What compelled you to come, especially as someone who's not Jewish or Israeli?

Well, it's a, it's a little bit of a story, so should I just launch right into it? [chuckles] Um, uh, my, uh, my wife and our two daughters were heading to a wedding, and we were driving to that destination, and we started hearing on the news that, you know, what was happening in Israel, and that there were, you know, there was a music festival and that there were, uh, individuals who had passed away at the hands of, um, some sort of incursion on the border with Gaza.

Um, I knew absolutely nothing about Israel or Gaza or the West Bank or any of these regions.

Uh, and, and as it began to unfold, I, I looked over at Erica, my wife, and I said, "There is no way I am going to Israel." And to kind of back up, we had planned to go with her cousin and his wife to Israel, um, in May of, uh, it would have been 2024.

And I said, "No way, I'm not going." Because I, I think I've shared with you, Michael, that I had some, uh, very ill feelings about Israel, um, that had kind of built up over the years.

Um, [lip smack] and I don't know exactly where those feelings had come from, but, you know, at some point, my wife and, you know, uh, her cousin had convinced me, "You know, you need to come see for yourself Israel." And then this happens five months, six months before, and I said, "No way am I going.

Uh-uh.

What can you share about what you saw and experienced there?