 Have you ever been offered a free trip to Israel? If you have, I'm sure you've been tempted to go, but I'm about to tell you why that's probably not the best idea. Spoiler alert, it's actually a really, really bad idea. Welcome to our new series, Boycott Birthright, and other free trips to Israel, where for the next 10 days, we'll be going over the birthright Israel itinerary and exposing the harm behind it. So you might be wondering, what is birthright? It's a free 10 day trip offered to young Jews 18 to 32 years old to visit Israel and the Golan Heights. But birthright isn't the only free trip to Israel out there. Faith groups are often offered free trips to Israel as well as new members of Congress. There's pretty much a free trip to Israel for any demographic out there. But birthright is not just a free trip, it's a tool to perpetuate the occupation of Palestine. Well, how is it a tool? It's just a free trip to another country, right? But that's what we'll be uncovering in this series. Yesterday, the first birthright trip of the summer left from Chicago. Let's take a look at what they're up to. One of the main ways birthright perpetuates the occupation of Palestine is by manufacturing a sense of ownership and entitlement over Palestinian land and erasing the history of the indigenous Palestinians that have lived on that land for generations. It removes the narrative of the occupation and the violent ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians. Let's take a look at the itinerary in here. Right off the bat, we see the words welcome home. This is that manufacturing of that sense of ownership over Palestinian land that I was talking about. Foreigners are being welcomed to Palestine as if it is their home, while in the same vein Israel is exiling and murdering Palestinians on a daily basis. Let's take a closer look. On this day, people on the birthright trip visit Mount Carmel in Haifa. I want to tell you guys a little bit about what happened in Haifa in 1948. On April 21st and 22nd in 1948, around 60,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from Haifa by the Haganah and Urgun Zionist militia groups. On the 23rd, the city was stolen from its rightful indigenous owners and used to establish the State of Israel. People who go on birthright are not learning the experience of these Palestinians and not learning the narrative of the occupation and ethnic cleansing that happened to these people. They will see Haifa as a beautiful place because it is, but they will never associate it with the pain and trauma that was caused in order for them to be there in the first place. Not to mention that the Palestinians that were living in Haifa in 1948 no longer have the right to return to their land. They're not even allowed to travel there. By erasing this history and reality that still exists today for Palestinians, Israel is able to separate itself from its violence and rebrand as a beautiful, innovative country where people are able to have experiences that are so crucial to their identity that they'll remember for a lifetime. This is why birthright is harmful. It's great to appreciate the beauty of Haifa. Palestine is a beautiful country, but it is unfair to appreciate it without acknowledging and supporting the Palestinians that were ethnically cleansed from this land just 75 years ago. The Palestinians that still live under Israeli occupation in an apartheid state, we can do better by boycotting birthright. Do not go on birthright or any free trip to Israel unless you want to contribute to the occupation of Palestine.