I’ve never before shared this piece of my personal history on social media, but current headlines about Israel’s war of vengeance on Gaza has pressed me to break my silence.

In 1980, I married an American citizen who was born in Beirut. We lived in San Francisco, enjoying a terrifically fun, loving, and educational life. Educational for me, because I grew up in the Midwest, where Arab exchange students were a thing to be feared while I walked the campus at Michigan State. Or so I’d been told....