#ResistAIPAC #JewishResistance

I grew up in a Jewish home. I loved Shabbat, enthusiastically participated in youth programs like BBYO and summer camp, and had my bar mitzva in Israel. As I got older, I became more observant, started keeping Shabbat, and began my uncritical, unconditional love affair with Israel. I hung an Israeli flag on my bedroom wall, organized a car wash to support the IDF and bought into Alan Dershowitz’s Case for Israel.

In 2008, at age 18, I eagerly attended AIPAC’s Policy Conference. It was amazing.

Obama, Clinton and McCain were all there. There were senators, ambassadors and celebrities. The sessions and speeches left me with a few key messages: Palestinians are bad. Iran is very bad. Israeli soldiers are good. And Jewish support for Israel – unquestioning – is the most important and meaningful manifestation of Judaism.

I loved AIPAC. I lobbied my senators.

I went to David Project trainings. I felt empowered and encouraged by the praise I received; rabbis thanked me and told me they were proud. They reminded me that supporting Israel is the most Jewish thing one could do.

When I was a freshman at the University of Maryland, I eagerly attended a meeting of the Zionist Organization of America chapter. A conversation billed as being about supporting Israel quickly became a strategy session on how to purchase and supply Israeli settlers with weaponry.

I felt a desire to take my kippa off to distance myself from this violent form of Judaism. This was the first crack in my pro-Israel armor.