Meet David.

David Schwartz is a student at Georgetown University and originally from Long Island, NY. He is a member of the Viva Palestina aid convoy and one of a growing number of Jewish people in the West who are challenging Zionism and taking action in solidarity with Palestinians. We sat down and talked for a bit at our hotel in Cairo. Thought it's not necessarily evident in transcribed text, the conversation was laden with emotion. David spoke slowly, deliberately, sincerely and righteously. At times his voice wavered, but his conviction seemed to grow by the minute.

Why did you decide to come to Gaza?

I decided to come to Gaza because Gaza is currently under siege. I’m anti-Israel. I want to make a statement to my government and Israel that the siege is wrong and immoral, and what came before the siege is wrong and immoral. Palestinians deserve human rights just like any other people.

How did you come to these conclusions?

Well, the first time I went to the West Bank, I went on a youth exchange and learned about the history of Israel. And I came home and did some research. And what I learned about Israel led me to new conclusions: that what Israel has done for the past sixty years is wrong. That they run an apartheid state, and that it needs to change.

Can you talk about what it means to draw these conclusions as someone who is Jewish?

As a Jew, it is hard to reconcile my identity as a Jew with the Jewish state. But I think the most important thing about being a Jew is to do the right thing--as is the most important thing in any religion. And as a Jew, I am defending the utmost ideals of Judaism by supporting the Palestinians. Because no Jew should hand over their ideals to any political system, any person, anything, rather than their G-d.

You have Israeli family.

Yeah, they’re very progressive Jews. So they do think the occupation is wrong. They think that many wrongs have been done to the Palestinians. But they also think that wrongs have been done to them in the Palestinian struggle for justice. But they understand that things have to change. The whole world is putting pressure on Israel. They can no longer stand alone with just the United States. Because even the United States is changing. We just elected Barack Hussein Obama. And my family thinks that if not for the Palestinians, then at least for their own sake, things have to change.

Can you talk about your plans for the convoy to Gaza and after?

I plan--no, I don’t plan--we will go to Gaza. We will deliver this aid. We will see what life is like for Palestinians in Gaza. We will achieve the mission of Viva Palestina US and Viva Palestina UK. And when I go back home, I will become more active in my chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. I will tell other people about what’s going on. And I will try to get more supporters. We will march on the Israeli Embassy if we have to, because we’re right there in D.C.!

The process that you underwent and continue to undergo, as a Jewish person who was raised as a supporter of Israel, and who concluded that he should side with the Palestinians, I think that a growing number of Jews are having the same experience. What would you say to other Jews who are in the place now where you were upon first questioning Israel?

It’s hard to reconcile being a member of the Jewish faith and also being a part of the Palestinian cause--for justice for freedom. But the Israeli state doesn’t represent Judaism, its highest ideals, anything of Judaism. We have to separate Judaism from Israel. And once people see that Judaism does not equal Israel, it will be easier to open their eyes to the fact that Israel is an occupying power on the wrong side of justice. Because that association of Judaism with Israel--that is all that holds this together.