Progressives: One day you’ll actually come here and see things with your own eyes.

No mediators. No filtered information. No lies. No narratives. No agendas. No funded opinions. Just simple reality.

‘Palestine’ dialects

You’ll get to know Arab Palestinian society. You’ll learn that they don’t all speak the same dialects. Arabs in Gaza pronounce letters differently from Arabs in Hebron, who pronounce letters differently from Arabs in the villages near Jenin. Why? Because many of their grandparents came here in the last 150 years from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, seeking work during the Jewish renewal of the land and the British Mandate. Their collective identity largely formed in the 1960s, rather than developing as a long-standing national structure.

Last names

You’ll realize that you’ve been advocating for the “indigenous rights” of a group with last names indicating where they actually came to this land from. Al-Masri - the Egyptian, Al-Hijazi - from the Hijaz in Saudi Arabia, Al-Surani - from Tyre in Lebanon, Al-Halabi - from Aleppo. It’s not hidden information, you just need to look.

Pallywood

You’ll get to see the “moments after” of all those heart-wrenching videos you watch on TikTok over there in Chicago. The kids swallowing their laughs, the staged settings, the massive crowd of cameramen and sound men surrounding those productions. Many of these videos you watch are exaggerated and misleading.

Road 60

Once you start driving on the mixed roads of Israelis and Arab Palestinians, it’s hard to miss the gigantic, fancy cars they drive. The jaw-dropping mansions in their villages (while you grind so you can live in your two-bedroom apartment in Chicago, yeah?). The expansive size of the land they are sitting on, on top of our historical land, of course. You’ll see the massive malls they shop at. It may not match how you define “refugees”.

Hate

As a progressive, I assume hate and generalizations bother you. In Israeli areas, when you ask people what they think about Arab Palestinians, you’ll often hear a mix of frustration, disappointment, and hope for coexistence, and of course the famous: “if only… then we would embrace them with open arms.” But on their side, you’ll often hear “there is no Israel”, “they must go”, “they must disappear”, “Israel will end soon”. You’ll come to your own conclusions.

Foreigner

There’s a famous saying in Arabic: “me and my brother against my cousin, me and my cousin against the foreigner”, and the “foreigner” is you, of course. You’ll understand that you’re entering a much more hierarchical society than Chicago. Here, the fight is constant. It’s about survival in this harsh terrain. Not in theory, but in day-to-day reality. You may be his friend, but if you say the wrong thing, you may turn into his enemy in the flick of a finger. Your value system will find this extremely challenging.

Cynicism

Unlike you, he’s cynical. He will likely think that you’re naive. You’re a Westerner who advocates for your own demise. It makes zero sense to him, but “he’ll take it”. He’s not going to try to convince you that you are going against your own interests, seeking some cheap approval from someone you don’t even know.

Archeology

Your Israeli friends will take you to see an abundance of breathtaking Jewish archaeological discoveries that have been made in the land of Israel. Ancient Hebrew coins from the Hebrew revolt against the Romans, ancient Hebrew seals, ancient Hebrew winepresses, Second Temple-era purity baths. Your Arab Palestinian friends won’t be able to show you much ancient history.

Size

You’ll also drive from one side of Israel to the other and realize how tiny this little country is. It’s literally 0.3% of the Middle East. A small sliver of holy hills, rich in history, very misunderstood. So this tiny piece of land is your problem in life? Being here will put things into perspective for you.

The Nation of Israel Lives