Anti-Zionist Lunch

Today, my friend Neel and I went to a local vegetarian restaurant/cafe for lunch. We happened to overhear a kinda crazy old woman discussing/arguing with a tall young man about Israel's most recent attack on Palestine. The woman was attempting to convince the man that Israel's tactics were overly harsh. The young man did not dispute the harshness of Israel's bombardment of Gaza but kept making statements insinuating that Palestinians bring it upon themselves and that somehow Israel was apparently incapable of inflicting unrighteous violence because Jews have been persecuted for ages.
I couldn't resist and when he repeated his line "Why would Israel attack Gaza?!", I harshly told him, "Because Israel carries out a policy of genocide against Palestine!" I don't think he expected to be confronted by the calm White guy in business casual (although I was sitting with a suspiciously Brown young man). It went on for a bit with the young Zionist basically telling us all that he did not believe any fact we gave him about Israel. Then he left.
After he left, to my surprise, the cafe's employee launched into an eloquent anti-Zionist rant. He then apologized for being so outspoken but we assured him there was no need to apologize. From then until we exited the establishment, the crazy old woman and the employee talked anti-Zionism to every customer that came in... And they all agreed! It filled me with some optimism.

(I don't name the restaurant/cafe in this post to spare them the ire of Zionist fuckers like the ones who tormented Rainbow Grocery with death threats but I will continue to hype them up to friends and on this blog.)
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With all the pro-Zionist misinformation spewed out in the US media, it is no surprise that people believe Israel can do no wrong and Hamas are to blame for all ills.
Well, check this out:
Despite an international blockade and opprobrium from the Israeli leadership, Hamas repeatedly signalled its willigness to accept a two-state settlement. It imposed a unilateral ceasefire on its own cadre, refusing to be drawn by repeated Israeli provocations. A crippling blockade, habitual violence and naked attempts to destabilise the elected government did not deter Hamas from this course. Only this year, after a US-Israeli sponsored armed coup attempt in Gaza, a successful putsch in the West Bank, and repeated incursions by the IDF, Hamas offered Israel a ten year ceasefire if it could abide by the terms of a two-state settlement: this offer, just like every other peace overture, was contemptuously dismissed. And now, most recently, a ceasefire agreed on in June has been flagrantly overturned by Israel. No one noticed, at least no one who writes for a newspaper. The myth that Hamas ended the truce as just the latest example of its innate rejectionism now underwrites a depraved assault which has killed 300 people and is about to become a ground invasion. Israel's intransigence, brutality, recklessness, refusal to work with anyone or negotiate in any meaningful way, will continue to be projected onto its opponents for as long as Israel has the superior propaganda resources, and for as long as the colonial trope of 'native fanaticism' governs discursive responses to occupation and resistance.