In 1961 the Hebrew University Medical School initiated an M.D. program for students from developing countries. The program was co-sponsored with the WHO and backed by Democratic Party’s representatives in the American Congress. The Hebrew University Medical School received about 20 students each year for four years before shutting down, most of whom came from African countries. Our talk will explore, first, the background and political motivation behind the program. Second, based on the Hebrew University’s archive, contemporary press and interviews with graduates of the program, we reconstruct their experience of the school and of life in Jerusalem. Finally, we employ a close reading of “The African Student”, published between 1963-1968 - a students journal founded, edited and partly written by African medical students. We argue that the journal manifests a complex, in a way contradictory discourse towards the Jewish society in Israel. On the one hand, it expresses criticism (although subtle and ironic) on the Israeli ignorance and racism toward black Africans, and on the other, identification with the young state of Israel, which was seen as an integral part of a decolonizing world.