Reading your article was like watching the trajectory of my life unfold. I went to the same camp, OSRUI, a few years after you. We lived in a fake kibbutz with kids from suburban Chicago and made a map of Israel out of ice cream. I had my doubts, but it all was all such a fun-luvvy, bonding experience. Around when I turned 18 I began to read a lot and see the racist truth about Israeli society. I used Birthright Israel to pay for my flight over so I could do solidarity work with Palestinians in the West Bank. Birthright was the most blatant propaganda campaign I had ever seen-laser light shows about the history of Israel, giant rallies at night with fire and flags (shades of Germany?), and a special speech just for us by the Minister of Settlements. Only if you were conditioned by years of Zionist summer camps would you somehow find this normal. Until Judaism as a whole can find the courage to expose Zionism for the racist political movement it really is I want no part with either one of them.
On Life After Zionist Summer Camp
Reading your article was like watching the trajectory of my life unfold. I went to the same camp, OSRUI, a few years after you. We lived in a fake kibbutz with kids from suburban Chicago and made a map of Israel out of ice cream. I had my doubts, but it all was all such a fun-luvvy, bonding experience. Around when I turned 18 I began to read a lot and see the racist truth about Israeli society. I used Birthright Israel to pay for my flight over so I could do solidarity work with Palestinians in the West Bank. Birthright was the most blatant propaganda campaign I had ever seen-laser light shows about the history of Israel, giant rallies at night with fire and flags (shades of Germany?), and a special speech just for us by the Minister of Settlements. Only if you were conditioned by years of Zionist summer camps would you somehow find this normal. Until Judaism as a whole can find the courage to expose Zionism for the racist political movement it really is I want no part with either one of them.