Skip to content
CAM-logo-2x
  • About
  • News
    • JAHM: Jewish American Heritage Month
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
    • Donate
Menu
  • About
  • News
    • JAHM: Jewish American Heritage Month
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
    • Donate

Personal Stories

  • All
  • U.S.
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • JAHM
  • Interviews
  • MORE
    • Analysis
    • Government
    • Humanity
    • Online
    • Spotlight
    • Videos
Menu
  • All
  • U.S.
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • JAHM
  • Interviews
  • MORE
    • Analysis
    • Government
    • Humanity
    • Online
    • Spotlight
    • Videos

That Stuff Isn’t Okay, and It’s Not Normal: Liz G.

  • June 24, 2020
Share Tweet Share Follow Follow Email Print

By Lauren Weiner

Liz, an 18-year-old from Cupertino, California, graduated in 2019 from a public high school in Danville, California. Recently she spoke with CAM about tough situations in which her Jewish identity and Zionist beliefs placed her.

One day during her freshman year, another freshman, someone she knew by sight but didn’t know personally, approached her. “I was wearing a Star of David around my neck, and he came up to me and asked me if I was Jewish. I said yes, and then he called me a ‘fascist pig’ and walked away. I didn’t even react. It was just kind of shocking.”

Liz didn’t tell school officials. She assumed that since no one overheard the boy, she wouldn’t be able to prove that he made this remark. And in any case, she said, “Back then I was naïve about all the anti-Semitism going on related to Israel. . . . I didn’t fully comprehend the importance of it.”

That year she joined in activities being sponsored by Club Z, a new Zionist youth group in her area. It spawned a change in her attitude. She started “realizing that that stuff isn’t okay, and it’s not normal, and I have a voice,” she said. “I just know if that ever happens to me again, I won’t just stand there like a silly little girl not knowing what to say.”

Social media is a harsh realm for teenagers at the best of times, but the subject of Israel can quickly heat things up. Someone Liz had known since middle school, a nice kid in personal terms, was known for taking an extreme position when it came to the State of Israel and the Palestinians. “And she knew that I was a Jew, and pro-Israel and everything.” During Liz’s senior year, when their mutual friends chimed in on social media in support of the extreme comments the girl was making, “it was really hard for me to see. I didn’t want to start anything with her. And so we blocked each other.”

In May 2019, Liz posted statements decrying the waves of missile attacks on Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip. A second female classmate read them and took to Instagram, “telling me how horribly Israel treats the Palestinians.” The girl even claimed that “Israel kidnaps Palestinians and uses them as test subjects, and that’s why they’re so ahead in the medical field.” According to this new canard, Israel “is doing illegal testing on Palestinians, and since it’s human trials,” the Israelis make advances sooner than if the research were being done ethically.

“She actually surprised me with that one, I’ll give her that,” said Liz of her classmate. “It also made me sad, because that’s the level of brainwashing and propaganda that she’s been open to.”

read more

Holocaust Survivor Walter Bingham Shares Firsthand Kristallnacht Experience

November 13, 2022

Zvi Cohen, The Boy With the Harmonica in Theresienstadt

August 18, 2022

We Are All Jews: The Story of the US Soldier who Saved Hundreds of Jewish American POWs During WWII

November 19, 2021

More News

Kosovo’s National Assembly Unanimously Adopts IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism

June 10, 2023

Through May, CAM Tracks Daily Average of 5.0 Antisemitic Incidents in 2023

June 8, 2023

Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Condemns Harassment of Christian Clergy in Holy City

June 7, 2023

Jewish American Heritage Month Recognized by More than 150 Governors and Mayors Across Country

June 6, 2023

Advocacy and Watchdog Groups Take Action Against CUNY Law School Over Antisemitic Graduation Speech

June 6, 2023

Five Positive Stories From the Global Fight Against Antisemitism in May 2023

June 4, 2023

CAM Joins Call for University Heads to Reject American Anthropological Association BDS Initiative

June 4, 2023

Ten Most Shocking Antisemitic Incidents of May 2023

June 4, 2023

New York City Mayor Eric Adams Hosts Jewish American Heritage Month Celebration at Gracie Mansion

June 1, 2023

‘What Happens Online Doesn’t Stay Online’: CAM Highlights Real-World Dangers of Social Media Hatred at South Florida Antisemitism Summit

May 31, 2023
CAM-logo-2x
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
Facebook-f Instagram Twitter Linkedin-in Youtube Tiktok
PRIVACY POLICY
X