A Letter to the Man Who Called Me A Fascist

Dear Sir,

You may not remember me. A while back, you attended a protest outside a venue on Broad Street, in Philadelphia. That venue was hosting a fundraising dinner gala for the FIDF, or Friends of the IDF. The FIDF is an organization that - among many other things - gives support to lone soldiers like myself. I assume you knew only that the event was pro-Israel. You arrived early, the event started at 6 PM sharp, and you were already waiting outside with signs and slogans when I arrived. You may not recall my arrival; it must have been a long and busy night for you as hundreds of event attendees came from all over Philadelphia and New Jersey. In case you have forgotten, I was the soldier. I came in my uniform as one of the representatives of the IDF. It was cold (I've adjusted very nicely to the weather in Israel and just can't seem to adjust back), and as I walked by you, clutching my mother's arm for warmth, you and I made eye contact. I saw you eyeing my outfit - my olive green uniform seemed to pop from among the sea of business attire. You glanced back up at my face, narrowed your eyes, and hissed, "Fascist."

The main reason why you should not call me a fascist is that I am not a fascist.

Another reason why you should not call me a fascist is that name-calling is mean. You looked at my uniform and decided that I was something that I'm not, and then made it offensively obvious what you thought. That's on par with me looking at your scraggly long hair and stylishly mismatched clothes and saying, "dirty hipster." Would you have liked that? I have to assume that you wouldn't. If you went to elementary school, and I'm going to guess that you did, as you seem to consider yourself well-educated enough to form an opinion about some pretty complicated political issues, then you too learned that name-calling is mean. We also learned that "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all." But we're not naive, there is a validity to protesting that which you think is wrong. And though we may disagree, if you think Israel is a fascist state, then by all means, protest and be heard. But don't undermine your own cause by stooping to the same level as a 5-year-old boy who pulls his classmate's hair and calls her stupid. 

Which brings me to the third reason you should not call me a fascist: I am a human being. Not only am I a human being, I am a teenage girl clutching my mother's arm for warmth. Does that scream "fascism" to you? Or beyond that, does it seem to you that calling me a fascist is going to bring about the desired results? You may take issue with Israel, but as a single solitary soldier, I lack much of the power that it would take to "Free Palestine," as your banner was calling for. And as a 19-year-old with relatively little self-defense experience, I lack many of the skills that it would take to fight you off if you turned out to be one of the more violent protesters. So not only did you not accomplish the goal you set out to accomplish when you hurled your insult at me, you also scared the **** out of me. It's not that you looked especially threatening, but I'm scared when the mailman comes and I'm home alone -- why would I not be scared of someone who so publicly disagrees with my very existence as a soldier? Your cause has been known for having some extremists, you can't take it to a personal level without giving me reason to worry. And I'm with my mother, God dammit! Sure, you may not have known she was my mother, but she was. She is. And while you may only be trying to make a political statement, a mother is a mother and will go into Mama Bear mode when you seem to pose a threat to her young. I don't want to get into politics, it's the simple humanity in this situation that bothers me. I may represent the State of Israel as soon as I button up my uniform. But being a soldier does not stop me from first and foremost being a human. When you call me a name, you're not offending Israel, you're offending me. And you don't know me at all. 

The last reason why you should not call me a fascist is that I'm not sure you know what fascism means. I looked it up to make sure that I did, and Dictionary.com defines it as a "governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism." Truthfully, I can't hold you responsible for this one. If I didn't know what a fascist was, I might also suspect that I am one. But in all seriousness, Israel has many faults, and I'm not blind to them. But some very basic facts about Israel make you seem a little uneducated, the first of which is that Israel is a democracy. That's rather undeniable, no? The convoluted voting process in Israel (that is, by the way, very stereotypically Israeli) makes having a dictator seem rather impossible. The second basic fact would be that if Israel tried to oppress all criticism, you would be jailed. So the fact that you can attend a protest and spout your beliefs against Israel, and the fact that you could also do so in Israel, is in and of itself in defiance of your "Israel is fascist" theory. Thirdly, Israel is not nearly organized enough to "regiment all industry, commerce, etc." Fourthly, though I couldn't expect you to know this, my unit in the army literally has the sole purpose of making sure Israel stays safe while Palestinian civilians get their non-fascism-compliant rights. In fact, some other units of the IDF laugh at my unit, calling us extreme leftists. But the very existence of my unit, which a quick Google search would bring to your attention, rules out the possibility of a fascist regime. 

In conclusion, I want you to know that you had your desired effect, if your desired effect was calling a teenage girl names and scaring her a bit. If you had higher aspirations, I'm afraid you were a bit off your game. Again, all politics aside, I applaud you for exercising your right to protest. History has proven that sometimes the simple act of demonstrating your beliefs can be enough to change the world. Far too many people today see something they think is wrong and choose to be a bystander. And I'm not going to tell you that you're on the fundamentally mistaken side of the conflict, because although I may believe that my cause is more humane and more well-researched than yours, objectively that may not be so. But I will tell you that if you want to be heard, you must learn how to advocate effectively and with a clear purpose. After all, you had far more than just your cause at stake. You risked your personal safety. You almost invoked an attack from Mama Bear. 

Sincerely,

Becca

P.S. I've attached some photos from said event to jog your memory as to who I am and/or for the enjoyment of the people who read my blog. I apologize that you do not make an appearance in any of my photos.