“PALESTINIAN CULTURE is MORE SIMILAR to my CULTURE than any OTHER CULTURE in the world”
May 4, 2024
University of Texas student and Jewish peace activist Elijah Kahlenberg was caught up in police violence against Gaza anti-war demonstrators.
Majoring in Jewish studies, Elijah speaks about the similarities between Palestinian and Jewish culture.
“Palestinian culture is more similar to my culture than any other culture in the world.”
Kahlenberg goes on to speak about the anti-Palestinian rhetoric he was taught as a Jew and the unlearning process he underwent, concluding that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a GENOCIDE.
The most powerful voice against Israel is the voice OF THE JEWS!
OUR STANCE AGAINT ZIONISM IS NOT ANTI-SEMITIC OR ANTI-JEW. IT IS ANTI-ZIONISM AND WHAT IT REPRESENTS – APARTHEID, PERSECTION, STATE-SPONSORED MURDER, OPPRESSION, INJUSTICE, INEQUALITY – INHUMANITY!
@aljazeeraenglish
If you advocate for TRUTH & JUSTICE, SHARE to spread the knowledge.
#UnitedPeople #WatermelonRevolution #AntiPales #FreeGaza #PalestineSolidarity #GazaGenocide #UNRWA #EndGenocide #Palestine #ICJJustice
English Script:
Elijah Kahlenberg: My name is Elijah Kahlenberg I am 21 years old. I’m a student here at the University of Texas at Austin, and I’m majoring in Jewish Studies, government and Middle East Studies. My father’s side is Ashkenazi Jewish and my mother’s side has Sephardic Jewish heritage. I’m a very proud Jew. In most Jewish education when it comes to Palestinians, you’re not told about 1948. You’re not told about the Nakba. You’re typically told sometimes outright racist things about Arabs and Palestinians. I began a process of unpacking a lot of what I was told in Hebrew school, but also engaging with Palestinians, and a conclusion I came to, is that Palestinian culture is more similar to my culture than to any other culture in the world. I’m the president and founder of Atidna International. We’re a peace group. Atidna combines the Hebrew word “atid” for future with the Arabic suffix “na” for our. And when you put those two together, it means our future. We really just try to promote open dialog on college campuses to get to know the quote unquote “other”. We begin to humanize the other. And I think that’s more important now than ever. I believe that the actions in Gaza do constitute a genocide. There are many corporations that are profiteering from what is happening in Gaza, specifically American corporations like Boeing, like Lockheed Martin. And these are the corporations that need to be called out for profiteering from the death and destruction of the Palestinian people. And because students took their First Amendment civil liberties at the university to the forefront, they were repressed. I was injured when one of the state troopers charged the crowd with their horse, and I was subsequently pushed to the ground. I was in shock when that happened. Speaking out on behalf of the Palestinian people is not inherently anti-Semitic. I’ve personally dealt with a lot of accusations that I am either a self-hating Jew, and even worse, some have called me a Kapo, which is a Jew who sold out fellow Jews to the Nazis. All for the stances I’ve taken, for my Palestinian brothers and sisters. And that’s personally very hurtful to me. I lost family in the Holocaust, but it doesn’t stop me. I understand what I’m doing is just. I’m standing with my Palestinian brothers and sisters for a very noble cause, and I view them as my family.
