Over the last several years, being an Israel supporter in America has been a difficult position to sustain; The rising onslaught of far-left ideology seeping into the mainstream at times cast Jews, especially Zionists, as privileged and dangerous racists. Much has been written about this, but this post is not about that.

There’s a certain political cynicism that comes with being a Jew sometimes. Many people, myself included, sneered at the progressive movement’s rejection of Israel as old-fashioned anti-Semitism. We were angry, but unsurprised and uninspired to take action when movement after liberal movement — including national student unions, Black Lives Matter, and even certain elements of the Women’s March — took a bizarre dip into foreign policy and espoused hostile anti-Israel views.

Whether or not you believe in these movements, realize that we have let them shape us. Many millennial Zionists I know gobbled up Jon Stewart during the Bush era only to follow the social media zingers of Milo Yiannopoulos 8 years later. Shamefully, some of us voted for Trump, seeing him as the only recourse against an empowered leftist movement we felt threatened by. Did our values actually change in less than a decade, or did we let ourselves get too influenced by outside forces?

Make no mistake — both despite and because of Trump, America has been and is shifting to the left, and in large numbers. To be aligned with Trump during this time in American history, or even to be viewed as a non-actor, is to be left behind. Whether four or ten or twenty years from now, Americans will remember that some Jews stayed home, murmuring about foreign policy, while the rest of them were marching in the streets for righteous causes.

The events of Charlottesville, in which horrific anti-Semitism was depicted , cleared the skies for a bit. Left and even far-left “anti-racist” movements are now embracing Jews, even if only to issue an apology but no date change for a massive rally slated for Yom Kippur. This is a sharp departure from the events of the Chicago Dyke March just a month ago.

I truly believe that supporting Israel is not an illiberal cause. Fellow American Zionists, when the time next comes for us to support our neighbor who may be a Muslim, African American, woman, LGBT community member, Caucasian person, member of the press, military, politics or any other individual or group that’s being treated unfairly — WAKE THE FUCK UP AND GO.

I don’t care if you’re at a protest where a few or even more than a few people give you side-eye, call you names, threaten you, tell you that you don’t belong, or even if Linda Sarsour herself shows up and blames the next solar eclipse on Israeli occupation. Stand up for what you believe in, because you’re an American. Counter the hateful narratives by showing up and standing together. It will be remembered, and it will affect policy for years to come.