"Israel is so bad, they never let me in!!" - Some Palestinian immigrant colonizing my country

I live in a country that isn't Israel, obviously. I'm an Israeli immigrant in another country (the reason why I won't say). <br><br>We have a very vocal anti Israeli sentiment, fuelled by the far left and far right, who are both antisemitic in their own way. <br><br>This and other reasons mean that when I say I'm Israeli to anyone, except my closest friends, I get stupid questions. Everything from "do they pick up your trash?" to asking me "do you think they'll ever let me in?" I will never understand. <br><br>This happened again today. I was working (I work in a small restaurant) and one of my coworkers approached me. <br><br>C "I'm Palestinian, I'm from x colonized colonized etc" (usually I get stupid questions, but my coworkers are mostly pretty chill so I was surprised) <br><br>M "Oh really? I'm Israeli"<br><br>C "How does it feel to be racist?"<br><br>M "Uhm? I'm not racist" <br><br>C "Israel is racist!!"<br><br>M "No, Israel really isn't racist. It's a Jewish state, and the conflict is far more complicated than that. Israel is so happy to let you in. Tourism is a huge market for us!" <br><br>C "Really? Israeli doesn't let me in" <br><br>M "What do you mean?"<br><br>C "I'm Palestinian. Israel doesn't let me in"<br><br>M "Israel doesn't let Palestinians in?"<br><br>C "Yes!!" <br><br>M "I'm Israeli. It's a Jewish and democratic state. I can go anywhere. We have Arab citizens, they have the exact same rights as me. Tourism is a huge part of our economy. Why would we not let people in? Israel is not aparteid"<br><br>C "Then why did they call the police on me when I was in Tel Aviv??"<br><br>M "I have no idea"<br><br>C "Israel is fucking shit!!"<br><br>M "I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I'm literally Israeli. If Israel is so bad, why are you in my country now?"<br><br>C "Israel doesn't let me in!!"<br><br>M "But you are from here. Your parents were from here. Then you were here. But I'm an Israeli immigrant. Israel isn't racist. It's just not"<br><br>C "I'm not racist, but fuck Israel!!" <br><br>I was done. So done. I'm not going to engage with her again, but the vibe in the kitchen where we work is really awkward now. <br><br>I'm not calling her out, not publicly, cause I don't want to "make someone unhappy", but I'm so fucking done. That whole conversation seemed like it came from the mouth of a child. <br><br>The worst thing is that she's a grown woman (42 and married with 3 kids), and she doesn't know the first thing about Israel. All she knows is that Israel is racist, Israel is an aparteid state, Israel is colonizing Palestine. <br><br>I want to ask her "do you also hate yourself? You're colonizing my country. You could go back" but that's not the point. The point is that she's stupid and antisemitic. <br><br>Because what Israel did in the past is aparteid, because we don't let our enemies in, because we are in a conflict that's been going for nearly 100 years, she thinks we're bad. <br><br>I don't give a flying fuck about her opinion. I'm not a stupid child that will try to argue with her and change her mind. <br><br>Because stupid antisemites will always be stupid antisemites. <br><br>But I'm so fucking tired.<br><br>So tired of so many things.<br><br>So fucking tired.