I will never forget the jolt I received on one of my first PR trips representing Israel. I entered the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, determined to carry out my task. Almost immediately I noticed a young woman holding a sign: “Jewish Lesbians For Hamas.” Initially, I was floored. I looked at her, and wondered to myself how one even begins a discourse with such a person? After all, Hamas seeks, as part of its political platform, to kill all Jews, no matter where they are; and Hamas hangs anyone they discover belonging to the LGBQT community. The truth is that in Gaza, even her hair color – pink and crew cut – would cause Hamas to place sanctions on her of kinds she could not possibly imagine.

The source of this erroneous perception begins when there is no knowledge of history, therefore no tools to judge the present. The outcome, then, is a warped, skewed opinion, and an individual open to manipulation….