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Thread: So, my grandparents on my mom's side were Survivors. Each lost a spouse and had children killed before their eyes by the Nazis. My grandmother became a partisan in the woods and my grandfather used all his money to hide family who were eventually killed anyway.
My mom worked her way through school to a Masters +30. English was her second language, Yiddish her first though she was born in Bolivia. In addition to becoming a middle school VP, she was also a Holocaust Educator.
She went on trips to the camps and taught kids and adults the history and legacy of the Holocaust. She sent me on the March of the Living when I was 17. I was silent through Auschwitz. I sobbed through Treblinka & I raged through Majdanek.
It was the massive mound of ashes that broke me. The remains of thousands of Jews simply piled into the world's largest ashtray...I nearly vomited. Then came the desecrated cemeteries, proof that Jews can't even be left in peace when they're dead.
I stood in that cemetery and realized that I'd never be safe living anywhere Jews were a minority. I decided in that moment, that I would never trust my fate to another nation's generosity. I came home from that trip and told my mother that I was moving to Israel.
I live here now as do my children. In a land thousands of years old & a state 70 years young. I watch what is happening in the UK, France, US I'm not surprised Pained? Yes. Surprised? No
The difference between now & then? My grandparents had nowhere to run, noone would take the Jews. Now there is an open door. A safe harbor. Built with blood sweat & ashes, where millions of Jews have returned to join the thousands who never left.
When you question Israel's right to exist, you question the Jewish people's right to exist. You forget history and deny reality. And while we've always made the best scapegoats when at the mercy of others, now, now we have options. #neveragain
PS: f you're going to use my personal story as a stepping point for screaming Apartheid, see my pinned tweet. Come at me with facts and history not slogans and regurgitated mantras.
All of this is to say that we have a story too. A history and a nation. We also have the obligation to build the best society we can, with rights and privileges for all. With sovereignty comes responsibility.
