“Why are you doing this?” he asked. “Helping me and my family?” 

“Because you’re my neighbors in the world,” I replied. 

But that wasn’t the whole truth.

I had just liquidated what was left of my crypto from the 2022 bull run and sent it all to help my friend in Gaza. 

But today, as the Greta Thunberg debacle unfolds, I can actually see myself in her smug, arrogant, yet kind-natured face. Witnessing her ‘kidnapping’ and humiliating deportation, the end result of fetishizing Palestinian suffering became glaringly obvious. The painful self-awareness was the motivation I needed to begin to close this chapter of self-righteous indulgence in the name of activism and solidarity. 

Like Greta, I’ve always been the type of passionate, privileged white woman who usually gets my way. I’ll pull over to break up a fight or pick up a stray. Nothing has ever seemed out of reach for me and I’ve always been driven to make a difference. 

When I came out as queer, I was adopted into a tight-knit friend-group in the LGBTQ community who changed........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)