From Hating Israel to Loving Israel in One Single Day

From Hating Israel to Loving Israel in One Single Day

Yes, it is possible.

Not for everyone. Some people are so deeply poisoned by generational antisemitism that facts no longer matter to them. They inherited hatred the way others inherit family recipes. They were raised to see Jews as monsters long before they ever met one. Those people are difficult to reach.

But millions of others are different.

In Europe and the United States, hatred of Israel is often not born from personal experience. It is manufactured. It is taught in schools, repeated in universities, reinforced in workplaces, and rewarded in social circles where belonging matters more than truth. Young people learn very quickly which opinions make them popular, which slogans get applause, and which flags they are expected to wave if they want acceptance.

Most anti-Israel activists have never even been to Israel.

They scream “apartheid” without ever walking through Tel Aviv. They scream “colonizers” without speaking to Israeli Arabs. They scream “genocide” while knowing absolutely nothing about the region except what social media spoon-fed them between TikTok videos and Instagram propaganda slides.

And then there is another group: the emotional believers. The people genuinely horrified by suffering children. These are not hateful people by nature. They are compassionate people manipulated by selective imagery and emotional blackmail. They see pictures of dead children and immediately conclude Israel must be evil. They do not realize Hamas depends on exactly that emotional reaction. They do not understand how propaganda works in modern warfare.

But these people can change.

The most important group of all may be journalists. Real journalists. Curious journalists. The few remaining people who still believe reporting should involve seeing reality with their own eyes instead of recycling activist talking points from social media.

So here is my question:

What if we brought them to Israel?

Not on some fake propaganda tour. Not on a polished government stage set. I mean the real Israel. The complicated, loud, messy, beautiful, contradictory Israel that actually exists.

I know it works because I watched it happen with my own son.

My son hated Israel. Truly hated it. He hated everything Jewish. We fought constantly because of my pro-Israel advocacy. I am not proud to admit it, but he had become a genuine antisemite. He ignored the Jewish history within our own family. He used to say things like, “Bomb Israel and get rid of those vicious people.”

That was his mindset.

And then everything changed in less than twenty-four hours.

In 2018, I took him to Israel. Before the trip, I warned him about El Al security and the intense questioning everyone talks about. Secretly, I was nervous myself. But something interesting happened. We passed security in ten minutes. It was probably my eighteenth trip since 2015, and I suspect Israeli intelligence already knew exactly who I was and what I stood for. Instead of hostility, we were treated efficiently and professionally. That matters. If Israel ever organizes serious educational trips for skeptics and critics, the experience must begin with people feeling welcomed, not treated as suspects.

The flight was pleasant. Entering Israel felt normal.

Then came the drive.

We rented a car and drove toward Betar Illit. On the road we nearly died three times because Israeli drivers are completely insane. For my son, that was not exactly a great first impression.

But the next morning, we drove north.

We passed Netanya. We passed large Arab towns. My son stared out the window and suddenly pointed at one of them.

“Mum, this must be a Jewish city. Look at the houses. They’re huge.”

I told him to look again.

“You see the mosques? The Arabic signs? This is an Arab town.”

He went silent.

Ten minutes later we passed a giant Palestinian flag.

He looked stunned.

“Israel allows this?”

“Yes,” I answered. “People in Israel have freedom to express themselves.”

Again we passed Arab communities. Proper homes. Businesses. Cars. Mosques. Normal life.

Finally he asked the question that shattered everything he thought he knew.

“Where are the camps? Where are the tents?”

That moment said everything.

Because the image sold to the West is one of permanent starving misery created entirely by Israel. Yet here he was, with his own eyes, seeing Arab communities functioning openly inside Israel itself.

After a long silence, he said the words I will never forget:

“I now see those Palestinians are fucking liars.”

Within twenty-four hours his worldview collapsed.

Later we went to Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv. Arabs and Jews shopping together. Working together. Living together. No apartheid. No segregation. No fantasy world painted by activists who have never stepped foot in the country they condemn daily.

Today my son is pro-Israel. Maybe not as passionately as I am, but his eyes opened. The transformation cost him friendships because many people do not want truth. They want tribal identity.

But imagine if this experience was multiplied.

Imagine organized trips for students, journalists, influencers, professors, activists, and ordinary skeptics. Smooth security procedures. Honest guides. Casual dinners with Jews and Arabs together. Visits to Yad Vashem where survivors and volunteers tell family histories that cannot be erased by slogans. Meetings with young Israelis preparing for military service because they know their survival depends on it.

Take them to the beaches. Show them how close hostile borders are to ordinary civilian life. Let them sit in cafés. Let them hear Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, English all mixed together in one street. Let them see reality instead of propaganda.

Because seeing is believing.

The modern world is drowning in fake narratives, manipulated videos, edited clips, and emotional propaganda. Israel is losing the information war because lies spread faster than truth.

The answer is not another press release.

The answer is exposure to reality.

One person at a time.