“Did you get your coffee at the espresso cafe next door?” I asked my hair stylist. Seemed like an innocent question, but she leaned down and whispered that she got her drink at Starbucks. “Is that a bad thing?” I asked? “Well, you know, Israel,” she replied. 

Now I was confused. What did Starbucks have to do with Israel? Do they have cafes in Israel? I know they have cafes in Saudi Arabia, and I suspect they have cafes in other Arab countries, though perhaps not Yemen. Perhaps they source something from Israel, though what would that be? 

Well, in any event, my hairdresser fits in well in Olympia. “Free Palestine” signs are everywhere. Every other woke cause is represented as well. I could switch hairdressers, but how far would I have to drive to find one who’d be even neutral on Israel? Maybe if the price of gas comes down? 

So mostly I keep my mouth shut unless there’s a chance of a real conversation, which usually there isn’t. But I do search for opportunities for genuine conversation. Which led me to our Senior Center. It’s just two blocks away and has a conversation group once a week. The group’s leader has a set routine: first, the word of the day, its history, its evolution; then, what’s happened on this date in history; and then current issues. 

Most of the current issues lately are Trump-related, and there’s a lot of grumbling. Today, we talked about the recent chemical spill at a Longview pulp and paper mill in which 11 people died. One member of our group had worked there during summers when he was in college. As bad as the incident was, it was an implosion of a tank instead of an explosion, which could have been much worse. It’s horrible to say that an event in which eleven people died could have been worse, but the environmental impact could have been much worse. In any event, no one had anything cheerful to say about that bit of news.

Discussion then turned to the war in Iran, which led to Hezbollah, which led to Israel. Turns out there’s another weekly event at the Senior Center, a history class that some attend. I haven’t attended that because it’s hard for me to do one regular activity a week, much less two. In any event, I won’t be going to the history class because in the discussion of Iran, Hezbollah, and Israel, people who do attend the history class claimed that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is analogous to American history with Indians. Israelis are settler-colonialists, they starve the Palestinians, they bomb hospitals, and yes, if the New York Times says that Israelis train dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, then it must be true. Genocide? True. Apartheid? True. Even Jews say all the bad things are true. So, it must all be true?

Jews are free to disagree with each other. Are Palestinians free to disagree with each other? No. They will get killed for saying things comparable to what Israelis say about their country. So the fact that some Jews say one thing and some say another proves nothing to me. Listen to all sides, please, before you take up arms.

Sorry, (not sorry) but I’m finished with that group. One new person said she taught Middle-East history at Baylor, so she knows what she’s talking about. Yeah, and every woke professor knows the truth about everything. So, no, I really don’t need to hear any more from these folks about Israel. 

If you have any room in your head for another point of view, consider reading this recent article from Quillette (Quillette has saved my sanity since it’s first appearance online with thoughtful journalism.) You can subscribe for free, but pay for a subscription if you can.

Anti-Zionism as Redemptive Racism by Shalom Lappin