When I teach kids online, to break the monotony and reward them for good work, I play a little game with them: I offer them colored stars. They pick the color they want, I “send” the star to them through the camera and they “catch” it in their hand. It's just goofy fun.

Lately, I’ve been asking some of the kids if they want to “send” their star to a kid somewhere else in the world. Last month, during Ramadan, I had class with one of my Saudi students, an 8-year-old boy named Ali. He is a special boy and one of my favourite students. With long, wild, curly hair and black-rimmed glasses that are too big for his face, he looks like a cross between a rock star and Woody Allen. He is a soft-spoken but very personable boy, with a highly developed sense of humor, who loves to play the piano and the violin.  

When we got to the moment of sending the star to another kid somewhere, Ali, after thinking about it for a moment, said, “I want to send my star to a kid in Palestine.”

The mood went from fun and lighthearted to heavy in an instant. I asked him what he knew about Palestine. “They’re dying, they’re all dying,” he said in a voice heavy with sorrow. There was no anger, no hatred in his voice for the perpetrators. He did not mention them, though he surely knows who they are. We both prayed together for the war to end.

Of course I never told him I am Jewish.

The littlest victims of this war are not only the 14,000 dead children, countless other dead children whose corpses haven’t been found or identified yet, permanently disabled children, traumatised children, orphaned children, or — even if the ceasefire happens today — children who will die soon because of disease, malnutrition, or other illnesses that won’t be treated because Israel has destroyed Gaza’s health care system. All of the world’s children are victims. They, especially kids who live in the region, are being exposed to horrific images and stories of this abominable massacre that they will never forget, inflicted on them by the so-called “Jewish State”.

Now: just try to imagine what these children’s attitudes are likely to be towards Jews when they’re grown up. And don’t be surprised, my Jewish friends, if in your or your children’s travels or interactions with people from other countries, y’all are met with unfriendliness simply because you are Jewish.

But don’t be so quick to label it “antisemitism”.

Header photo by Alexander Grey