Israeli Palestinian Debate Turns To Family Reunion

Outside of the 2020 AIPAC Policy conference, protesters showed up marching against Israel from a variety of different backgrounds and perspectives.

We decided to engage with different voices to either expose their anti-Semitism or to hold nuanced genuine conversations aimed at humanizing both Israeli and Palestinians, all while finding common ground.

The Palestinian activist featured in the video immediately recognized me and was excited to engage with my positions.

The conversation started the way most politically charged and polarized debates do, by regurgitating as many pre-planned trigger lines with the intention of demonizing and delegitimize Israel's existence.

Although there were plenty of historically and factually inaccurate statements made, my objective was not to intellectually outsmart and expose my Palestinian counter part. My objective was to break down the psychological walls that exist between Israelis and Palestinians that prevent us from communication. Walls that have kept both of our peoples trapped in a perpetual ongoing ideologic and physical war.

Thankfully, after realizing that I wasn't there to fight him nor to antagonize his narrative, identity and experiences, he began to open up. It sometimes takes a bit of work to break down the separation that we've been conditioned to know as the only reality possible. Isn't it time that we stop fighting the other and allow the next generation to build a reality together?

If you are reading this, it's time to pay attention. There is no future without either population. If you are Israeli or Palestinian realize that we hold our future in our hands and it's time we built that reality together as one.

If you like our work and would like to see more projects like this please support us at https://www.patreon.com/rudyrochman or https://www.paypal.me/RudyRochman.

Produced by: Leibman Production
In collaboration with: J-TV