I cannot, in good faith, live in Israel anymore

I am done. I cannot, in good faith, live in Israel anymore. I used to respond to people who asked, "If you don't agree with Israel's policies, why do you still live there?" by saying that I was born here, my family is here, and I don’t know anywhere else. Besides, I would add, living in the U.S. is similarly problematic, being a global state of terror.

But that’s not true anymore. I cannot witness the racism and fascism growing to Nazi-like levels and still feel at home.

I was born into an Orthodox Jewish family, raised in a Zionist environment, and believed that Jews are the natives of this land while the Arabs ("there’s no such thing as Palestinians!") are invaders who would eventually be kicked out or reduced to third-class citizens.

I am moving out of Palestine in a few months with my immediate family.

I believe that October 7th, in future history, will not be remembered primarily as the day of the Hamas massacre in Israel but as the day the Palestinians succeeded in provoking the IDF to overreact so aggressively, so mindlessly murderous, that it kickstarted the collapse of the status quo. It marked the beginning of the global fight for Palestine receiving the wide support they’ve sought for so long.

The population of Israel, while not yet awakened from the Zionist dream, is more divided than ever. About religion, about judicial reforms, about the war (no one is against it mind you, out of all but one knesset members!), about the hostages, about conscription, about the economy. The army is overextended more than ever. Eventually, years from now, a new generation will wake up and realize they are fighting for a cause that doesn’t exist in the real world, while the Palestinians are literally fighting for their home.

I could go on, but this is already too long. I’ll just say this: if even 5% of Israeli Jews held similar views to mine, I might have stayed in Israel. But they don’t.