{"id":18728,"date":"2013-09-20T16:43:21","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T14:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.achteminute.de\/?p=18728"},"modified":"2013-09-20T16:49:55","modified_gmt":"2013-09-20T14:49:55","slug":"eilat-a-debate-holiday-resort-and-future-eudc-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.achteminute.de\/en\/20130920\/eilat-a-debate-holiday-resort-and-future-eudc-venue\/","title":{"rendered":"Eilat: A Debate Holiday Resort and Future EUDC Venue?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Red<\/a>Between September 8 and 11 2013 BGU carried out the Red Sea Open for the fourth time. Convened by Mor Zoran and Noa Golan hyper-funded by the Ben Gurion University the rounds took place on the Eilat Campus of BGU. 32 teams, an outstanding Chief Adjudication team and an all round board combined an intimate debate atmosphere with a party holiday mood. \u00a0And the debate community has a new contender that wants to host EUDC 2016.<\/p>\n

Eilat, a rather Unconventional Debate Scenery<\/strong><\/p>\n

From around a dozen tournaments yearly generated on the Israeli circuit the Red Sea Open is the only one truly catering to international teams. For a total of 90 Euros per person (100 Euros if issued from a domestic institution) participants are accommodated for four nights in a 3-star all-inclusive pool resort hotel, just a few minutes from the beach. The lucky ones even get a balcony with a view on the red-desert mountains of Jordan. Known for it\u2019s coral reefs and hyped for it\u2019s snorkeling activities in the Red Sea, Eilat is the domestic holiday resort hub par excellence. The city at the most southern tip of the country shares a border with the Egyptian South-Sinai peninsula and the Jordanian Gulf of Aqaba. Six in-rounds over four days, leave plenty of room to party in the evening, sleep in and enjoy the 39 degree celsius by the pool.
\n<\/strong>Their breakfasts and dinners are royal with ample choices, a ten minute walk to the campus is spared because the rides are take care of in fully air-conditioned busses. All this is to say that the Ben Gurion University is now for the fourth year heavily subsidizing a debate tournament that feels a lot like proper vacation.<\/p>\n

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Streitkultur Berlin at Red Sea Open 2013 (c) Streitkultur T\u00fcbingen<\/p><\/div>\n

Nothing Less but a WUDC A-Team Adjudication Standard<\/strong>
\nBut don\u2019t be mistaken, the quality of debate experience is by no means hampered. On the contrary, the Red Sea Open traditionally kicks off with a full day of workshops and is run under the umbrella of the most decorated Adjudication Team. In addition to BGU\u2019s very own rising star Monica Forman<\/strong>, the RSO is in fact the tournament one could mingle with a substantial part of the upcoming Chennai- WUDC A-Team Michael Shapira<\/strong>, Harish Natrajan<\/strong> and Michael Bear<\/strong>, as well as with Vienna EUDC\u2019s Irish CA Christine Simpson<\/strong>.
\nWhile the conveners insist that the most generous part of the funding came directly from the BGU, the Ayn Rand Foundation crept in as a sponsor in exchange for a workshop on objectivism, by Harish Natrajan, a couple of books and banners as well as the theme of the motion in round 4 (see below).
\nAlso remarkable was this year\u2019s turnout of VDCH-land (Germany, Switzerland, Autria) participation (see list below). Not unsuccessful as it with two teams and one adjudicator break: the Mainz\/Mannheim team Marietta G\u00e4deke<\/strong> and Jana Gilke<\/strong> and the Vienna team, Andreas Prischl<\/strong> and Jakob Reiter<\/strong> both broke to Semis.<\/p>\n

A daring Final and a Prime Entertainment<\/strong>
\nFour stellar teams provided for an entraining\u00a0 final. \u00a0The debate was opened by Oxford University student Eylon Aslan-Levy, who previously had received quite some media attention after a confrontation with the British MP George Galloway who stormed out during Eylon\u2019s speech in an Oxford university debate with the words \u201cI don\u2019t debate with Israelis<\/a>\u201d. A final motion debating the inclusion of a debating society located in a settlement in the West Bank gave him room to humorously play on that occurrence. Indeed, Eylon together with Eitan Har-Oz from Hebrew University won the Final.<\/p>\n

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Hotels by the Red Sea<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong>Beyond Debate Holiday Resort: a Debating Society with Grand Plans<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pursuant to it\u2019s four-year tradition the Red Sea Open ended with a pool party. The winners are announced to a crowd in swimsuits and the winning team is thrown into a pool. Cleverly it reconditions our memories to forget all the classroom-like associations to debate and blurs them almost fully, into a believe that we were spending a legit holiday. This year the president of the Ben Gurion University joined the award ceremony. By no means appalled not to find the award ceremony in it\u2019s conventional black-tie form, the President announced her very sincere support of BGU\u2019s prospects to host the European Debate Championship 2016<\/strong> in Israel!<\/p>\n

Motions<\/strong><\/p>\n