This a message to my Arab friends and followers who accuse me of being a ”traitor,” a ”sell-out,” who tell me that I am ”a shame to Arabs” and that I should change my name because of my views on Islam and Israel/Palestine. Just because I am an Arab, it does not mean that Jews should become less human to me. Just because my name is Ahmed, it does not mean that I should be celebrating Jewish blood spilled in Israel. Just because I am an Arab, it does not mean I am to support Arabian warfare unconditionally. Just because my name is Ahmed, it does not mean that my mind and tongue are devoted to Mohammed’s 7th-century battlefields and books. Just because I am an Arab, it does not mean that I cannot choose love and peace over hate and bloodshed. Just because my name is Ahmed, it does not mean that my mind should be programmed to think that Jews are crooks and Muslims are saints. I am proud of who I am. But I’m not proud of my culture. I’m not proud of Islam. I am not proud of the Arab world, but that doesn’t mean that I hate them. That means I want them to do better, to choose peace instead of violence, to choose science instead of ignorance, to choose secularism instead of dogma. And I will die on that hill.