There may come a point in life where you have to choose between the appearance of goodness and actual goodness. For me it was October 7th. My heritage plays a large role in why I have been vocal about antisemitism since then. But in fact, more fundamentally, it comes down to…

…seeing pure evil with my own eyes on that day and experiencing people around me at best rationalise it, at worst celebrate it. I am a raised Catholic and there was never any significant danger for me personally. I am not motivated by self interest. Betraying my heritage…

…was an option, the only detriment being the mental burden it would have wrought on my psyche. Betraying my Jewish friends was an option, sadly one that too many Jews have experienced. Ultimately I made a split decision on October 7th. To be a good person rather than…

…uphold the appearance of it by nodding along at the self-righteous pontifications on the apparent nuances of sadistic barbarity. Being a good person involves having courage and speaking up in the face of evil. When you wake up one Saturday morning to scenes of a massacre…

….and people globally rejoice in it, you know in your own heart that you are witnessing sheer evil. When every institution you ever trusted condones and infantilises this, you know in your own heart that this is the same cowardice that has enabled evil throughout history:

the atrocities of the wicked validated by the shrugs of the weak. This is an appeal for courage. Be brave enough to be truly good, rather than maintaining an appearance of it. That appearance you can maintain in public will not fool your own eyes when you look in the mirror.