From: Al Jazeera
by
We all know the stigma, but we cannot remain silent
Growing up in the United Kingdom in an agnostic family that had
Jewish and Christian members, I was free to have an opinion about the
continual clashes between Israel and Palestine. It reminded me of
Britain’s relationship with Northern Ireland. While I never endorsed
violence or supporting the Irish Republican Army, I sympathized with the
occupied rather than the occupier and recognized the occupied’s right
to resist occupation.
Back then, even when my opinion differed from my friends’ and
colleagues’, I felt secure that I would not lose work or friends or
opportunities or sleep because I recognized that the state of Israel
used unnecessary and criminal violence against the Palestinian people in
order to further its Zionist ideals.
Today, as a white woman living in the United States, I do not feel
free to express an opinion about the conflict without facing opposition
or abuse. Only two days ago a woman who asked me to refer pregnant women
to her acupuncturist business page, posted a Golda Meir quote online:
“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive
them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with
the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” I had
to do a double take. Who, exactly, was I supposed to refer to this
woman? Was I meant to be racially selecting clientele for her, or did
she honestly think a woman of color — any color — would find the
insinuation that race dictates how much one loves one child an
acceptable statement to make as a small-business owner specializing in
birth and pregnancy? MORE
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