I don’t think there is any conflict in the world that is more complicated, and with more moral grey area than Israel-Palestine. And maddeningly it’s a topic that is frequently painted in black and white terms.
Basically on one side if you are not a self-loathing Jew you should support Israel, and supporting Israel means defending basically whatever it does. If you see it the other way the Palestinians are suffering under an apartheid regime and the solution is a simple as “freeing Palestine” or “ending the occupation.”
If I could some up my thoughts on the conflict in four words it would be as such: IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE!!!!!
The only disappointing part of Birthright is that we got a very simplistic view of Israel’s conflicts. Basically anything that would make the State of Israel look bad is glossed over. I never heard the words “Settlement” or “Occupation” and “Palestinians” was usually mentioned in the context of terrorism.
Two moments in particular made me cringe. The first left my hands shaking with righteous indignation, the second left me feeling sick to my stomach because I wanted to drink the kool-aid Birthright was serving, but I just couldn’t
First was talking to this guy:
To put is attitude simply let me just say Ted Cruz would have LOOOOOVVED this him.
Aryeh Ben Yaakov fought in multiple of Israel’s wars and had rockets fired at his Kibbutz, so I understand where his hardened opinion come from. But that didn’t make what he told us with absolute CERTAINTY about Arabs and Muslims any less disheartening.
First he told us there are only four “real” middle-eastern Muslim civilizations, the Iranians (Persians), Turks, Egyptians, and Arabians. The rest of current countries are just made up lines imposed by the west. So there is really no such thing as a Iraqi people, and Syrain people or a Palestinian people, so why would they be entitled to their own state?
Then he told us that without a doubt that all of the Lebanese he lives about a ¼ mile from but hasn’t spoken to since 1948 is a willing supporter of Hezbolla. His reasoning was if they weren’t they would just move. Because, every person living under ISIS is a willing supporter, and every German in the 1930’s just had to be a Nazi?
The second cringe inducing moment came at visiting the Mt. Herzol military cemetery. I don’t have anything against visiting the location but the circumstances around it made me feel emotionally manipulated.
First we were woken up at 3:30 am to go climb Masada … Then we drove to the Dead Sea… Then we drove to Jerusalem. In a trip of sleep deprivation this was the most extreme moment of it.
Then the Israeli soldiers who we had all become best friends with as civilians over the past five days changed back into their military uniforms for the cemetery… Then we heard sad story after sad story about the heroism Israeli soldiers.
And if that wasn’t enough, immediately after the cemetery was our goodbye ceremony for our Israeli’s.
Basically it felt like a day specifically designed to make it almost impossible not to break down in tears. And as if on cue it seemed like ¾ of the group, Israeli’s included teared up at some point.
For me once I feel like my emotions are being manipulated it is hard for me to experience something on its own merits. The whole time, I could only think about how each thing we were being told was SUPPOSED to make us feel.
These two moments could really clouded my entire perceptions of the trip. But thankfully, I had many compelling conversations with other birthright participants who shared many if not all of the same feelings.
These private conversations opened up a broader perspective of the trip that I wish was included in the official Birthright curriculum.
So if you are nervous about the political propaganda aspect of Birthright, it’s not necessary to turn the critical thinking part of your brain off to still have a good time.
Express your opinions where you feel comfortable and you can come away with an enlightening experience.
Travels by Bickell 