Like many of you, I’ve been watching with interest as this influencer, Clavicular, has made a tour of Israel after previously being a public antisemite, and he has really been seeing a lot of the positive aspects of the country. Unfortunately, his visit took a detour—some would say a wrong turn—when he refused to apologize for singing along to “Heil Hitler” and instead put the interviewer on the hot seat, asking him to apologize for even asking the question. He seemed to imply that since Israel is so unpopular, he is doing the country a big favor by showing up and demonstrating that it is safe to visit. I’ll tell you what impressed me about that interview.

Clavicular tried to claim that when he sang “Heil Hitler” in a nightclub, he was kicked out. As the interviewer pointed out, it wasn’t long ago that the owner called him to apologize profusely. The interviewer said, “That’s not true, that’s a lie,” and double-checked the facts. He caught Clavicular in a big lie, and honestly, as a Jew, I was so proud of that moment.

You know, after October 7th and after years of trying to prove that we are the innocent ones here—that we are the ones who were attacked, the ones defending ourselves, and not committing any sort of genocide—it feels like an endless loop. Every time self-defense is asserted, someone says, “Oh, you’re getting paid $700 or $7,000 by the Israeli government for Hasbara.” It’s an endless loop that justifies, in the eyes of antisemites, real-world violence, harassment, discrimination, and bigotry.

It was so nice to see an Israeli simply stand up and say, “I’m calling you out on your BS, and you’re lying. We don’t need your validation to have self-respect.” After watching Israelis fawn over “Clav” for a few days, really reveling in his attention, I truly felt a surge of Jewish pride at that moment and wanted to share that. Have a great day.