1. My language has become less inflammatory. I know I won’t win any hearts and minds with words like ‘ZioNazis’, ‘baby killers’, ‘genocide lovers’, etc. I confess I now think I was contributing to the spread of hatred by using those terms. Even if my intention was to stop the loss of life.
  2. Before we started talking I was ready to believe any news that represented the Palestinians favorably and the Israelis unfavorably. I have been more careful about reacting to events when it’s not entirely clear what has just happened. For example I was immediately convinced Israel bombed a hospital and thought the idea that a Palestinian rocket misfired and hit a parking lot was ludicrous. Now am not so sure any more. In general I have also accepted that I simply don’t know many things. This has – in one or two cases – led me to become estranged from some pro-Palestinian voices who are still like the old me.
  3. I have questioned my own beliefs more and wondered they come from
  4. In general I am more careful about what to accept as fact, not just on this topic, though there are not many topics I follow that are as contentious as this one
  5. I stil make jokes about the Israeli army, I made one the other day (How do you stop 5 Israeli soldiers from going to a strip club? Throw them a Palestinian kid to fuck with.), but before I was ready to believe any accusation against the Israeli army at face value and would scoff at any positive news surrounding the Israeli army.
  6. I have been willing to listen to opinions that are diametrically opposed to my own. For example, with a lot of reluctance, I have listened to what ‘The son of Hamas’, a former Israeli secret agent, has had to say

    You will never see me with an Israeli lapel pin, but I am convinced more than ever that dialogue solves problems. Today I saw the title of one YouTube channel. The title was ‘dialogue works’ and I felt that.