UPPING THE ANTI

This day last year, I awoke to hundreds of messages. I assumed it was a prank. Breaking out of the world’s largest open air prison? I thought of the march of return. Finally, I believed what was happening. Then I heard about the Nova festival. I thought of my time on kibbutz Re’im and knew many of the children I worked with 14 years ago would be at this rave, drinking and dropping ecstasy while dancing on top of Palestinian graves. I put on my Jews for Palestinian liberation shirt and went to the bridge to wave Palestinian flags over the highway. I met a woman that I’ve seen at every action this year. She asked if I was Palestinian and when I pointed to my shirt, she quickly embraced me. She said many Jewish people are against Israel and I agreed. She handed me a flag and we waved and chanted together. My heart was heavy that day for the Israelis who lost their lives. My heart was heavy for the Palestinians who experienced so much oppression that armed resistance was their only answer. Who am I to tell Palestinians suffering under violent colonialism how to resist? How can I be in solidarity with Palestine if my support is conditional upon ‘appropriate’ forms of resistance? This year has been filled with grief. Grief for the genocide in Gaza. Grief for Lebanon and Yemen. Grief for my rejection from many areas of the Jewish community. I also grieve for Israelis and Jewish people all over the world. Those who have lost their humanity through the dehumanization of their neighbours. Those who have died in the service of the Zionist entity. Those who have been so indoctrinated into Zionism, they are blind. No one is free until everyone is free. That is why I fight for a free Palestine. That is why, even in complex grief, I will use every breath in my body to call for a liberated Palestine.