On Being Jewish and Supporting Palestinians

Sara Smith speaks at a rally at UC Santa Cruz on November 27, 2012 opposing the recent violence that has occurred against Palestinians in Gaza by Israel. Smith is presently a teaching assistant for a UCSC course on the civil rights movement, and she declared at the beginning of her speech, "I am Jewish and I stand with the people of Palestine, I am also a queer Jew...and I stand with the queer people of Palestine."

She then goes on to compare the current conditions Palestinians have been living under to those lived under during the time of the Jim Crow laws in the United States.

She concludes her speech by stating: "It's our responsibility as Jews to take inspiration from our own history of resisting discrimination to stand with the people of Palestine as they resist occupation and apartheid. As Jews in the U.S. we must not be blinded by the lies of our own government, by an allegiance to a Jewish state that was founded on the backs of another people."

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