TL;DR: An essential read. I can not recommend this more highly. I wish everyone read this. If you can listen to the audiobook, do, the emotion that Sim reads it with enhanced it even further for me.

Now for my longer reflection/emotional yapping.

This book broke my heart (obviously), but it also healed it. I have been pro-palestine since I first became aware of inconsistencies between what I was told as a evangelical/white/US-raised child and what I was observing as a deconstructed/still-white/Australian adult. That sentiment grew out of a core belief of "genocide bad" that in turn was built from an obsession with holocaust history/stories as a child. I am exactly the person who internalised the wrong (right) message when viewing this content - that genocide is the worst of humans and we have a responsibility to stop it if ever it presents again. Well wasn't I absolutely mindfucked when I realised that those same people that taught me the word genocide were COMMITTING ONE.

Since October 7th I have mostly felt like I am screaming into the void trying to get other people to care, and flip-flopping between feelings of hope and feelings of despair. This book, felt like having every feeling, worry, insecurity, and uncertainty lovingly validated. It provided a perfect balance of research with opinion, and was easy to engage with. One of the biggest barriers can sometimes be feeling like you can't go toe-to-toe with zionists on the facts, and after reading this I feel both more able to do that, and also more confident simply holding the position of "genocide bad". This is exactly how I have always felt, thank you for articulating this so comprehensively and beautifully, Sim Kern.

From the bottom of my heart, Free Free Palestine and fuck empire everywhere, all the time.