Interrupting the Narrative on Palestine with Amanda Gelender

Amanda is a Jewish, queer, anti-zionist writer and poet. Her words have been clarifying, educational, and ultimately — liberating. Witnessing the genocide in Gaza, where the population is over 1 million children, I personally have unearthed a courage that I haven’t ever felt as a woman of color in this country. It’s felt scary at times, especially as people I had considered friends yelled at me and called me antisemitic. I am so grateful for voices like Amanda’s that remind me that it is right to align with oppressed people globally. 

Our conversation is — as Amanda encourages us all to be — unapologetic in telling the truth. Amanda’s linguistic clarity and pointedness are a powerful call for all of us to understand and speak what we know to be true, even — or perhaps especially — as it goes against the mainstream narrative. 

We talk about the weaponization of Jewish trauma, the whitewashing of colonialism, and the importance of listening to and learning from Palestinians. On that note, I wanted to share a couple resources recommended by Amanda: a lecture by Abdaljawad Omar and an essay by Mohammed El-Kurd.

Due to the deep-seated anti-Palestinian racism here in the west, we also recognize that sometimes it takes non-Palestinian voices like ours to bring people into the conversation.

So, welcome. I’m so glad you’re here and I hope you will enjoy the radically honest — Amanda.

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