A sunny day on campus and not a single antisemite in sight

In university, you expect to have a lot of “difficult” conversations. Discussions on controversial topics, discussions on academic topics and etc. You’d imagine that these types of discussions would be mostly with other students, but this isn’t the case. This isn’t the case because professors are essentially students who never graduated, but with more power because they can control your GPA. A professor is the most likely to engage in active discussion with you because they are the most eager to discuss their favourite topics… which often are not the topics they are actually supposed to be teaching and are obviously biased politically. <br><br>When professors often go on tangents or themselves engage in conversations with you, they often try to gauge your political position. They want to know whether you’re a comrade or not. If you’re a comrade, they will then proceed to rant about whatever they want to rant about. If they don’t like your politics, they won’t rant, they’ll just make their lectures more boring as a form of subtle protest. <br><br>It’s not secret that the overwhelming majority of professors are politically to the left. What’s actually shocking is how far to the left most professors are. They’re not your run of the mill Democrats or social democrats. Most professors are Marxists. Some of them believe that the October Revolution is still an inspiring event that should be studied and admired. Others believe that the October Revolution was a shameful event that is a manifestation of the failures of Leninism and that we should advocate for Luxemburgism instead. <br><br>Not all professors are Marxists, some of them are monarchists. I have one professor who claims that he’s a Marxist-oneirocritic, whatever that means. <br><br>Anyway, in trying to gauge your politics and bring up their own, they usually ask a few questions. They want to know what you study, what your favourite modules are, where you’re from and what’s your stance on a few hot topics. That’s all fun and good, but as an Israeli, you have an additional question added that nobody else has. <br><br>You see, when you’re an Israeli and a professor is trying to figure out whether you’re a commrade or not, they will always bring up the question of Israel. They want to know your stance on Israel. They want to know how you feel about “the atrocities that the IDF has done to innocent Palestinians” and whether you support “Israel’s right to exist”. <br><br>This question is always posed as a yes/no question, with the assumed answer of “no”. You see, whether you know it or not, if you’re Israeli, you’re obviously pro-Israel. Israelis are obviously nationalistically into Israel. It’s an obvious fact that every Israeli is right-wing and nationalist. There’s no room for dissent. Therefore, when an Israeli answers this question with a “yes", you can clearly see the confusion on the professor’s face. They’re so used to the automatic “no” that they don’t know how to respond to a “yes”. When you’re clearly a comrade, but you then advocate for your country, they are extremely confused. <br><br>The exact same thing happens when you mention that you’re Israeli to other students. They’re always shocked. They’ve never met an Israeli before. They’ve never met someone who is pro-Israel before. They don’t know how to process this information. <br><br>Today, I was talking to a group of friends and we had a great conversation. It was a lovely day outside and the sun was shining. We were all laughing and having a great time, but they obviously had to ask me the forbidden question. They had to know my stance on Israel. They didn’t assume anything this time, they actually genuinely wanted to know. They genuinely wanted to hear my opinion. <br><br>I told them that I love Israel. I told them that it’s the greatest country in the world. I told them that I feel so lucky to have it as my homeland and that I would do anything to defend it. <br><br>You know what? They were happy to hear this. They were happy that I loved Israel so much. They were happy that I was proud to be Israeli. <br><br>This whole conversation made me feel great. It made me feel happy. It made me feel proud. I’m so proud to be Israeli. I’m so proud to be a part of the best country in the world. <br><br>Long live Israel.<br><br>&#x200B;