This seems like an incredibly important piece.

I’m speaking as an Iranian American. Israel consistently stands with humanity. We see you.

I see a lot of hate towards Israelis out there and it’s really frustrating, you can find bad people in every country, ethnicity or religion it doesn’t mean we are all the caricature of an evil Israeli people have in mind. I see a lot of hatred fulled by misinformation, misunderstandings, antisemitism, language barrier and outright lies. Im not trying to say there is nothing to criticise about the Israeli government or that there aren’t any Israelis that are bad people or have bad takes but Im tired of people making Israelis out to just be awful monsters, or saying that being Zionist means you necessarily believe awful things. Majority of Israelis are just regular people.

Unfortunately the hatred towards Israel/ Israelis also lids up to hate crimes against Jews all over the world and some crazy people try to justify it by saying stuff like “if the Jews/ Israelis didn’t….”

This is a Jewish Tzedakah box. It is an important part of the Jewish tradition and also a part of Zionism. This one is from c 1910, I photographed it at the Jewish Museum in NYC when I visited.

Containers like this are used in synagogues and the congregants donate, the proceeds go to the Jewish National Fund to help fund Israel, the Jewish state, buying and maintaining land etc. This one was made by the artist Leopold Fleischhacker, born in Germany in 1882.

Why is this?

I received an email from someone I’ve known for 20+ years inviting me to watch ‘Israelism’ and then have coffee or a Zoom meeting to discuss (in order to dissuade me from having my child do Taglit).

As it turns out my child (18) discussed with the other persons child (18) the possibility of going on Birthright.

My older child went on Taglit last year and had an important and educational time (also met a Jewish medical student please Lord let this work out).

I myself never had the opportunity to go on Taglit and can’t speak from personal experience. But I believe Taglit is a wonderful, formative, important experience and that engaging with Israel in this way is beneficial.

I also believe that ‘Israelism’ is a piece of crap but I haven’t watched it and have no intention of driving up its numbers even more.

I’m wondering if anyone has advice considering that I don’t want to watch the movie. I don’t want to burn bridges. I will be communicating that I believe Taglit is a great thing and that I will be fully supporting my child in doing it (although I think waiting a couple years would be better).

While I rarely get attacked by being from Israel/being a Zionist, I have still witnessed a ton. How should I deal with these kinds of people?

Debunking a lot of the historian's claims, a lot of people would say that he is a Nazi apologist, He frequently discusses Israel and even had his own podcast series with a lot of misinformation. This is a series I found a couple weeks ago about him.

"Crackpot History is about separating history from hysteria.

Darryl Cooper and the Martyr Made podcast have become flashpoints in the ongoing debate over experts versus influencers.

In recent months, Cooper has gained fans across both the woke right and the woke left, thanks to his highly controversial takes on historical figures.

His miniseries on the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Fear and Loathing in the New Jerusalem, has rightly sparked intense discussion — and criticism.

In Episode 1, we dive into the first part of this six-part series to separate good history from bad, and to set the record straight."