I got up a few minutes before 0400 this morning to watch the American presidential debate. Things have changed a great deal since the previous campaign, because I can’t recall anything even close in verbal viciousness from the candidates themselves. Biden called Trump a clown, a racist, and a liar, and told him to shut up. Trump, for his part, continually interrupted Biden and talked over him, somewhat like political discussions on Israeli TV.
More immediately relevant for Israel is what PM Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly (text and video) in a ten-minute pre-recorded speech yesterday. There was a dramatic disclosure of the location of a Hezbollah missile depot or factory (in pictures and with GPS coordinates) in the middle of a civilian neighborhood in Beirut, next door to a gas company’s tanks. A similar installation in southern Lebanon exploded just last week, following the massive Beirut explosion, which was caused by explosives-grade ammonium nitrate kept at the port by Hezbollah. Bibi suggested that the folks who live around there might try to pressure Hezbollah to dismantle it before it, too, blows up. Unfortunately, nobody in Lebanon can stand up to Hezbollah.
Lebanon is a tragedy. It’s suffering from a rapidly growing outbreak of Coronavirus, although it is still behind Israel in serious cases and deaths. Its economy was already in flames before the explosion that destroyed its largest port, most of its grain reserves, and a third of its capital. Like Covid-19, Hezbollah is a parasitic organism that, in this case, is killing its host.
This parasite, however is controlled and nourished from Iran, as Bibi noted in his speech. It is the perfect remote weapon. By embedding its weapons in the midst of the population, the Iranian regime protects them from the IDF – and unlike Hamas, which also uses human shields, it doesn’t even have to endanger its own population to do so!
The other important thing that Bibi said was that in our estimation – and Israel’s intelligence in this area is quite good – Iran is expected to have enough enriched uranium in “a few” months to build not one, but two, nuclear bombs. Iran has been working on the rest of the technology for bombs for years, as well as missiles capable of delivering them. This is a real threat that must not be minimized, and – I must remind those who so strongly criticize Netanyahu – he has focused on this danger. We will not be taken by surprise by Iran.
The US under the Trump Administration has proven to be a valuable ally against Iran. By ending the JCPOA and re-imposing American sanctions, Trump has increased the pressure on Iran and made it harder for the regime to fund Hezbollah. Trump’s support helped enable the normalization agreements with the UAE and Bahrain, and perhaps others yet to come. Trump approved the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s “Quds Force.” Soleimani controlled Iranian operations around the world, and especially in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, as well as being active in suppressing internal dissent. His loss was very painful to the regime.
When I watched the debate this morning, with its insults and posturing, I wondered if the Iranian leaders were watching as well. I am sure they were. And I am sure that they are rooting for Biden, who has promised to re-enter the JCPOA, reduce sanctions, and engage in further negotiations with Iran (which made fools of Obama’s negotiating team). Worse, Biden will likely pick up some of the same advisors that guided the Obama Administration. Wendy Sherman and Jake Sullivan may be back talking to the Iranians. And of course Biden supports the failed two-state solution with the Palestinians, which guarantees that there will be no progress and continued terrorism on that front.
But maybe the Iranians are making a mistake. On the one hand, a Trump victory will probably see a continuation of the policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran. In the long term, it may succeed in weakening the regime enough that it can be persuaded to back down on its nuclear weapons project. Israel will continue monitoring Iranian activities and working with its new Arab allies to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran.
On the other hand, if Biden wins it may become clear to Israeli planners that there is a very short window of opportunity to pursue a military solution to the problem of Iranian nukes. Once Biden comes in, any Israeli actions would be off the table, just like in the days of the Obama Administration.
So either Trump wins, or the Iranians should expect a very warm November or December.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Joe Biden, as we see him today, projects the image of a
twinkly-eyed grandfather. Which is a nice cover for the brain
damage, apparent in the nonsensical word jumble issuing forth from his
mouth. Everyone, after all, has senior moments, and loses words from time to
time. With Joe Biden, of course, the senior moments are not occasional. It’s
his regular state of being. It’s more instructive, perhaps, to look at who he
was when he was young and vital.
Looking at old clips of Joe Biden, what comes across is
someone who was/is not a very nice man. Lacking original thoughts of his own, Joe
Biden stole the thoughts of others and claimed them as his own. When caught out,
he said he forgot to attribute the quote just the once, but the fact is the
thievery, the stealing of other statesmen’s words, was systematic. You can see
it in this footage from Dinesh D’Souza:
Even when Joe Biden was capable of stringing words together
so that they made sense, he stole them from other people. Because he didn’t
care whom he stepped on to get ahead. Abuse of power is/was the only game Joe
Biden knows how to play. Especially, it seems, when it comes to Israel.
Witness the famous confrontation between then Senator
Joe Biden and Menachem Begin on June 22, 1982. Biden confronted Israeli
Prime Minister Menachem Begin in his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations
committee, threatening to cut off aid to Israel. Begin saw Biden for the snake
he is and told him off but good:
“Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not
work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of
civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas
chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our
country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our
principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them
again, with or without your aid.”
More recently, Joe Biden made a public statement to the
press upbraiding Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu because SHOCK AND
HORROR: it had been announced that 1600 new homes were to be built for Jews to
live in, in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem.
“I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to
advance planning for new housing units,” Biden said in a statement issued after
he arrived 90 minutes late for a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
He said the blueprint for Ramat Shlomo, a religious Jewish
settlement in an area of the West Bank annexed to Jerusalem by Israel,
“undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive
discussions that I’ve had here in Israel.”
But Ramat Shlomo is not a settlement. And it’s not in the
West Bank. It’s an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem. Then
Israeli Housing Minister Eli Yishai received the blame for Joe Biden’s
upbraiding of Netanyahu. But Biden wouldn’t have heard about the housing
project if it hadn’t been for far-left anti-Israel third column, Peace Now. It
was Peace Now that revealed that a Jerusalem municipal committee had approved
plans for 1600 housing units. That revelation was made just as Biden was
arriving in Israel for talks.
Peace Now made it sound as if Israel were breaking the terms
of the building freeze in Judea and Samaria, a measure insisted upon by the
Obama administration, an administration that was never friendly to the idea of
Jews building homes in Jewish indigenous territory. But Ramat Shlomo
is in Jerusalem, not in Judea and Samaria, where Obama had insisted on a
building freeze in preparation for peace talks that never happened.
Joe Biden didn’t have to listen to Peace Now, or accept that
Israel was guilty of wrongdoing. He could have checked the facts. But just as
Joe Biden has no original thoughts of his own and steals the words of
statesmen, claiming them as his own, Joe Biden doesn’t care about right and
wrong when it comes to Israel.
If Joe Biden cared about the truth, about Israel, he would
have checked the facts. He would have discovered that the project approved was for 1600 housing
units to be built in a Jewish Jerusalem neighborhood at some distant point in
the future. But Joe Biden didn’t check the facts. Instead, Joe Biden chose to
see Israel as the bad guy. Because Biden is a bad guy.
Which is part of why Joe Biden was Obama’s vice president.
Biden’s history with Begin made Biden fit to be part of the Obama administration. Cruel
to Israel? Okay, you can play with us.
And one need not doubt whether or not Hillary Clinton was in
on the fun. Back then, in 2010, when Biden expressed his public disapproval
with Netanyahu at Jews daring to build homes in Jerusalem, Hillary Clinton scolded Netanyahu in a phone
conversation, and in public, underscored Biden’s words with her own, “The
announcement of the settlements the very day that the vice president was there
was insulting."
Which of course, is a lie. There was no insult, no announcement of
settlements. There were no new homes being built in Judea and Samaria. Many of my friends, in fact, lost
money on stalled construction of homes in settlements in Judea and Samaria.
They couldn’t add a bathroom or a garage to an existing home, thanks to
Netanyahu’s attempts to appease an unappeasable Obama and his henchmen, Joe Biden
and Hillary Clinton.
These are not nice people and there is every reason to
believe that they hate Israel, and that includes Kamala Harris and anyone else who is working with them. So don’t be fooled by the twinkly-eyed, white-haired grandfather making adorable gaffes from his basement. Joe Biden is
not a nice person and he never was. Not when he was stealing others' words, and not when he was upbraiding two Israeli prime ministers.
Joe Biden doesn't like Israel. He doesn't think Jews have a right to build homes in or live in Jerusalem. He plays dirty with people and with words and he definitely plays dirty with Israel. So if you care about fair play and you love Israel, you most definitely should not vote for Joe Biden.
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This morning (Wednesday) Israel’s Health Ministry announced that in the past 24 hours there were 6,861 new cases of Covid-19 detected in 59,169 tests, an 11.5% positive ratio. This ratio has been steadily increasing, which is an indication of the explosive spread of the disease.
This is the worst ever for Israel, which has had the greatest average number of new cases per day per million population in the world for several weeks now. The Health Ministry’s “point man” on Corona, Dr. Ronni Gamzu, predicted that within a week the number of serious cases that require hospitalization will exceed the capacity of the system. When that happens, the system will stretch a bit. One hospital converted a parking garage into a Corona facility in a remarkably short time; the IDF is setting up field hospitals. But if the numbers continue to increase, soon there will be no more flexibility. Doctors will have to decide whom to treat and whom not. People will die who could have been saved.
Last week Israel began a second partial lockdown. Its effect will not be felt for another week, but it’s doubtful – based on the various loopholes left in it for political reasons and a general lack of observance of the rules – that it will be enough to reduce the spread of the disease significantly.
There is a lack of good information available about how to reduce the number of infections, but it seems clear that crowds are bad, crowds indoors are worse, and masks – if properly worn – help, especially if both the infectious person and the one at risk wear them. It also seems that the amount of virus that a person picks up can affect whether they will be infected and how seriously; so the amount of time spent in a dangerous situation is important.
The strategy (as it appears today) of the Health Ministry is to apply restrictions to reduce the daily number of new cases to the point that it will be possible to track the contacts of each infected person, test them, and quarantine anyone who is positive or who has had direct contact with someone who tests positive. That is called “breaking the chain of infection.” But that can only happen if the number of new cases is manageable. Once that is achieved, it should be possible to gradually release the restrictions and return the society to normal without causing a new spike in infections. Estimates of how low it must go vary widely, between 100 and 1000 new cases per day.
The objective in applying restrictions is to restrict those behaviors that facilitate the spread of the virus as much as possible, while doing the smallest possible damage to the economy. And here we run into the problems of politics and attitudes.
Yesterday and today the “Corona Cabinet” – a committee of government ministers from relevant ministries – has been discussing the tightening of restrictions that will be needed. One of the biggest conflicts concerns two activities which involve large crowds, including numerous people without masks who do not observe “social distancing,” and which have zero impact on the economy. It would seem obvious that these would be the first to be restricted.
But the activities we are talking about are the weekly raucous, theatrical, and sometimes obscene demonstrations outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, and his home in Caesarea; and the coming synagogue services on Yom Kippur.
The Left believes that there is nothing more sacred than the right to demonstrate. An attempt to shut down or even limit the numbers of demonstrators is met with fury on the street and from opposition politicians. It’s claimed that would “destroy democracy.” The Attorney General, who in Israel is more a functionary of the legal establishment and the Supreme Court than of the government, says that the government would have to get the Knesset to pass a special law if it wants to stop demonstrations.
Observant Jewish Israelis, of course, insist that it is unacceptable to forbid Jewish prayer in a Jewish state. And both sides are right, but they are both wrong in their insistence that they get their way in the face of the fact that both demonstrations and packed synagogues are known to effectively spread the virus.
The tracking mechanism of the Internal Security Service (Shabak) that is being used to track exposure and locate people violating quarantine is ineffective in these cases, since both demonstrators – just for that reason – and synagogue-goers leave their cellphones at home.
The government could not stand against the pressure, so it punted and appointed a “professional” committee to come up with limitations on demonstrations and public prayer that would allow both to continue. Unfortunately, these rules will be broken, because a large segment of each group does not respect any rules that come from the government. The police are outnumbered, and even though they can impose fines, have a hard time enforcing rules – and the more complicated they are, the harder it is.
Much of the Haredi educational system is operating, including schools for children and yeshivot and kollelim for adults, despite the closings decreed in “red zones.” Limits on the number of congregants in synagogues were widely broken during Rosh Hashana. Dozens of anti-Bibi and anti-lockdown protestors set up tables in front of the PM’s residence and had a festive meal. Over the weekend, a large group held what was essentially a beach party, allegedly under the rules permitting “demonstrations.”
In the Arab towns on both sides of the Green Line, the problem has been massive weddings, which sometimes go on for several days with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of participants. Mayors of Israeli Arab towns imposed nighttime curfews, which may have helped, although weddings are then sometimes held during the day.
In anything less than a Chinese-style totalitarian system, laws are upheld primarily by the willingness of citizens to obey them, with enforcement only needed for egregious violators. That mechanism is breaking down in Israel. A recent survey showed that 68% did not trust PM Netanyahu to manage the response to the virus, and 41% did not trust Dr. Gamzu. And Israelis tend to ignore people and rules that they don’t respect.
This is literally a question of life and death, both for Israelis and for their economy. A two-or-three week lockdown is bad enough, but two or three months would be intolerable. Either we get a handle on this epidemic, or we will be facing the choice between economic disaster or hundreds of deaths every day (today there were 31). Or if we are indecisive enough, maybe we’ll get both.
What needs to happen is that the government has to make simple rules, stick to them, and enforce them with severe penalties. No demonstrations, period. Close the synagogues, period. No weddings, period. And the people, Arabs and Jews both, need to follow the rules. In a few weeks, we can break the back of the epidemic, and then return to something closer to normalcy.
Continuing to take two steps forward and three steps back as we’ve been doing will only earn us a bunch of funerals – and no economy, either.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court justice, died on Rosh
Hashanah. What gets lost in the sauce, in all the coverage of the more “Jewy” aspects
of RBG’s passing, is the fact that it was also Shabbat, since the first day of
Rosh Hashanah this year fell on the Jewish Sabbath. It’s understandable that
people give more import, emotionally, to Rosh Hashanah, which, after all, is
one of what we call the "High Holidays." But the fact is that Shabbat actually
takes precedence over Rosh Hashanah, which is why Orthodox Jews don’t blow the
shofar on Rosh Hashanah when it coincides with the Jewish Sabbath, because it is forbidden to carry items from place to place on Shabbat. None of this stood in the way, however, of several prominent Jews marking RBG’s death
by blowing the shofar on Shabbat Rosh Hashanah.
Rabbi Matt Soffer, of Judea Reform Congregation in Durham,
North Carolina, heard the news Bader Ginsburg's death on Friday night. “The news brought me to my
knees and I wept,” said Soffer, who determined to find a way to commemorate his
icon, who according to the JTA,
“had come to represent the liberal American feminist spirit for so many.”
From the JTA:
By the time Soffer signed on for
services on Saturday morning, he had resolved to address Ginsburg’s death with
his community. He did so by revising not the words he had prepared or the
prayers he would lead, but by tweaking a core tradition of the High Holidays:
the shofar blasts.
Just as the Supreme Court has nine
members, one of the shofar blasts, teruah, has nine short notes. Soffer halted
after just eight to symbolize the fact that the court has just lost a member
who made it complete and, he said, “to honor the speechlessness of our communal
grief.”
Actor Mandy Patinkin, who not so long ago made it onto my Comprehensive
List of Antisemitic Celebrities, also blew the shofar, this time to underscore RBG’s
deathbed wish, dictated to granddaughter Clara Spera: "My most fervent
wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."
Thus it was that Patinkin
blew the shofar on MSNBC on Shabbat Rosh Hashanah. “And I want her wish to
be heard, so I will blow the shofar for her,” said Patinkin with a lot of put-on pomp and circumstance, blowing a pretend
tekiyah gedolah as a sort of dog
whistle to Jewish Democrats. “And so now her wish will be heard,” announced the
BDS-supporting anti-Trump actor, “and let it be heard throughout the land.”
11-year-old Micah Blay was driven by his mom Dana Marlowe from their
home in a Maryland suburb (on Shabbat Rosh Hashanah) to blow the shofar for 250 people
outside the Supreme Court, in Washington, D.C., which he said was, “definitely
like kind of scary.”
“[We] were literally dipping
ceremonial apples into honey” at the start of the Rosh Hashanah holiday “when
my phone started blowing up” with messages.
Marlowe tweeted that she was
“devastated” to hear of Ginsburg’s passing and decided immediately to make a
pilgrimage to the Supreme Court the following day, the first day of Rosh
Hashanah.
“It was shock and heartbreak and I
couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Micah added that the family was
“doing the right thing” in deciding to spend one day of Rosh Hashanah in front
of the Supreme Court honoring “a great person” like Ginsburg.
The blowing of the shofar at this time of year calls Jews to
repentance. What is repentance? It is being sorry for sinning, and having done something
contrary to Torah law, resolving not to do it again.
Everyone has their own way of doing things, honoring the people they admire, and making a point about the things they
believe. But I wonder if these people realize how insensitive is this act, the act of blowing a shofar on Shabbat, to their coreligionists, those still faithful to Torah precepts upheld for thousands of years. I wonder how “liberal” it can be to cause
so great an offense to the sensibilities of the Orthodox who watch on in dismay
at the seeming disregard for God’s Torah without the least little care or
concern for their beliefs, and the hurt these actions cause.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a giant by any measure. But it does no credit to RBG,
no honor to her Jewishness, to expropriate a religious vessel and to use it in an
inappropriate way to mark her passing. My hope in writing this here is not to
shame anyone, God forbid, but in hopes that the shofar not be abused this way
in future.
Gmar Chatima Tova. May you be
inscribed for good.
UPDATE: A reader pointed out that the reason we don't blow the shofar on Shabbat is because it is forbidden to carry the item to the synagogue, similar to the reason we don't use the lulav and etrog on Shabbat Sukkot. The text has been updated to reflect this important correction.
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The most interesting thing about the normalization agreements that Israel signed with the UAE and Bahrain is not what is in the written agreements, which are sparse on detail. It is not even the speculation about the unpublicized understandings about such things as F-35s and for how long the extension of Israeli law over parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley will be delayed. It is, rather, one specific item that is not in them: there is no explicit mention of a “two-state solution” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Indeed, the agreements don’t mention borders, Jerusalem, settlements, or refugees, which always appear in such texts. One commentator even said that it seems that these Arabs are “less pro-Palestinian than the Europeans,” who always mention these things in their pronouncements about the conflict.
Here is all the UAE agreement says about the Palestinians:
Recalling the reception held on January 28, 2020, at which President Trump presented his Vision for Peace, and committing to continuing their efforts to achieve a just, comprehensive, realistic and enduring solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Recalling the Treaties of Peace between the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt and between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and committed to working together to realize a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that meets the legitimate needs and aspirations of both peoples, and to advance comprehensive Middle East peace, stability and prosperity;
The agreement with Bahrain is even more vague, leaving out the reference to other treaties. So no wonder the PLO reaction was to declare a “day of rage,” while Hamas attacked the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon with rockets during the signing ceremony!
Why is this important? We need to keep in mind the Palestinian interpretation of “two-state solution,” a temporary condition in which a sovereign “Palestine” from which all Jews have been expelled exists next door to an “Israel” which must agree to absorb millions of Arab “refugees.” Unification as an Arab-majority state would soon follow.
Although some left-wing Israelis have endorsed a two-state solution, they generally accept the “two states for two peoples” paradigm, which leaves room for a Jewish state. But no Palestinian leader has ever countenanced such a thing, even arguing that there is no such thing as a Jewish people, and so no Jewish right of self-determination.
This systematic ambiguity has led some to say that the conflict is easy to settle; it’s only necessary to work out the details of a two-state deal that both sides would accept. But of course the sticking point comes down to whether there will be a Jewish state or not. That isn’t a detail, and it’s not something that can be compromised.
Although Israelis have come to understand this, Americans have almost always seemed to miss it. The Clinton and Obama administrations beat their heads against the wall trying to reconcile the directly contradictory positions. Left-leaning organizations like J Street and the Reform Movement continue to call for a two-state solution, not understanding – or maybe understanding but not caring – that the Palestinian version of two states implies that neither state will be Jewish.
The breakthrough represented by Trump’s “Deal of the Century” (DOC) was to stop trying to find a way to meet Palestinian demands without endangering Israel, an impossible task. Rather, the DOC includes a plan to allow the maximum amount of Palestinian autonomy consistent with Israeli security. Naturally, the Palestinian leadership, which has been promising to kick out the Jews and lead its people back to “their homes” in Israel for generations, finds this unacceptable.
Until now, the Palestinians have enjoyed seamless support from the entire Arab and Muslim world. They believed that all they needed to do was stand pat, and the world would force the Jews into making concessions, until the Jewish state was so weakened that it would fall apart – or could be destroyed by an attack by its Arab neighbors, or in a proxy war waged by Iran via Hezbollah.
But now at least two – and possibly a few more – Arab states have recognized several important facts: 1) Israel is too strong to be forced to make significant concessions, 2) they find themselves on Israel’s side in the regional conflict with Iran, which wants to gobble them up, and 3) the benefits of normalization with Israel outweigh whatever they would get from Israel’s enemies for continuing to support Palestinian demands.
It might even be the case that they realize that the Palestinian people themselves have been ill-served by their leaders, who have exploited them since 1948 as an excuse to funnel huge amounts of money from Western donors into their pockets.
In any case, these agreements put the PLO on notice that it can no longer expect blanket support for its intransigent policies. Indeed, last week the Arab league rejected a Palestinian resolution to condemn the UAE-Israel deal.
One of my greatest concerns about the coming American election is that a Democratic victory could bring back some of the people and policies of the Obama Administration concerning the Middle East. Joe Biden has already promised to try to re-activate the JCPOA, the nuclear deal with Iran that in fact protects the Iranian nuclear weapons project rather than stopping it. It’s likely that he would also want to resuscitate the Obama/Kerry two-state plan. Of course a Trump victory would prevent these things; but failing that, the next best thing would be a united Israel-Arab front against Iran – and for a truly just solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
It’s hard to have hope in a plague, though everywhere are
reminders that the New Year approaches. And should you forget, everyone you
meet will wish you a “Shana Tova,” a sweet new year, in the run-up to Rosh
Hashanah. The tired middle-aged clerk, the important VIP, and people you
normally ignore, will all offer up the traditional Jewish New Year’s greeting, and
mean it.
Goodwill is in the air. And hope, which is where this piece begins. Because as the New Year approaches, we are full of hope for a sweet new year. We ask for sweetness. We hope it will be there in the coming year.
But there’s a plague on, you see. There’s a plague. We can’t
help but wonder at the implications of the virus. Even if some of us get only so far as to contemplate that science is nobody’s fault.
Whatever you believe, this is a difficult and stressful
time, and though we crave New Year sweetness, it’s hard to see an end to our
difficulties. But we try. I do, anyway. I try like hell. Every day I do something
to get ready for the New Year, for Rosh Hashanah. I am trying to not only be
prepared for the holiday, but to also get in the mood for sweetness, to ask for it
with all my heart, no matter how grim the current reality.
As I make apple cakes and babka, kugels and brisket, I search my memory for inspiration. I
let my mind wander and review the things it knows. Sometimes I remember family
stories that no longer have relevance to anyone but me. Anyone else who would
care is long dead. Nobody can visualize these people. No one will “get” the apocryphal
family joke. It will simply fall flat, when told, until lack of response
suggests you should bury that story with its long-dead protagonists and implications.
The Jewish People Will Be Fine
I try to be pragmatic. No one lives forever, but still, it makes me sad. Once I am there, I begin to think of other sad things, the things that worry me, the state of
my people, the good and the bad, until I come to a revelation: the Jewish people are going to be fine.
It takes me some time to get there, but get there I do.
Revelation comes.
Yes. There are the people like Ariel
Gold, a low-caliber person who engages in stunts like promoting the
destruction of Israel at the Western Wall, a person who makes her name by
betraying her own, and cozying up to the mullahs.
Ariel Gold at the Western Wall
And there are people like Seth Rogen, who have somehow lost the ability to engage in critical thinking, people who do a podcast and make it sound like the Jewish connection to Israel begins in 1948, “They never tell you that, ‘Oh, by the way, there were people there.’ They make it seem like it was just like sitting there, like the fucking door’s open.”
The Seth Rogens of the world are completely ignorant of their own history, but they're ready to throw the Jews out of the Holy Land, nonetheless. They'll toss away their own people based only on lies they’ve been told by bad people and terrorists.
Seth Rogen
These people, the Ariel Golds and Seth Rogens of the world, make me angry. Which is bracing. (“Learn something! Pick
up a book, for crying out loud!”)
It's disheartening, it is true: there is no end to these people, these traitors
from within. The Ariel Golds and the Seth Rogens. Yet I am quite ready to dismiss them. To me they are only the Erev Rav, the mixed multitude that managed to blend in with us during
the Exodus. They only pretend to be Jewish. Their job is to destroy us from
within.
But there are the other Jews, real Jews. I bear witness to
them here in the Holy Land. These other Jews have reached a state where love of
God, country, and people is strong, and meshed into one harmonious whole. Their
Jewish remnants will continue to bring beauty and meaning into Israel and the
world and glory to the Holy One, Blessed Be He.
The Other Jews: The Ones Who Inspire Hope
It’s a matter of trial by fire. And it gives me tremendous hope.
Consider the following seven examples:
At the funeral of terror victim Adele
Biton, her mother Adva, eulogized her little girl murdered by
stone-throwing Arab terrorists: "Here you grew and learned, and now even
at the height of our sorrow, we are burying you close to us, in the place where
they attacked you, so that a cry will resonate and they will hear that the Land
is ours as of right."
Adele Biton HY"D
Dalia
Lemkus was stabbed to death by an Arab terrorist while waiting at a bus
stop. At her funeral, her sister Michal nonetheless found the strength to call
on Israeli Jews to keep on living their daily lives, "I want to scream to
everyone, to my nation, and especially to myself: Don't stop hitchhiking. Don't
give them the pleasure of successfully stopping us from living our lives;
simply do not stop your life," said Michal.
Dalia Lemkus, HY"D
The father of terror victim Cpl.
Ziv Mizrahi, Doron, was no stranger to losing a family member to terror. He
had also lost a brother in the Café Hillel bombing, years earlier. At his son Ziv’s funeral,
he said, “We’ll mourn, but I promise you, next Wednesday I am returning to
work. You won’t break our spirit. The Jewish people live,” said Doron.
Corporal Ziv Mizrahi HY"D
Hallel Yaffa
Ariel was a 13-year-old dancer, murdered in her bed as she slept. At her
funeral, her mother Rina called on the public to come help the family in Kiryat
Arba. "We invite everyone to come and help, to console; there are
vineyards which need help, there are Jews here who need strengthening. We are
strong and we won't break, but we need your help to continue and to build here,”
she said. "Hallel loved living here... right now we are just
crying out 'By your blood you shall live! By your blood you shall live!'"
said Rina Ariel, quoting from the bible.
Hallel Yaffa Ariel HY"D
Unborn
baby (30 weeks) Amiad Israel Ish-Ran was born by emergency C-section after
his mother was wounded in an attack outside of Ofra. The infant was pronounced
dead after several days in intensive care. The baby’s grandfather explained the
significance of the baby’s name at the funeral. "It
is written in Halakha that a name must be given to the baby, so your parents
have given a name, which is of great significance and symbolizes everything -
Amiad Yisrael, our people are here forever. The people of Israel are here
forever. Our message is clear - we will not break, we cry and
it hurts us, but we are strong," said Rabbi Raphael Ish-Ran.
Amiad Israel Ish-Ran HY"D (wrapped in tallis)
The baby’s second grandfather, Haim Silberstein, said,
"You will never succeed. We are stronger than you, we are righter than
you, we belong here more than you, we will defeat you. This is our land, our
people and our holy Torah. Amichai and Shira, our hearts are torn with grief
over the pain and loss. But your young son Amiad Yisrael, our delicate
grandson, may Hashem avenge his blood, already did much before completing four
days. He united the people of Israel, who rose up in prayers, hugs, love.”
Rabbi
Achiad Ettinger was 47 and the father of 12 when he was murdered at the
Ariel Junction. One of his older children, his daughter Efrat, eulogized
him thus, “The evil terrorist thought he was ending a life, but he had no idea
how much life and power you left on this earth that we and the entire nation of
Israel will use to grow and carry on.”
Rabbi Achiad Ettinger HY"D
Rina
Shnerb was 17 when terrorists detonated an IED device next to the girl, her
father, and brother, while they were visiting a national landmark near Dolev. “We
are trying to be strong here in the Land of Israel, the people of Israel, Rina
believed in that,” said Rabbi Eitan Shnerb, the girl’s father, wounded along
with her brother, “Our response to the murderers is that we are here and we are
strong and we will prevail.”
Rina Shnerb HY"D
You may think it strange to find hope in words spoken in the depths of despair, when a life filled with promise has been stolen away by terror. But something happens when you hear someone, in the moment of deepest grief, call on his fellow Jews to build more homes in Israel, to have more
Jewish babies. It makes the heart thrum to think that such Jews exist. They are exceptional, it is true. But they are not
so rare as you think. Especially if you consider that terror in Israel, the kind that stems from pure Jew-hatred, is
not nearly so rare as we wished.
When there are words such as these to be had from a people so battered and grieving, it makes you realize that we Jews, at the core,
are strong. And we are right here in Israel. And we are never going away.
We are strong in spirit and we are here. And
the knowledge of that should (and hopefully will) bring us hope, even when there’s a plague going on. We can hope for sweetness and we can find the strength to wish
each other a shana tova, a sweet New
Year, even as the Jewish people keep on keeping on.
It's what we do. It's what we have done for thousands of years.
Here's wishing all of you a Shana Tova! 🍯 May you find only sweetness in the coming year.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Not long ago I wrote about one of Israel’s “soft enemies,” who choose to fight the Jewish state with money rather than bullets and explosives: the European Union. Indeed, the European Union has just demonstrated its hostility by threatening to torpedo (see also here) the bids of Serbia and Kosovo to join the EU if they persist in their intention to open embassies in Jerusalem.
Now, when the formerly impenetrable anti-Israel solidarity of Arab and Muslim nations has finally begun to crumble, our soft enemies seem to be pursuing the war against Jewish self-determination even more aggressively. Today I want to discuss yet another one, this time one that weaponizes American dollars: the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
The Rockefeller fortune began with John D. Rockefeller, certainly the richest American in history, and indeed one of the most wealthy humans ever. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in 1870, and before he died in 1937 (at the age of 98), he donated enormous sums for various charitable purposes, in the areas of education, health, scientific research, and causes connected to his Baptist faith. He established various foundations during his lifetime to facilitate the disbursement of his wealth. Very much a free-market conservative, he nevertheless took seriously his personal commitment to those less fortunate than himself and his family. He had four daughters and a son, J. D. Rockefeller Jr. “Junior” continued his father’s philanthropy, including founding the Rockefeller Museum in eastern Jerusalem (the site of a 1967 battle, now operated by the Israel Antiquities Authority).
John D. Rockefeller Jr. had a daughter and five sons. One was Nelson, who had a long career in public service, serving as Governor of New York from 1959-73, and Vice President under Gerald Ford from 1974-77. Nelson was socially liberal and considered a moderate on economic issues; he was the paradigmatic “moderate Republican.” Another was David, who was Chairman and CEO of the Chase Manhattan Bank from 1969-81, and was a director of the influential Council on Foreign Relations from 1959.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) was started by “Junior’s” five sons in 1940, who were its first trustees. It received large endowments from J. D. Rockefeller Jr., in 1951, and David Rockefeller, who gave it $225 million in 2006.
Note that there is also a Rockefeller Foundation (started by J. D. the patriarch in 1913), and a Rockefeller Family Fund (started by younger family members in 1967). They are not the subject of this article.
The RBF gradually moved politically leftward as time went by, especially after Stephen Heintz became its president and CEO in 2001. Ironically, it divested from investments in fossil fuels – the original source of Rockefeller money – in 2014.
It has strongly advocated for and funded advocates of the JCPOA – the nuclear deal with Iran – and criticized US President Trump for exiting from it. Armin Rosen notes that “Between 2012 and 2015, RBF gave $4.4 million to the Ploughshares Fund,” which then “led the public campaign in favor of the [Obama] administration’s Iran diplomacy. Ploughshares … gave National Public Radio $100,000 toward its coverage of the Iran nuclear issue.”
In 2011, RBF began its “Peacebuilding” program, and it started to make grants related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Today it supports various organizations and programs whose goal is to eliminate the Jewish state. It funds the group “Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP),” which supports boycott-divestment-sanctions (BDS) of Israel, and which was called one of the top 10 anti-Israel groups in America by the ADL. It has made grants to IfNotNow, the BDS-supporting student organization. It supports the American Friends Service Committee, which also promotes BDS, and numerous other BDS-supporting groups, including the umbrella organization for BDS in the US, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR). The USCPR is deeply involved in the successful campaign to get the “mainline” Protestant churches like the Presbyterian Church USA and the United Church of Christ to adopt BDS. USCPR also pushes the absurdly false but popular idea that the movement to destroy Israel is analogous to the American civil rights movement.
At this link is a partial list of grants made by RBF to groups that are to a greater or lesser extent involved in activities to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish state, in “lawfare” against it, or even which have connections to anti-Israel terrorist organizations. One of the largest recipients of RBF money is J Street, the phony “pro-Israel” lobbying organization which has consistently taken positions opposed to Israeli interests. Other recipients include Zochrot, an Israeli NGO that wants to “dezionize” the state, Breaking the Silence, which defames IDF soldiers, and Adalah, a group that works to radicalize Arab citizens of Israel and incite them against the state. There are dozens of other groups, each of which has its own particular angle to attack Israel.
It’s unlikely that David Rockefeller, also a moderate Republican, would have approved of the uses to which his bequest was put. His Chase Manhattan Bank was the agent for Israel Bonds in the US, making it a target of the Arab boycott. And unlike another tycoon, Henry Ford, there is no evidence that the founder of the dynasty, John D. Rockefeller was antisemitic.
One of the notable images used by Jew-haters from 19th-century Europe, through the Nazi period, and including today’s European and Middle-Eastern antisemites is the hook-nosed Jewish spider sitting in the center of his web, pulling strings that stretch his malign power throughout the world. But in reality, the opposite is true: there are a number of anti-Israel puppet masters, pulling the strings – and streaming money – into the literally thousands of loci of misozionist hate around the world. Money that originates in the European Union, the RBF, the Ford Foundation*, and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation and its satellites, flows into the numerous anti-Israel NGOs, student organizations, propaganda organs, Middle East Studies programs, and so forth.
Think about it. It’s truly marvelous. Has there ever been another enterprise like this in history? All this, aimed and concentrated against one tiny country, my country! _________________
* The Ford Foundation funded many of the same organizations as the RBF until 2013, when it was convinced to stop supporting anti-state NGOs in Israel. It still provides funds for international groups like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Oxfam, etc. that are strongly biased against Israel.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Ardie Geldman is a people person who happens to love Israel. That makes it only natural he'd use his people skills to impart the truth about Israel to visiting groups of tourists who often have a negative view of the Jewish State. Geldman calls his initiative iTalkIsrael, and the work is having an impact even if it's only to draw attention to the idea that hey: when it comes to Israel, there's another narrative out there to consider.
At 68, Ardie looks many years younger, and shows no signs of slowing down, so don't count him out. He's right in the thick of things on the Israel front, offering straight talk on settlements and Arab terror to often-hostile tourists and students who show up with all kinds of ignorant preconceptions. Anyone else, this author, for instance, would have lost their mind arguing with these people, eons ago. But Ardie keeps on keeping on, using his God-given talents to make a difference for his beloved country, Israel.
Ardie Geldman
Ardie's late father, Z"L. "My Zionist Inspiration."
Varda Epstein: Can
you tell us a bit about yourself, your family, where you’re from, why you made
Aliyah?
Ardie Geldman: I was born and raised in Chicago. My mom,
z”l, was also born and raised in Chicago. My father, z”l, was born in
Bessarabia, later Romania, in a city called Bolghrad, today in Southeast
Ukraine. He came to Eretz Yisrael as a chalutz
[pioneer V.E.] in 1920 and stayed for about a year, helping to construct the
first paved roads in the Galilee near Tiberias.
According to my father’s American visa application his residence in Israel was “HaMashbir Tiberias.” I believe that this was the first HaMashbir enterprise [HaMashbir is a chain of department stores in Israel, V.E.] established under the then newly formed Histadrut [General Organization of Workers in Israel, V.E.]. After contracting and, B”H, recovering from malaria, common then and there, he accepted his aunt’s and uncle’s invitation to come live in America, specifically Milwaukee, WI. My father lived there for a few years but subsequently moved south to Chicago where employment opportunities were better. There he met my mother. I am the result.
Ardie and Ivonne Geldman
I am sure that the few stories my father told me about his experiences here, when I was quite young, planted a seed in me that, along with
other influences, including the 1960 movie Exodus, contributed to my decision
to live my life in Israel. My wife was also born in the States. She came to
Israel immediately after high school. While neither of my parents personally
experienced the Holocaust, my late father-in-law was a prisoner in a number of
concentration camps and lost much of his family at the hands of the Nazis. His
experiences, I’m sure, influenced my wife’s Zionism and contributed to her
decision to live here.
Both myself and my wife were raised in secular Jewish homes
and independently were drawn to a religious-Zionist way of life before we met. We moved to Israel in 1982 and lived in Petach Tikvah for the first three years. We
have been living in Efrat since 1985. Here we raised six children and have been
blessed, so far, with 10 grandchildren.
Varda Epstein: When did
you start italkIsrael and why?
Ardie Geldman: What
became iTalkIsrael began with my speaking to media people, Jewish tourists and Jewish
organizations that would visit Efrat in the late 1980s and especially in the
early 1990s while I was an elected member of the Efrat Town Council. The mayor
of Efrat at that time barely spoke English and my flexible work schedule,
overseeing sundry community development projects in Israel on behalf of the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, allowed me to arrange my time to
meet with these groups.
In those days I
would say that nine out of ten such Jewish groups were gung-ho about
“settlements” like Efrat [Efrat has official town status, but since it is
located in Judea, is often condemned as a “settlement,” V.E.], whereas today, representatives
of Jewish organizations coming here most often say that we are an “obstacle to
peace.” At some point during the 1990s, and I don’t remember exactly when, I
believe that my name was shared with a guide that brought to Efrat what turned
out to be a non-Jewish, pro-Palestinian group from Australia. I don’t remember
much else about this group other than being on the receiving end of hostile
questions for the first time; it was like suddenly being kicked in the stomach.
In short, word then
got around to these types of groups that there is a “settler” who lives in an
“illegal settlement” near Bethlehem who is willing to meet with pro-Palestinian
foreigners. For years I did just that, speaking to mostly pro-Palestinian
groups in Efrat for 1½ to 2 hours who, with but few exceptions, left with the
same jaundiced and deluded views of “settlers” and “settlements” with which
they came. It seemed that almost all left with the same scripted non-committal
line, “Thank you for your time.” This meant to me that the content of my
presentation had fallen upon deaf ears.
iTalkIsrael was created
to change that response. It was an initiative that emerged following the
experience of three Christian college students, women, who were the only ones
that, during a short lecture visit, took me up on my invitation to the entire
group to return and spend a traditional Jewish Shabbat with Efrat families. The
three had an amazing time and this convinced their program director to include
a three-day Shabbat weekend stay in Efrat for some 30 Christian students the
following year. This first experience indicated to me that I was onto something
and my marketing efforts have led to the participation of additional Christian
student programs.
Christian students listen intently to Efrat resident.
Varda Epstein: Can
you tell me about the demographic of the people you work with?
Ardie Geldman: The demographic is mixed if you overlook the
fact that the majority of the groups with whom I meet are mostly Christian. With
respect to age the participants range from high-school groups to mature adults.
The only groups that spend a full Shabbat weekend (Thursday through Sunday morning)
in Efrat are Christian college students. All the others, mostly from the U.S.
and Canada, but also from the United Kingdom, Western European countries and
Australia (though not to the best of my recollection from either Central or
South America or Africa) come only for short, hour-and-a-half lectures.
Some groups represent mainstream “high church,” such as
Presbyterians or Methodists, while others are Quakers and Mennonites. Some come
from independent congregations that do not belong to any major Christian
denomination. However, about a quarter of the groups with whom I meet are
secular, self-defined social justice or human rights groups. Among these,
especially if they come from the States, is often a sprinkling of (very
deluded) Jews. The latter often make a point of letting me know that they are
Jews, especially when they stand up and condemn Israel, the IDF, and settlers.
I have to say that I never sensed any antisemitism in any of the Christian college groups; not even a hint. In fact, so many left Efrat saying how much they enjoyed learning about Judaism. Some even said that they would stop using electronics on the Sabbath (Sunday, for them). On the other hand, I did encounter antisemitism from time to time among the groups that came for only a lecture. This happened with a few church groups as well as some so-called "social justice" groups. Three years ago I literally threw out a student group from a major East coast university and did the same two years ago with a group of adults from Belgium.
Learning to bake challah bread (challot).
Varda Epstein: On
your website you have a blurb: “Come for a real
education.” What does this mean?
Ardie Geldman: It means to be exposed to ideas with which
they are unfamiliar, or even opposed, and to a variety of opinions about
religion and politics, even within just one Jewish “settler” community. Here is
a quote from a recent email I received from a director of one of the
participating Christian college programs that reflects the work of iTalkIsrael:
“It's been so long that we had a decent argument - I
genuinely miss coming to Efrat and engaging in the wonderfully hot
conversations we had over the years. I consider the times spent with you and
Ivonne as one of my top memories during the two decades of bringing
students to the Middle East. You have given me a lasting appreciation for
Judaism, a deeper respect for Zionism, and both a deeper understanding - as
well as a recognition of my own limitations on understanding - of living in
Israel in "disputed territory."
Dialogue with Efrat youth over pizza on a Saturday night.
Varda Epstein: What
is your goal for each group that comes to you, or does that vary from group to
group?
Ardie Geldman: For the short visit groups the only objective
is to plant a tiny seed of doubt among even just a handful of the visitors
about their views of the conflict. Over the years, from time to time, a few
people would approach me after I am done speaking while the others are making
their way back to the bus and say something like “Thank you so much. We are not
hearing any of this.”
The goal for the Shabbat weekend groups is more ambitious. First
I’ll tell you what it is not. It is not to transform the visitors into
Christian right-wing Zionists. It is to disarm them, to confuse them, to reduce
their suspicion and distrust, and even to develop positive, longer-lasting
relations with people in Efrat; in short to “humanize the settlers” in their
eyes. Based on the obligatory written feedback I receive from each and every
participant, I can say that, yes, at least immediately following their “Shabbat
in Efrat” experience, this goal is 100% realized.
Christian college students dialogue with Efrat yeshiva high school seniors in the Efrat library.
Varda Epstein: Do you
ever correspond with those who hear your lectures, when their trip to Israel is
only a memory?
Ardie Geldman: Other than those very few who contacted me not
long after their visit because they were writing a term paper and needed some
additional information, the general answer is no. The reason for this is
interesting. The college programs that come fly under the radar. That is to
say, there is an implicit understanding with each program director that their
students’ participation in a weekend program in an “illegal settlement” where
they are home-hosted by “illegal settlers” remains on the QT.
The directors actually obfuscate this part of their
“Israel-Palestine” itinerary from their colleagues and their other program
partners in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and of course, the Palestinian Authority. I’m
not sure how they do it, but I have a feeling that not even all of their
superiors in their respective colleges are aware of the Efrat stay. It does not
appear on the respective programs’ website, although visiting Israel does.
Two years ago a group almost dropped out after the director
became enraged after reading my Commentary piece that mentioned these programs, even
though I purposely didn’t identify any of the programs by name nor their
schools. In other words, the program directors wish to maximize anonymity and
want total control over the students’ ties to the program. Consequently, they
do not share their email addresses with me. I would very much have liked to be
given their email addresses all these years in order to follow up and see how
much of an impact the Efrat experience has on the students in the long run. Having
said all of this, some of the participating Efrat host families, at the request
of individual students, do maintain email contact with the latter.
Some students, I have been told, have even returned to visit
their Efrat hosts on subsequent trips to Israel and “Palestine.” Some students
over the years came back for the Purim seudah
[feast, V.E.]; others attended a wedding celebrated by their Efrat host family.
If you consider where these students’ heads were when they first arrived in
Efrat, yes, the “Shabbat in Efrat” program does chalk up some impressive
achievements.
Ardie hosts a small group in his home in Efrat.
Varda Epstein: If
someone spends their entire trip exposed only to the progressive narrative on
Israel, is hearing you speak enough to offer balance?
Ardie Geldman: Absolutely not. The cognitive dissonance
factor is way, way too strong. The theme under which the short,
hour-and-a-half-visit groups operate is “Don’t bother me with facts, my mind is
made up.” I believe that to be true for over 90% of those whose visit to Efrat
takes place in the midst of a highly propagandized 10-day (on average) tour.
So why do they come? They come because “settlements” are
controversial and coming to one is a titillating experience. They come to take
notes and photographs that they use in their own pro-Palestinian propaganda
work back home. And some come for the opportunity to chastise a settler in
person for the evil he represents.
That is why I developed the “Shabbat in Efrat” program. It
is based on the principle contained in this Maya Angelou quote: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what
you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Christian college students visit Efrat preschool.
I have come to
believe that the myriad lectures, PowerPoint presentations, video clips,
websites, tweets, articles, books, etc., etc., etc. that tell the truth about
Israel and the “Palestinians” don’t amount to a hill of beans in comparison to
a positive and extended emotional experience. Such an experience requires the
time not afforded by a lecture. In fact, I believe that a series of even great
lectures, regardless of how outstanding the lecturer(s), is relatively
ineffective at changing hearts and minds. The only thing that I am convinced
can do this requires two key elements: (1) an intimate personal experience and
(2) sufficient time. That is why “Shabbat in Efrat” is a 3-4 day program.
Things that the
students are told on the first day but would reject out of hand as “Zionist
settler” propaganda are towards the end of the program suddenly palatable and
worth considering, possibly even true! This is especially the case when
statements that conflict with their current beliefs about Israel, about Israeli
“settlers,” about the “settlements” or “Palestinians” are uttered by members of
their host family, and especially around the Shabbat table. The effect of this
experience is almost miraculous and is reflected over and over again in the
students’ written responses on the questionnaires they complete just prior to
their departure. I have collected over 800 questionnaires from student participants.
Varda Epstein: What
would you like first-time visitors to Israel to know?
Ardie Geldman: (1) The Middle East is not the Midwest, or: Dorothy,
you’re not in Kansas, anymore. Many values here are different than those by
which people live in Western countries. It is a conceit and counterproductive
to try and understand political and social events and developments in this part
of the world through a western lens.
(2) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not “good guys vs.
bad guys.” It is far more complex and nuanced than they likely appreciate.
(3) Yes, to be honest, there are moral failures on both
sides of the conflict; no nation state, no society is perfect. But there is no
comparison between the quantity and enormity of such failures committed by the
Palestinian side and those on the Israeli side. Unfortunately, there are
examples of individual Israelis who have committed some unacceptable act of
violence, and of course we never hear the end of these. But Israel is condemned
most often for legitimate acts of self-defense. The Palestinian side, in
contrast, is guilty of ongoing systematic and strategic acts of terror and
violence. There IS a difference and that difference must be appreciated by
anyone who wishes to understand the conflict.
(4) Finally, with regard to first time visitors, they need
to be told that Palestinian spokespeople are masters of the tragic visage. They
take people to sites and expose them to heartrending images. These are either
presented out of context, such as (A) bringing visitors to the sordid living
conditions of refugee camps and blaming Israel for their existence, while
drawing their attention away from the mansions and expensive, late model cars
situated just across the road, or (B) as outright lies, pointing out the water
tanks on rooftops and telling visitors that Israel purposely denies the
“Palestinians” sufficient amounts of water.
Varda Epstein: What’s
the dumbest question you were ever asked about Israel and how do you answer
that question?
Ardie Geldman: The dumbest, and also the most offensive
question, uttered only a few times throughout the years is “How can Israel do
to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews?”
Varda Epstein: What’s
the question you’re asked most and how do you respond?
Ardie Geldman: Without a doubt, that question is: “Why did
you choose to live in a settlement and not somewhere else in Israel?” And my
answer is inevitably is “Because I agree with the Palestinians. There is no
difference between Efrat and Tel-Aviv.”
Varda Epstein: What
wisdom can you impart to us for dealing with people who are certain that Israel
is an occupier oppressing its Arab minority? Do you have an elevator pitch for
such people? A question that stops them in their tracks?
Ardie Geldman: That is exactly the point. In the case of
such an emotionally fraught issue where the disinformation is so deeply
ingrained there is no such thing as an effective elevator pitch. We have our
facts; they have their facts. We have our anecdotes; they have their anecdotes.
The cognitive dissonance that is created when a conflicting
opinion or idea is raised protects the “Palestinian” narrative like an Etrog. You
just can’t get to it. The words, the facts, they just bounce off.
The only way to get past it, to break through, to penetrate
it, is by way of a positive experience over time, meaning at least a few days. That
is the lesson of iTalkIsrael. The “Palestinians” learned a long time ago that the
way to a person’s brain is through their heart and NOT the other way around.
You must change the heart before you can change the mind. That is true in many
other areas of life and it is no less true here.
"She had just said in our group discussion that Israel practices racism. Then we came across these two IDF soldiers on the group's way back to the bus."
Varda Epstein: What’s
next for you and italkIsrael?
Ardie Geldman: I have a "business plan," if you will, to
duplicate the iTalkIsrael experience in five other Jewish communities in Judea
and Samaria. What we have been doing so successfully in Efrat for eight years,
the Shabbat weekends, can and should be implemented elsewhere. Before the
Corona pandemic we were hosting some 100-150 students in Efrat per year. The “Shabbat
in Efrat” program has proven itself as a kind of beta plan. There is no reason
why this can’t, within 2-3 years, grow to some 1,500 and more participants.
I would also like to create a training institute to teach
others the advocacy principles and skills that I have acquired over the years. I
have a huge, I would even say unique, library of materials waiting for this. All
that is missing are the financial resources to put this in motion.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
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Thursday, October 01, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
