I went to Lebanon and Syria to “document Israel’s atrocities” and the sheer horrors I saw left me in tears. Here’s my report.

I’m an American university student from a left-wing family. My father is British and has always been fairly neutral towards Israel, loves the Palestinians, and has always been a fan of Bernie Sanders. My mother, on the other hand, is American but has Palestinian and Lebanese ancestry. She has always been anti-Israel and supports the BDS movement. <br><br>My parents, being the cool type, allowed me to go on my own path politically. I went through a number of phases, leftist, libertarian, conservative, but I have always been energized and interested in Israel and Palestine. Living in New York and New Jersey has given me a fairly good understanding of both sides. I was friends with a lot of Palestinians, Arabs, and Israelis, and I always tried to be neutral and see both sides. I went to Israel last year to get a taste of what it was like, and I was absolutely floored. I loved the people, the food, the environment, the cities, and the natural beauty. I tried to be fair and went to these Arab villages and towns to get a feel for it as well. Frankly, I was disappointed and left feeling pretty sad. It was certainly nice, but overall it was very underwhelming. I decided this year to travel, and so I went to Lebanon and Syria to get a feel for what’s going on because I felt like Israel/Palestine dominated the news and so I felt I should travel to other parts of the Middle East to get a broader feel of what it’s like. <br><br>I’m not going to go into detail with what I saw, but what I saw horrified me. I had seen videos of these places online in the past and how bad they look and had been warned by my friends not to go, but I am one of those people who likes to see for myself and gather my own evidence before making any conclusions. Figuring it wouldn’t be so bad and would give me more credibility if I was on the ground seeing everything for myself, I decided to go and document what I saw. I’m not going to lie, I was an anti-Zionist. As a leftist, being anti-Zionist is just part of being in that ideology and the pressure to conform to it can be very overwhelming. After seeing what I saw, I am no longer anti-Zionist and do consider myself a Zionist. I will never forget what I saw and I feel an affinity and love for Israel I never had before. I do not feel any connection to Lebanon or Syria and I will not be visiting those countries ever again. I’m going to go into detail about what I saw but at the end, I’m going to describe the horrors I saw and what it was like. <br><br>The trip was very complicated and I had to go through a lot to get the visas I needed. All in all, it took a few months to get everything squared away, and I was able to go. I was warned by everybody, even my pro-Palestine mother, that I was being very foolish and that I should reconsider. I didn’t. Everybody close to me was worried about me. I reassured them I was fine and that I would stay safe and nothing would happen. I was very cocky at the time and now I know it was a big mistake. <br><br>I went in through Beirut. I was warned by my friends who have traveled there that it was very corrupt and to be careful because of kidnapping. I didn’t listen. I felt like I would be fine because I’m American. After arriving, I was immediately hit with this massive culture shock. As someone from the West, I was appauled by the massive poverty and decay that was visible. I come from a metro area where there is a lot of wealth and money, and so to see people struggling like that was really eye opening. I got my rental car and immediately hit the road, going north to the towns on the border with Syria. I was warned by my hotel staff to be very careful because of bandits and kidnappers on the road, but I didn’t listen. I thought they were being paranoid. It was a long drive and I got held up at a number of checkpoints. When I finally got there, I was amazed at how horrible the conditions were. The country was in ruins. I had seen pictures but to see it in person was a totally different story. I went out to eat at a local restaurant. I couldn’t believe how expensive everything was. It was more expensive than New York and Jerusalem, and this was supposed to be a poor country. I was confused. I asked my waiter, who was very nice and spoke excellent English, why it was more expensive to eat in Beirut than in New York or Miami. He didn’t say anything, but the look in his eyes told me that he agreed with me. He told me that the government was corrupt and that it would get worse as I went further north. I tried to ask him more about it but he told me to be quiet because there were ears everywhere and that if I complained they would “make me shut up”. I listened and didn’t push it any further. <br><br>I continued to drive north, on my way to the Syrian border. On my way, I passed through these valleys and mountains and I was horrified by the filth and trash that was everywhere. You would think that Lebanon was a wealthy country judging by the amount of trash that was on the side of the road, in rivers, and just all over the place. I thought it must be this way everywhere in the world until I visited Israel and Palestine, and I realized the Middle East did not have to be like this. I passed through these cities and towns and I was horrified by the amount of dilapidation. I felt like I was driving through Venezuela or something. Every gas station I went to, the attendants asked me for “tips” after they filled up my gas tank. I felt they were trying to shake me down for money but I obliged anyway because I didn’t want to make a scene. At one point, I stopped at a rest stop to take a leak and there were these shacks where people lived right next to the highway. On my way back to my car, I was approached by a woman who was holding a baby and asked me to give her money because she was hungry and had no food for her baby. I was horrified. I gave her all the money I had on me and she told me to stop giving her money and to put it in her vagina. I was in total shock. I cried when I got back to my car and drove away as fast as I could. I felt like I was in some third world country. I was starting to regret coming here and I already missed Israel. At least there, the streets were clean, the food was good, and the people were nice. I got back to my hotel room, which was really just a small hut that was pretending to be a hotel room, and laid in bed. I felt terrified and worried about what would happen next. <br><br>The next morning, I packed up my rental car and drove to the Syrian border. I was already a mess, but I felt like I needed to see this for myself. On my way, the road was crappy and there were potholes everywhere. You would think it would be maintained well if it was the main road connecting Beirut to Damascus, but it wasn’t. I saw lots of trash on the side of the road and lots of buildings that were destroyed. I was horrified. All I could think about was Israel and how much I loved it. There, you could drive on the highways and it was like you were driving in New York, everything was so nice and clean. <br><br>I finally got to the border. I was met with armed guards. They searched my bag. I was terrified. I really thought they were going to kidnap me or something. I started to talk to them in Arabic and they were very surprised. They asked where I learned how to speak it so well and I told them my story. They let me through and told me to be careful. I was relieved. I got back in my car and drove to Homs. I had heard it was a beautiful city and was very historical. When I got there, I was horrified. It was absolute madness. The first thing I noticed was the massive amount of pictures of Assad on everything. It was like Pyongyang or something. “There is God, and there is Bashar.” were the exact words of my hotel receptionist when I asked why there were so many pictures of Bashar Assad on everything. I was terrified. I knew if I said anything bad about him I would be arrested or something or worse. I decided to go walk around the city. I was absolutely horrified. The city was in absolute ruins. Everything was destroyed and crumbling. I had never seen anything like it. I saw these buildings that were absolutely destroyed. The streets were dirty. The people were walking around like zombies. It was like a cartoon or something. I decided to go to a local restaurant and get some food. I was starved. When I got there, I was amazed at how bad the restaurant was. I’ve been to some crappy diners in my time, but this was something totally different. I ordered a hamburger and some Sprite. They told me they didn’t