I [30F] told my friend [31F] that I disagreed with her on the Israel-Palestine conflict and she won't talk to me anymore.

So as we all know there was an 11 day war between Israel and Gaza that recently ended in a ceasefire. Before this recent uprising hit the media, I actually knew nothing concrete about I/P. I knew some vague details but that was it. I have a pretty good friend - well, I thought she was - who is Jewish and extremely supportive of Israel in all circumstances.

Throughout this recent conflict she would send long messages venting to me/our other friend about how badly Israel was being portrayed in the media, how the world was siding with terrorists, how Israel has a right to defend itself etc. I gave her the benefit of the doubt at first and heard her out because I know this is an extremely sensitive topic, especially for Jewish people. The thing is, I have Muslim family myself (I'm not Muslim though) so I also hear their side of the story. My Jewish friend kept asking me to educate myself on the conflict because "things were getting bad" for Jewish people. So I did.

I read tons of essays and listened to podcasts from both Israeli and Palestinian perspectives. I read both Israeli and Palestinian forums. I tried to find as objective sources as I could as well, that were neutral in the conflict. I spent hours upon hours researching because I wanted to understand what the whole conflict was about and what my views on it were. Eventually, I felt that I had learned enough to decide my stance, but I didn't say anything to my friend about it because I didn't want to upset her.

She eventually went on another rant again where she was essentially justifying the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians and just posting a ton of Israeli propaganda. I strongly believe both sides of people are suffering, but I knew that a lot of what she was sending me was dehumanizing Palestinians and an oppressed region. I was so anxious to do this because she can be a very aggressive person, but I finally told her I didn't agree with her on I/P. I simply said "I did my research and I don't think we're going to agree, so I can't really talk to you about this because it will potentially lead to an argument".

Well, she ignored that message and hasn't spoken to me since. Normally we talk every other day or so. She has posted more pro-Israel stuff on social media, but that's it. Radio silence from her.

I can't help but feel so shitty that she won't even validate another point of view from a friend. Especially when I have Muslim family....it was offensive to me when she was justifying all those Palestinian deaths. I can't understand how I deserve this silent treatment when all I did was say I have a different POV.

Is it worth trying to repair this friendship? Is this even a friend?

tl;dr: I told my pro Israel friend that I disagreed with her on the I/P conflict and she won't talk to me anymore. That's all I said and she's giving me the silent treatment. Is it worth repairing this friendship?

Submitted May 23, 2021 at 01:06PM by marshmallowmoonlight https://ift.tt/3ywKTUj