When I open my phone, I see the bodies of Palestinian children ripped to shreds by bombs I’m paying for. When I close my eyes, I see crushed bodies under the rubble of Gazan homes, 300,000 of which have been destroyed by Israeli bombardment. When you ask me how I am, the answer is: terrible. We are living through genocide, perpetrated by the state of Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, and we are watching it happen live on Instagram and TV.

How can I prioritize going to class, meeting my due dates, or editing my papers when children in Gaza do not have schools to go back to (blown up by Israeli F-15s), do not have parents to drive them (murdered by Israeli soldiers), or have themselves been killed (12,000 child lives stolen over four months of genocide)? I refuse to act normally, live normally, study normally, or engage in respectful dialogue as the state of Israel perpetrates genocidal violence against a besieged civilian population, with the full and unconditional support of the United States, in the name of my people.

My ancestors, the family members whose names and pictures I hold closely, European Jews murdered by Nazis—who were packed into cattle cars and gassed, whose villages were ethnically cleansed and destroyed—would vomit blood knowing their Holocaust is being weaponized to justify the genocide of Palestinians. Instead of cattle cars and Auschwitz, Palestinians in Gaza are being crammed into Rafah, a supposed safe zone in the southernmost corner of the strip, and instead of cyanide gas, they are being killed by American and Israeli bombs.

Everywhere I turn—the news, The Argus, my family, my synagogue—loud conversations about antisemitism on college campuses overshadow the ongoing mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Often this euphemistically means monolithic Zionist Jewish students feeling unsafe because of pro-Palestinian activism and discourse and weaponized and misplaced accusations of antisemitism used to discredit opposition to the state of Israel’s violent past and present. Am I not a Jewish student? Have you not talked to all my Jewish friends, who are enraged and appalled by the genocide being carried out in our names? I definitely feel Jewish. I wear tzitzit and a kippah every day, I wrap tefillin each morning, and thank Hashem for the food I eat. And with my body, my soul, my spirit, and my faith, I fight against those desecrating the name of G-d through the idolatry of militaristic nationalism; that feels pretty Jewish to me.

If you ask this Jewish student what makes her feel unsafe, I’ll say when people conflate my religion with Zionism—a bloodthirsty ideology—and my people with the state of Israel, a settler colonial apartheid state. And many Jews, especially young Jews on college campuses, are anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian like me! Yes, we exist. And we feel much safer hearing and saying “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” at pro-Palestine protests—a call for a liberated, multi-ethnic, democratic Palestinian state across all the land currently administered by the state of Israel—than hearing prayers for the welfare of the state of Israel in any Zionist synagogue across the country.

Antisemitism is truly rising, fueled by the Zionist entity—the state of Israel and all its supporters—working to conflate my faith and people with a settler colonial project inflicting apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide against the indigenous Palestinian population. Anti-Zionist protests and social media posts do not make Jews unsafe, I say as an anti-Zionist Jewish organizer who uses my social media to educate about Palestine. What makes Jews unsafe is the state of Israel’s indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in Gaza and eight decades of violence against Palestinians while claiming to be synonymous with Jews everywhere. The only sure path to Jewish safety is total liberation for the Palestinian people; our freedoms are intertwined, and anyone who tells you otherwise has violent motives.

All this is to say, STOP CHOOSING TO USE YOUR VOICE ONLY TO SPEAK ABOUT DISCOURSES AND FREE SPEECH. WE ARE WITNESSING GENOCIDE. Wake up and make T’shuvah, atonement, for the heinous crimes being committed in all of our names as U.S. residents. Call your congresspeople and tell them to stop sending unconditional money to Israel’s military and refund theUnited Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the only aid group providing food to Gaza’s besieged civilian population under the state of Israel’s weaponized famine. Start organizing for Palestine, don’t just post on social media, and send your money to folks in Gaza trying to leave or access e-sims. Buy keffiyehs from Palestinian-owned vendors and wear them all the time. Learn the names of Palestinian villages which have been ethnically cleansed. Learn the stories of martyrs the state of Israel has murdered, each life an entire world, not a number in a never-ending tally. Do not get exhausted; we owe Gazans our endurance as they continue to live through hell. Talk to your friends and family about why we must shut down normalcy for Gaza’s sake. 

I stand with the Palestinian people because I’m human, not because I’m Jewish. Because I am human, I believe apartheid is evil, that ethnic cleansing is unjust, that indiscriminately killing civilians is heinous, and that refugees should return to homes stolen from them. I believe these things because I stand with humanity, and I feel them in my bones because I am a Jew whose ancestors faced ethnic cleansing, forced expulsion, legislated racism, and genocide, all of which are being replicated by the state of Israel against Palestinians. This is genocide, Nakba, Holocaust, broadcasted live while we mosey through our spring semester, and there will be no forgiveness for those perpetrating, abetting, justifying, and supporting it. Stop mucking around and use your power to stand with Palestinians however you can, and I pray together we see a liberated Palestine and repaired world within our lifetimes.

Batya Kline is a graduate student and can be reached at bkline@wesleyan.edu.