My original interest for coming here was really the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I was raised in a pretty left-wing culture, household, critical of the Israeli government and I still feel that way. I'm pro-Israel, I'm pro-Palestine and I feel I'm pretty "on the left" on that issue. But being here has shown me the value of being here and the value of talking to Israelis and learning about Israel and respecting Israel. And I think the biggest mistake of the Berkeley, pro-Palestinian stereotypical people is not wanting to engage with Israel, wanting to boycott Israel; don't visit Israel, don't talk to Israeli professors. I think being here has reinforced how much you can learn about a country even if you don't agree with the government on a particular thing. And the people - so many people in Israel have so many mixed, complicated views about the conflict. It's not like they all hate Arabs, or Palestinians.
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