For Israelis, international delegitimization is also personal. Tel Aviv-based artist and anti-war activist Addam Yekutieli wrote about silent or blatant boycotts of Israelis across all fields: "From just being a pariah state, we ourselves, as individuals, are pariahs." The response I got most often was "oh," followed by awkward silence, when I mentioned I was from Israel while traveling in Europe.

Feeling deeply ashamed of your home is a rare experience. While the feeling of isolation is something most Israelis have related to since October 7, few it seems feel sufficiently guilty for bearing the burden of what has amounted to a genocide against Palestinians in response to the Hamas massacre.

But the Israeli government must be stopped and pressure has become necessary. It must be forced to accept a post-war reality in which Palestinians are sovereign. It must reckon with the very existence of Palestinians, which it has tried to undermine subtly during quieter times, and openly and brutally during wartime. But most of all, Israel must reach the post-war stage as soon as possible, stop the daily killing of dozens of Palestinians and bring home the hostages still held in Gaza who are lingering toward death.

In the interim, alongside pledging to recognize a Palestinian state, Western countries should also impose an arms embargo on the Israeli government while it vows to continue to commit war crimes.

That is the........

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