Leaving the Cult of Zionism

I recently sat down with Jay Shapiro for a conversation on his podcast, Dilemma. Jay is a filmmaker and writer who hosts an important space for examining how systems shape human belief, looking closely at the ways societies rationalize harm and how individuals navigate moral complicity. His work brings an honest inquiry to complex questions of ideology, power, and ethics, and I recommend checking out his show.

Whenever someone who grew up inside this system speaks publicly about their process of unlearning, there is understandable pushback about why we should focus on the internal experience of the oppressor while bombs are falling on Palestinians. This work is not about personal validation, and it is not about centering an individual story for seeing what should be obvious. It is about service to the mission. Without understanding how these systems capture human minds and train people to override basic moral logic from childhood, we are guaranteed to repeat the exact same cycles. True resistance requires dismantling the machine at its root.

Genocide does not start in the halls of politics. It starts at the family dinner table with small silences, inherited beliefs, fear of abandonment, and the weaponization of existential trauma. We talk about the reality of growing up inside a West Bank settlement, and what happens when the total reality of the occupation finally breaks through the programming.

Walking away from that architecture comes with an immediate and heavy cost. It means facing nervous system collapse, the loss of family, community, and material security. But breaking through that fear is the only way to reach genuine sovereignty and human connection. Palestinian liberation and the internal work of deprogramming are completely intertwined. Both require confronting the root of control so we can finally break the cycle.