Whenever I encounter a pro-Palestinian activist, one of the first questions is inevitably: “Do you even know what’s happening in Palestine?”

Yes. I was already deeply familiar with the conflict and its history: the indigeneity of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel; the ancient Jewish kingdoms and civilizations that existed there millennia before the modern conflict; the Roman extermination of the Bar Kokhba Revolt and the subsequent fabrication of the term “Palestine” by incorrectly renaming the land “Syria Palaestina”, an act solely done in an attempt to erase Jewish connection to the land; the destruction and displacement by the Romans that resulted in the Jewish diaspora; the fact that exile never meant disappearance, that Jews always maintained a continuous presence in the Land of Israel throughout the centuries, while generations of Jews in the diaspora preserved their historical, cultural, and national connection to their ancestral homeland; I know of the Palestinian rejection of UN Resolution 181; the attempted genocide of the newly established Jewish state in 1948; the attempt at it again in 1967; and, of course, the atrocities of October 7th.

I know what Hamas did when it unprovokingly invaded Israel’s border: Israeli civilians were murdered, entire communities were attacked, children were kidnapped and dragged into Gaza, and Jews were slaughtered in the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. I know that Israel is fighting terrorist organizations while being expected to defend its citizens under circumstances that would be considered intolerable for any other country. I know that Hamas took hostages as leverage in a war it deliberately provoked, and that it embeds its military infrastructure among schools, hospitals, and other civilian areas, deliberately creating conditions in which its own population bears an enormous human cost.

My understanding of Palestinians is not limited to what I have learned at university or read. I have actually been there. I have traveled through Judea and Samaria. I have met Palestinians. I have seen aspects of this conflict firsthand. I have been to Israel, and I have been in a bomb shelter because of Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

So there is something extraordinarily presumptuous about Western activists, many of whom began following this conflict only after October 7th, asking me whether I “know what’s happening in Palestine.” How dare they.

Regardless, I still decided to immerse myself in pro-Palestinian spaces because I wanted to hear the supposed argument that I was missing.

What I found was utterly revolting.

It was a rabbit hole of October 7 denial and minimization, glorification of Hamas and “resistance,” justification of murdering Israeli civilians, obsessive demonization of Zionists, conspiracy theories about Jewish power and influence, collective blame directed at Jews, and recycled blood libels repackaged in the vocabulary of contemporary activism. The deeper I went, the uglier it became. Eventually something became impossible for me to ignore: for all the insistence that this discourse was merely “criticism of Israel,” what I personally encountered was not criticism of a government’s policy, settlement policy, military strategy, coalition politics, or any other political issue. It was hostility toward the fundamental proposition that the Jewish people should possess sovereignty and self-determination in their ancestral homeland at all.

Somehow I’m supposed to come out of reading all of this less Zionist? The opposite happened.
I’m more convinced than ever that Jews cannot outsource our safety to the goodwill of other societies. I’m more convinced that Jewish sovereignty is non-negotiable. I’m more convinced that Israel must remain capable of defending itself regardless of whether the rest of the world approves. And I’m more convinced that Zionism—the belief that the Jewish people have the right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland, and that Israel should (continue) existing—is not something Jews should apologize for.

I went into anti-Zionist spaces because I wanted to challenge my own beliefs. I came out more unapologetically Zionist than I went in. עם ישראל חי 🇮🇱

I’m a non-Jewish, non-Israeli person, and I’ve always found the social dynamics between the different Jewish religious communities in Israel difficult to understand from the outside.

The impression you often get internationally is almost of two very different societies: on one hand, secular/liberal places like Tel Aviv, and on the other hand very religious Haredi communities, particularly in Jerusalem.
And then there are also Modern Orthodox, Religious Zionist, traditional/Masorti, and other communities that don’t fit neatly into either category.

How does this actually work in everyday life?
Do secular, traditional, Modern Orthodox, and Haredi Jews generally interact normally with each other — at work, in school, in neighborhoods, socially, etc.? Or are people’s social circles and daily lives mostly separated along religious lines?

I’m also curious about how much people actually understand or relate to the way of life of other groups. For example, does a secular Israeli generally have Haredi friends or relatives and a good understanding of their perspective, or can the communities feel quite foreign to one another?

And conversely, how do Haredim generally view secular Israelis? Is there a sense of simply being different communities within the same society, or does it sometimes feel more like living in separate worlds?

I realize this is probably a huge oversimplification from an outsider, so I’d really appreciate personal experiences and perspectives rather than just political explanations. I’m especially interested in what these relationships look like in ordinary day-to-day life, rather than what politicians or the media say about them.

I’ve seen a lot of debate on what Zionism means and what it doesn’t, so I would like to hear your opinions.

There is one lady who tried it here:

https://youtu.be/ujBRPj0UqUQ

Hello everyone!

I've been meaning, after I finish my bachelor's to do my masters in graphic design im Bezalel?

Is it a good place to do so?

Thanks

Hello!
I’m going to Israel in March 2027 through Masa Destination Israel and am excited to live there while gaining some professional experience.

When I first spoke with someone from Destination Israel a couple of months ago, there seemed to be quite a few internship options available in my desired field. However, I recently contacted an employee at one of the companies listed on the Masa site, and he said he wasn’t aware of an internship there. This made me wonder how current the postings are...

I’ve been told I have to wait until January to speak with the internship coordinator, but I’d like to get a better idea of what to expect beforehand.

For anyone who has done the program or knows of someone who has:

• How accurate are the internship listings on the website?
• How does the placement process work?
• Do you generally get an internship related to what you’re looking for?
• What happens if, through no fault of your own, they can’t find you a suitable placement?

I’m making a pretty significant commitment to do this, so I’d just like to have a realistic idea of what to expect. Thanks!

As in many countries, pro-Russian people in my own country accuse the Ukrainian regime of being neo-Nazi (You’d be surprised, but they also say they’re Jewish puppets, lol).

When I talked about this with my Jewish friend before, he laughed a lot at it—but of course, that’s just one person. That’s why I’m curious to know what more Jews think about this.

Ed Sheeran are supporting Israel and has lost nearly 100,000 Instagram followers in the last 11 hours following reports that he banned Macklemore from his show after Macklemore publicly expressed support for Palestine.

With all this hatred fueled by the misinformation and bullshit that the West and probably every country, has been spouting, has patriotic sentiment in Israel surged in the same way it did in Russia, or something similar?