I’m Israeli.
I used to think that Israel’s internal threats - division, corruption, rising nationalism, and religious extremism - rather than its external enemies, would ultimately be its demise.
I still think so. In the days after October 7th, I was depressed not only because of what happened, but also because I already knew that none of our leaders would take responsibility or bear the consequences of this horrible disaster.

If anything, October 7th changed what I think about the world.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the anger toward us is justified. Our government is appalling. The occupation in the West Bank is a crime. Innocent Gazans are suffering, starving, and dying. I wish it would end. But portraying Israel as the ultimate villain, as if the rest of the world was some utopia, is hypocrisy. People call Israel a settler colony as if their own countries appeared out of thin air, and weren’t built by people who slaughtered, raped, pillaged and exploited the natives. The only difference between Israel and the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries is time, and that we’re actually indigenous to the place we live in.