People often ask themselves how they would have acted during some of the darkest moments in history, like genocides or atrocities. It’s a common way to gauge our moral compass—would we have stood up, spoken out, or taken action? The answer can tell us a lot about what we’re willing to tolerate and where we draw the line.

As I watched horrifying scenes of Palestinians, some still hooked up to IVs, screaming in agony after an Israeli airstrike hit a tent hospital, setting them on fire, I couldn’t help but wonder: where is the “red line” in this genocide?

We’re now over a year into Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. So far, this brutal campaign has killed around 43,000 Palestinians and left much of Gaza uninhabitable. The violence, marked by relentless airstrikes, ground invasions, starvation tactics, and open support from the U.S., has escalated into a full-scale crisis.

Despite all this, many everyday Americans have a clear stance. A majority of likely voters want an immediate cease-fire and an end to U.S. arms shipments to Israel.

Israel’s violence has also spilled into Lebanon, where a recent airstrike killed at least 21 people. Despite the occasional “concern” from U.S. officials over civilian deaths, the U.S. continues to fund Israel’s aggression, with rumors even suggesting an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities may be on the horizon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials have made it clear they want a broader regional war. As Khury Petersen-Smith, a Middle East expert, recently wrote, “millions of lives throughout the region hang in the balance.”

Yet, even with massive Jewish-led protests against Israel’s actions across the U.S., and despite mounting pressure from uncommitted primary voters unhappy with the Biden administration’s support for the war, our government’s stance hasn’t changed. There’s even been an International Court of Justice ruling ordering Israel to stop committing acts recognizable as genocide in Gaza—but still, Congress continues to send billions of our tax dollars to fund Israel’s war machine.

It’s not that the American public isn’t speaking out; they are. Polls show a majority of voters want an end to this war and U.S. support for it. The problem is that lawmakers seem more interested in catering to big donors than listening to the people. AIPAC has funneled nearly $42 million into this election cycle, and the top 20 defense contractors have already spent around $23 million just in the past year alone. These groups are buying influence and steering U.S. policy in ways that ignore both voter wishes and basic human decency.

Still, there’s reason for hope.

In spite of all the money, power, and propaganda propping up Israel’s actions, grassroots movements like the Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and Rabbis for Ceasefire are making waves. They’re forcing Americans to confront our country’s complicity in genocide through mass mobilizations, direct actions, and shutdowns of roads, bridges, airports, and ports. As Mohammed Nabulsi of the Palestinian Youth Movement put it, these groups are shaking things up, pushing the American public to see the reality for what it is.

And it’s working. A majority of Americans now reject this war and oppose our government’s backing of it.

If you’re one of those people, if you’re in that majority, it’s time to turn our shared despair into action.

We need to fight to stop the flow of weapons to Israel. We need to push for an end to the occupation of Palestine and all other occupied territories around the world. And we must demand nothing less than full Palestinian self-determination and justice for the war crimes committed by Israel.

This isn’t just a moment to wonder what we would have done in the past. It’s about what we’re doing right now. Let’s make sure we’re on the right side of history.

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