright program.

Tour groups ride in armored buses, accompanied by bodyguards at all times. The tour groups stay away from crowded places and other areas where terrorist attacks are more likely to occur.

Participant Marc Solomon said “touristy” destinations like shops, cafes, clubs and Ben Yehuda Street, which he called the “the Michigan Avenue of Israel,” were off limits. The downtown street’s once lively strip has suffered a series of deadly suicide bombings.

The West Bank and Gaza Strip, which students were unable to visit last year, will not be available for touring this year, said Mishkin.

“We avoided the West Bank like the plague,” Lin said.

Sites of religious significance and natural beauty remain on the agenda for June’s Birthright group, Mishkin said.

Hikes through waterfalls in the mountains, trips to the Dead Sea and dialogue with Israeli peers made the Birthright experience worthwhile, said Roni Ben-David, a Weinberg senior.

While some look at the low applicant number for this year’s program as proof the trip can’t overcome safety concerns, others say that times of great crisis should bring about support and solidarity among Americans.

Jessi Braverman, who went to Israel in December and plans to study there next year, said she now feels compelled to show support for Israel.

Braverman, a Medill junior, said participating in trips like Birthright and spending money in Israel provides a much-needed boost to the country’s economy.

Ben-David said students’ motivations to visit Israel have changed in light of the recent crisis.

It is no longer acceptable for students to visit Israel so they can “sit on the beach with falafel,” Ben-David said. “Now I want to go because I want to support Israel.”