Waiting For The World To See

One day, the world will see. They might never apologize for the way they treated us, but they will see. It will become clear how we were never the aggressors, how we exhausted every possible route in the name of peace, and how we were willing to give away our indigenous land for the greater good.

A recurring theme I’ve observed in my life is that of social justice in the Western World, except when it pertains to Israel. The Western world cares about women being sexually assaulted, except when it’s Israeli women. When the girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Africa, the world rallied to bring them back. It felt like the entire world was behind them. Two hundred forty people were abducted from Israel and are being held hostage. We are fighting for the world to believe us. They can’t even let us put up flyers of babies.

The Western World cares about LGBTQ+ rights and celebrates the community, except when Israel—the only Jewish country in the world—is the best and safest country in the Middle East to be LGBTQ+. Then, we are accused of Pinkwashing. The world cares about indigenous people, and we now speak of how unfair and cruel it was to colonize. Except when Jewish land is colonized and recolonized repeatedly, we are not encouraged to reclaim the land. We are told we can’t. We have no claim. And when we do, and we protect ourselves in the process, there are screams of genocide. They love telling us how we are Nazis. We, the people who were systematically cleansed in an actual genocide, are called Nazis. Two-thirds of European Jewry was wiped out. Over two million Palestinians live in Gaza. Their population in 2007 was over one million. Does this sound like genocide?

We’re told we keep Gazans in an “open-air prison” that they can’t come and go freely. Some may simply and accurately call this a border. And I can’t begin to imagine the outcry if what happened to us on October 7th happened to any Western country. Of course, they would have every right to fight back; the difference is they wouldn’t have to defend that choice.
We’re told we don’t understand the plight of Gazans in general and especially in this war because we don’t experience constant bombings. Yet when missiles are constantly showered upon Israel, it feels like most of the world doesn’t care. Like they would be happy for us to be killed. Sure, we have fewer casualties, and that has everything to do with our government trying to protect us instead of using us as human shields. We have bomb shelters and the Iron Dome to try and keep us safe.

I pray for the innocent Palestinians. I especially pray that they are able to form a government that cares more about their lives than killing Israelis. The vast majority of the world does not stand with us. And to those who stand with us, we see you and appreciate you, and I hope one day, the rest of the world can see how you were on the right side of history. The world is telling us we’re wrong, yet our resolve remains strong. We’re not going anywhere, and this war isn’t ending until our hostages are returned. I love this country. I love these people. I choose to love being Jewish more than people hate me.