Rashad has clashed with family about the US for as long as he can remember, defending America as a “force for good” when relatives railed against US military interventions.
When they complained that Washington pushed “liberal values” down Arab throats, Rashad replied that someone had to support human rights in an illiberal region. But “everything changed” after the October 7 attack on Israel, said the Lebanese-Saudi, as the US gave its staunch backing to the Jewish state’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza.
“That’s when I realised everything I’d been defending was a lie,” said the 26-year-old, who requested his surname be withheld. “America doesn’t care about human rights . . . Not only is it watching Israel commit genocide, it’s helping them do it. And then they have the audacity to turn around and lecture us about humanity.”