My life as a milennial is interesting. We google everything, and we instantly get an answer for everything. We know everything, and we boast for “wokeness“. But do we really know what social justice is?
How do you know you are right?
Search engine is wonderful. Sometimes you don’t even need to open a webpage and you already find answer from several excerpts. But how often do we really spend time on researching for one topic? How much effort are we willing to make to get the bottom of truth? Or are we spending time online just to ‘share’ and ‘like’, and then wait for more ‘likes’ from friends?
Getting many likes doesn’t mean what you believe is right. What effort have we made before we form our opinion? Most opinions online talk against Israel in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict. But is it really so?
In college, I had a close friend. As an Asian she was an advocate for Palestine, as the president of a student society she founded. She was a sister to me, so I asked her why she was on ‘their side’. She didn’t need to hide anything from me, so she didn’t tell me all those things about human rights or any anti-zionist reports. She gave me the truth in her heart,
Because I want to make my mom mad!
Her mom was a devoted Christian who loves Israel. She knew that, so that was her intention. She chose this topic also because this is the HOTTEST topic. Middle East, you know!
But Israeli–Palestinian Conflict Is Not Just a Topic…
My friend chose not to be mainstream not only to make her mom mad, it was also to add a different label on her portfolio. She is an American Born Chinese, so her competition is tough, as you know in every Chinese home there is 1 tiger mom. She graduated with a J.D. from the best university in the East Coast. I remember in her interview, she said she wanted to be a human rights lawyer.
However, if you really want justice, why don’t you tackle the real injustice in this world? African girls need to be circumcized (and in front of male relatives..), African Christians are killed or raped, the Hindus in Southern India purposely rape Christian girls, the Kurds were attacked by ISIS and they don’t have a country till now, and the refugees who went to Western Africa were dumped into Sahara Desert in trucks. So these people need help! But the problem is, these are not the HOT topics. They don’t make your personal essay shine.
I wasn’t surprised when she became a corporate lawyer. Now she’s busy with work and life. Now we don’t talk about politics. Israeli-Palestinian conflict no longer appears on the ‘wall’. No one cares anymore. It seemed like it was only a great debate topic. So does it matter now who won the debate back then?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be over for you, but it’s not over to the Israeli or the Arabs.
When I see young students who think they can do everything, I want to ask them,
Will you still fight for what you believe now, after 10 years?
There was a group of UCLA students (and outsiders) who harassed a meeting held by/for Israel, Armenia and Kurdistan. You can see how the Israeli flag was torn down at @41:00
When the Knesset passed the Nation-State law, a Stanford student said he would physically fight anyone who says Israel is a democratic country.
According to a survey, over 2/3 of young American don’t know what Auschwitz stand for. Even if they know the name, they know it as history but not the ‘hurt’. They don’t have time to think about that and they think everyone should be over Holocaust by now. There is a classic example of how Taiwanese high schoolers dressed up as Nazi in a school’s anniversary.
Young people seem to know everything because of Google. But do we really know? Before we have an answer, there were many wars between Jews and Arabs. With or without our discussion, the war continues! A Jew can be stabbed to death in his own home, only because he is a Jew! Israel is always on the edge to be destroyed, because the Arab nations have not given up attacking Israel! With or without your permission, Israel is fighting for her existence.
And here we are, in a cozy couch. We have not even seen a war or be in an army, so who are we to decide that the world has no more sympathy to the Jews because of what they are doing to Palestinians?
Do your own research. Pay a price.
We need people who care about politics. But don’t rush to make your opinion based on search results. You need to think about what you read. And you need to go to Israel to gather first hand experience. Israel paid and is paying a big price to have a state. You need to pay a price to know what it costs.
The Jewish history in Israel doesn’t start from 1947. The hurt in this people didn’t start from Holocaust. You need to go way back to 70AD when the Second Temple was destroyed. You need to see how they were tossed around, blood libel, the Inquisition, Ghetto and many anti-semitic attacks. You need to see how Jews were not allowed to settle during Ottoman Empire era. And the Arab-Israeli conflicts in British Mandate.
And you need to check if you are willing to see Israel’s good side? From a different perspective, you will see Israel has provided aid, technology, rescue work in Africa, Syria, South America, Greece though organizations such as Israid and IDF’s Good Neighbor Operation. The media doesn’t talk about this, but Israel has been doing all these things, before having your approval! If you are always angry at Israel, even at the good things Israel does, then there is a problem!
In college days, I had been careful in being ‘politically correct’. When people were talking about how Israel occupied land, I said nothing. When people condemned Israeli army’s violent acts, I said nothing. I thought everyone could say whatever he wants, so why waste my time on debating? Why should I let others know my opinion? Plus I was confused too. I have been avoiding labels, but after all these years that have gone by, and several trips to Israel and Holocaust sites, I have found my answer.
I cannot stay silent. Because it is an important war, I need to support Israel. I have to.
As for my close friend, I only want to know if you are happy to be anti-Israel? After all these years, are you still fighting for Palestine? Is it even important to you now?
A cause is for lifetime. I hope I am not too late.
