The last video I did on Israel generated a lot of negativity. One person took a great deal of exception to the statements I made. He asked me to speak to him in a private conversation in order defend Israel. I rejected the offer based on a previous statement he made. He said that I had to “see the beauty” of Israel to understand it. I highly disagree with this statement and thus refused to speak to him about it. This individual however, is not the subject of this blog post. Another person sent me a private message concerning my video and left this message which I intend to break down in a reply:

“Please listen

My english is no good, so just look pass that if you could. I don’t like it when you insult my country, Israel. My people are a proud people, that have been through worst genocide in modern times and you don’t care about what people like my father had to go through just to get civil rights that arab countries refused us. I ask that you stop completely lying about my country men. I work with muslims and christians in army, is there genocide? I love my counrty wheter be muslim, christian, jew, baha’i and druze. I no hate anyone based on their faith or religion. Please just come to country and see for yourself. how can you judge without seeing my beautiful israel? please just listen and stop the egotism, there already is a facebook group that started where people humiliate you.”

>I don’t like it when you insult my country, Israel.

I don’t care that you don’t like it. Every country has to be criticized, especially the US and Israel. In addition, I don’t like it when your country carries out genocide against other countries. (Yes I consider Palestine to be a country).

>My people are a proud people, that have been through worst genocide in modern times and you don’t care about what people like my father had to go through just to get civil rights that arab countries refused us.

Worst genocide on modern times. Nice way of saying the Native Americans and Africans still had it far worse than you could ever imagine. No, I don’t care what your people had to go through in this context. None of it justifies the genocide of Palestinians. This is exactly what you are doing, using a terrible past to justify crimes against humanity. As for rights in Arab countries, the persecution you suffer today in various countries is the result of the invasion and murder of Palestine. There were hostilities before, but in Palestine there was a relatively peaceful co-existence. That ended with its invasion. In Syria there is little hostility between between religions as a mostly secular government is in power. Religion in government is the problem, not Palestinians.

>I work with muslims and christians in army, is there genocide? I love my counrty wheter be muslim, christian, jew, baha’i and druze. I no hate anyone based on their faith or religion.

Ah yes, you’re not racist, so therefore the racism of the state of Israel never existed. Therefore the genocide of Palestinians isn’t really happening? You can be racist or not, it is a non-sequitur, it does not give anything to negate the crimes that are going on right now.

>Please just come to country and see for yourself. how can you judge without seeing my beautiful israel? please just listen and stop the egotism, there already is a facebook group that started where people humiliate you.

I do not need to see Israel to know what is going on. I do not need to cross the boarder into the that country to know of the crimes it is guilty of. Your claim of egotism from me is laughable. How can you even accuse me of such a thing? What have I done to demonstrate that? Merely speak about the crimes your country has committed, while speaking nothing of myself? It is you who suffers from egotism: “The practice of talking and thinking about oneself excessively because of an undue sense of self-importance.” This would adequately explain why you choose to think your country’s crimes against Palestine are nothing.

How do these requests to see your country, or stories of a hard past negate the suffering your country inflicts on the people of Palestine? It doesn’t.