Maale Adummim, September 5 - A resident of this town in the Judean Desert east of Jerusalem gushed with pride today upon mastering the task of setting his VHS machine in advance to record an upcoming television broadcast, a feat to which he has devoted the bulk of his spare time over the last thirty-two years.
Ofer Shaked, 70, unleashed a yelp of triumph this afternoon as he successfully programmed his VCR, a device manufactured in the 1990's to record and play video content on a television or display screen, via large cassettes with magnetic tape inside. The grandfather of eight and retired insurance agent shouted to his wife, Diklah, that he had managed to set the VCR to record the Wednesday night episode of MacGyver, a task he had been trying to accomplish, on and off, since 1987.
"I did it! I did it!" yelped Mr. Shaked, leaping to his feet despite his developing arthritis. A sudden onset of dizziness and shortness of breath from the sudden exertion prevented him from immediately answering his wife's query as to the details of his achievement.
"I programmed it! I can watch MacGyver whenever I want!" shouted the septuagenarian. "Is Airwolf still on? Remington Steele? The possibilities are endless! This is true freedom!" Mr. Shaked proceeded to call his children to inform them of the milestone, and to bask in the anticipated admiration they would no doubt display.
"Get me the TV listings!" he commanded his bemused wife, gesturing to the newspaper. "I'm going to program this thing up the wazoo. Heck, I'm going to record the evening news and watch it again just to glory in what I've finally managed to do. I better pick a good day - wouldn't want to end up rewatching coverage of some natural disaster or terrorist attack."
Shaked has, by his own admission, struggled to program the VCR since he purchased his first such model in 1984. "The instructions seemed perfectly clear for each one," he recalled with some wistfulness. "But I was never able to translate those simple directions into action. There must have been some mental or cognitive block that I've... I've now overcome. I feel so liberated. I can only imagine what I might accomplish next. That is, as soon as I finish watching all the programs I plan to record."
"Now," he concluded, "how do you connect this VCR to the new Tablet my children got me for my birthday? I don't see the right socket for the AV cord. And do you know where I can buy blank videocassettes? I can't seem to find any Radio Shacks in this neighborhood."
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The Palestinian Authority continues to incite violence. Following yesterday's visit by Israeli leaders to Hebron, the PA is now saying that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's presence there was an act of "obvious war" and that he "defiled" the city: "The [PA] Ministry of Religious Affairs emphasized that [Israeli] occupation Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu]'s defilement of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) is nothing but obvious war, in which he has declared his blatant hatred towards the Palestinian presence in Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is a purely Islamic mosque."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2019]
Palestinian Media Watch reported yesterday that the PA might want to launch a new wave of terror since the PA ministry, prior to Netanyahu's visit, compared it to then opposition leader Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount in 2000, which Arafat exploited to ignite the PA's 5-year terror campaign - the Intifada - in which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered in terror attacks.
This hate speech and these messages of incitement to violence from the PA are continuing. The Palestinian Arab Front, which is a member of the PLO, called Netanyahu's visit to the Cave of the Patriarchs a "defilement" and "a clear declaration of war." The organization further incited violence, calling for "a popular response," promising that its "fighting people will not sit idly by": "The Palestinian Arab Front said that Netanyahu's invasion of the Ibrahimi Mosque and defilement of it constitute a clear declaration of war and contempt for the Muslims' sensibilities... It called for a popular response that will be at the level of the crime the occupation forces are committing. The front added: 'Our fighting people will not sit idly by before the defilement of its holy sites. The occupation bears full responsibility for this crime. [Our people] will defend its holy sites with all its strength.'"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2019]
Yesterday, the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Netanyahu's visit "a provocative colonialist and racist visit" and "warned against the dangers and consequences" of it. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 4, 2019]
PA's Supreme Shari'ah Judge of Palestine Mahmoud Al-Habbash likewise used this opportunity to incite violence against Israelis, and he also compared it to Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount.
Last month, CAMERA took Reuters to task for English-language captions which described Jews visiting the Temple Mount as “worshippers,” despite the fact that Jews are strictly prohibited from praying or carrying out any other religious rituals at the site, Judaism’s most sacred. A review by CAMERA Arabic has found that many Arabic-language reports from Western media outlets including Sky News, CNN, BBC, al-Hurra, Independent Arabia, Reuters and France 24 commonly employ even more extreme and unfounded language, falsely calling Jews who visit the Temple Mount, or intend to visit, “settlers” or “extremists.” (All translations that follow are by CAMERA Arabic.)
Thus, for example, a France 24 broadcast misidentified Jewish visitors who visited the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av, a solemn fast day commemorating the destruction of the Jewish temples, as settlers (“Clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli police in the al-Aqsa mosque plaza coincide with the prayer of Eid,” Aug. 11, at 0:51.)
Likewise, Al Hurra, a U.S.-based public media outlet, reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu decided not to allow “settlers” to carry out an “intrusion” or “storming” of the “al-Aqsa mosque” (“Clashes in al-Aqsa between worshippers and the Israeli police,” Aug. 11). Of course, the Jewish visitors never entered the mosque itself, and only walked around the compound outside the mosque.
BBC similarly referred to “extremist Jewish groups” and “Jewish extremists (“The al-Aqsa Mosque: clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians after Eid al-Adha’s prayer”, Aug. 11) and CNN and the Independent went with the false headlines, respectively: “Dozens of settlers intrude/storm into al-Aqsa Mosque under IDF guard,” Aug. 4. and “An Israeli minister storms/intrudes al-Aqsa under guard, heading [a group] of settlers,” July 3 (screen shot at left). Reuters, a leading wire service, also employed the “intrusion/storming” language (“Extremist Jews’ visit stokes Palestinians’ anger in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound”, June 2, video, 0:51) and wrongly reported that the Jews entered the al-Aqsa mosque.
Following the military escalation between Israel and Hizbullah in the last two weeks – which included the August 25, 2019 Israeli drone attack on the Dahia, Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut; threats of retaliation by Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, and Hizbullah's September 1, 2019 firing of anti-tank missiles into northern Israel – writers in the Saudi press published articles attacking Hizbullah and Nasrallah. The writers accused Hizbullah of dragging Lebanon into confrontations with Israel to serve the Iranian agenda and thereby harming Lebanon and its economy and perpetrating treason against it. They also wrote that Hizbullah has turned Beirut into a military base and taken over Lebanon's vital centers of power, and called to restore sovereignty to the Lebanese government, so that it will be the only force in Lebanon authorized to make decisions on war and peace.
The following are excerpts from their articles:
Senior Journalist 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed: Hizbullah Is The Problem, Not Israel
On September 2, 2019, the day after Hizbullah's missile attack on Israel, senior Saudi journalist 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, formerly the editor-in-chief of the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and currently the head of the editorial board of Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabiya TV and Al-Hadath TV,[1] published in the English-language Saudi daily Arab News an article titled "Imagine Lebanon without Hizbullah." In it, he wrote:
"I think there is a group of people who still believe the lies Hezbollah and its leader spout to justify using Lebanon in this week’s attack against Israel. At the same time, I doubt there are any people, even from within this group, who agree with Hezbollah’s actions and the damage the group causes Lebanon while using excuses that no longer convince anyone.
"Hezbollah has given years of ethnic, patriotic and religious excuses, from the liberation of the south to the protection of religious places and the Syrian Shebaa Farms. Because of Hezbollah, Lebanon is beleaguered internationally in its financial transactions and trade and tourism, while nationally it is held captive and controlled, from the airport to the house of government...
"Hezbollah is the only cause of the state’s low income and political bullying...
This is a list of the number of times Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch tweeted negatively about different countries and terror groups in August.
Anyone who thinks that Israel is the second-worst human rights abuser in the world is suffering from severe Israel Derangement Syndrome. Similarly, anyone who prioritizes Israel as a target for vitriol as a human rights abuser more than Libya, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Congo, North Korea and Afghanistan combined proves that he politicizes human rights for a decidedly non-human rights agenda.
Terror groups:
ISIS: 6
Houthi: 3
Taliban: 2 (neither was negative)
Hezbollah: 1
Hamas: 0
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A large group of Lebanese Palestinians held a protest outside the Canadian embassy in Lebanon today, demanding to be allowed to immigrate to Canada and the EU.
The protesters demanded "their most basic rights" and said that UNRWA is the cause of their tragedy because it has a guardianship over the Palestinian people separate from the 1951 Refugee Convention and that it behaves on the basis of "patronage and factionalism."
Last month they held a similar protest where they gave a list of demands to a representative of the Canadian embassy.
One of the speakers then said UNRWA admits its inability to assist Palestinian refugees by seeking refuge in another country, as UNHCR does. He emphasized that any support provided by the Canadian government to UNRWA remains a temporary solution, so Palestinian refugees are "asking the Canadian government to help them find a lasting solution to their suffering, and this solution is only by humanitarian asylum."
The protesters also called on EU countries to "open the doors to them, not only for them but for their children and their future."
The protesters submitted a letter to the Canadian Embassy containing these demands in addition to pressuring UNRWA "to allow the Palestinian people to immigrate Canada and the European Union countries."
Interestingly, they are not demanding the right to immigrate to Arab countries as full citizens. Nor are they protesting for immigration to Israel, which their leaders insist is the only option besides remaining refugees forever.
Unlike UNHCR, UNRWA does not help Palestinians who desire to become citizens of their host countries nor does it facilitate immigration to other countries that might accept them. UNRWA only allows them and their descendants to be considered "Palestine refugees" forever, in a permanent stateless existence until Israel is destroyed.
Palestinians almost never qualify for asylum in Western countries, since (except for those from Syria) they are not fleeing persecution or war.
Self-proclaimed Palestinian leaders have, since the 1950s, pushed the fantasy that their people have no desire to become citizens anywhere else but Israel, and any moves to naturalize them in Syria, Lebanon or Egypt have been opposed bitterly in the name of "Palestinian unity." Notably, when Palestinians fled Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, thousands were stranded on the Iraqi/Syrian border with no Arab country willing to accept them. When UNHCR found Western nations willing to accept them, Palestinian "leaders" complained bitterly, worried that Palestinians who find citizenship elsewhere will no longer be cannon fodder against Israel, which is their primary purpose according to Arab leaders and UNRWA.
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It is curious that the progressive Left and prominent feminists are so quiet about the "patriarchy" in the Palestinian leadership.
Here is a photo of the Palestinian Authority cabinet meeting this week where the honor killing of Israa Gharib was briefly discussed.
Lots of white men - and one token woman - are visible.
And what statement was made in this cabinet meeting about Israa?
That the investigation into her death is still ongoing.
That was it - no condemnation, no expressions of outrage.
Separately, Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohamed Shtayyeh issued a bland statement about Gharib's death that proved that women are not considered full members of Palestinian society:
Israa Gharib has become a community issue, and we feel the pulse of the street towards this issue.
With our full commitment to the provisions of Palestinian law and the confidentiality of the investigation and not to rush to prejudge the outcome in respect of the spirit of the deceased and the feelings of their families, we must strengthen the system of legislation protecting Palestinian women, the protector of our national project, who are our mothers and sisters and our partners in the struggle and building society, and without her we would not be a society.
With our deep belief that no person has the right to take the law in his own hands, we will take every necessary legal action to give maximum penalties to anyone involved in the killing of any human being and we are waiting for the results of the investigation into Israa's case.
Notice that he didn't condemn Gharib's death.
Even in this statement, meant to be as liberal as possible, women are not considered an integral part of Palestinian society. They are sisters and mothers, but not leaders in their own right. They are important "partners" with the men who really run things. This statement shows how women are second class citizens and how this is accepted as perfectly normal. (None of the responses to this statement on Facebook were critical of its unconscious sexism, as far as I can tell.)
The prime minister of "Palestine" issued a sexist statement. But the people who are most sensitive to and vocal about sexism in the West remain utterly silent about it and other endemic Palestinian sexism.
Similarly, this week a 2016 survey of worldwide racist attitudes was re-publicized, and "Palestine" was rated the eighth most racist country in the world, based on how Palestinians answered a question about whether they would accept having neighbors of a different race than they were. Yet when was the last time you read an article about Palestinian racism?
Why is the progressive Left so tolerant of Palestinian sexism and racism? They will be publicly critical (if somewhat muted) of sexism in Saudi Arabia and Iran and Egypt, but Palestinian sexism and racism gets a pass. Why?
The only reason is because their hate for Israel outweighs their hate for sexism and racism.
Palestinian hate for Israel and Jews is deemed so critical and essential by these so-called progressives that everything that violates the most cherished liberal ideals is swept under the rug, excused and justified.
Even when forced to make a statement about Israa Gharib, they feel compelled to criticize Israel, because Palestinians have no responsibility for their actions and anything bad they do - including wife beating - is Israel's fault, always.
Palestinian women have been let down by the people who pretend to care most about them. The hypocrisy of the "progressives" remains off the charts.
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An Austrian postcard from 1919, showing the stab-in-the-back narrative (Wikimedia)
I thought I was beyond being surprised by what comes out of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the American Reform Movement. But last week I received a blog titled “We Must Not Willfully Hide from a Truth” by Rabbi Stanley M. Davids, on a URJ mailing list called “Ten Minutes of Torah.” I found it interesting as an illustration of the URJ’s anti-Israel direction, as well as an example of the cloudy thinking that characterizes today’s progressive Left. Commenting on an essay in a forthcoming book (to be published by the Reform Movement’s CCAR Press), an essay which apparently calls for the replacement of the Jewish state by a binational one, Rabbi Davids wrote this:
The Torah is rich with warnings about how a bystander is not exempt from certain levels of responsibility. If you see a neighbor’s animal that is lost, you must not turn away. If you see a neighbor in distress, you must not turn away. If you witness a crime, you must testify. And I would add: If you know a truth, you must not conceal it. If you hear a truth or if you see a truth, you must not hide from it. … When we seek to meet an “Other,” we can only honestly meet that Other with a full awareness of what truths that Other holds dear. If we close ourselves off to such truths, even if those truths terrify or anger or confound us, then our meeting can never be successful. … [the authors of the essay] Mezuman and Azzam-Jalajel assert that there is a valid Palestinian national narrative that Israelis must understand and recognize. Even if a separate Palestinian State comes into existence alongside Israel, the Palestinian residents of Israel must be treated as equal citizens with formal recognition of their own unique attachment to the Land. If Jews have a Right of Return, why shouldn’t we then contemplate a Palestinian Right of Return? Why shouldn’t our shared goal be a Jewish, Palestinian, and democratic State? … Naqba is a truth from which many Israeli Jews and many Americans Jews willfully hide. That truth, a Palestinian truth to be sure, but accepted by some Jewish Zionists as well, doesn’t have to become our truth. But if we ever want to build an infrastructure of peace and understanding, we must recognize the power of that truth within the Palestinian community - and we cannot willfully hide from it.
I wrote to Rabbi Davids and asked him if he, personally and as a representative of his movement, would “contemplate a Palestinian Right of Return” or consider a “Jewish, Palestinian, and democratic State.” No, he answered, he would not. But,
What I was hoping that I could communicate is the need for both sides to hear and understand each other's narratives. Understanding why someone or some group feels the way that it does is a key to meaningful communication - but is not at all the same as accepting the Other's narrative as true or even equally true or as compelling as our own narrative. [email response]
Rabbi Davids is not playing fair. On the one hand, he refers to the Palestinian narrative as a “truth” several times. Not just as a story – and as a matter of fact, a made-up story that serves the Arab political goal of extirpating the Jewish presence from the Land of Israel – but as a “truth.” And clearly “a truth” implies an epistemological status greater than a story. The postmodernist believes that there is no such thing as absolute truth, and that every group has its own narrative that grows out of its own cultural experience. The narrative is true for its owners, but perhaps not for others. There is no external, objective standard. Is this what he thinks? I hope not, for this way lies madness. If there is no such thing as objective truth, then there’s no use in reasoning, no such thing as justice, no sense in studying history, and no trustworthy knowledge. But in his clarification, he tells us that is not what he means. He says that all he meant was that Israelis must fully comprehend the story that Palestinians believe so deeply, in order to communicate with them. Rabbi Davids is correct that if you don’t understand someone’s position, you can’t negotiate or even communicate with them. But he goes farther. He suggests that we are “hiding” from the “truth” of naqba, and that until we fully grok it, we will never get past our conflict. He’s wrong. We do understand the Palestinian narrative. Nobody is hiding from the truth, if the truth is simply that the Palestinians have a narrative they believe in deeply, a narrative of their victimization and their desire for revenge. What we disagree about is what counts as “understanding.” I suspect that both Davids and the Palestinians will agree that we have not fully comprehended the naqba until we admit that everything bad that happened to the Palestinian Arabs was our fault, and that we are prepared to make amends – which would at minimum mean sharing our state with them, enacting a right of return for Arabs with refugee status, and so on, precisely as Mezuman and Azzam-Jalajel suggest. In short, commit national suicide. Indeed, as Rabbi Davids probably knows, if our actions in 1948 were unjust, as the Palestinian narrative tells us, then we are required to do tshuva (repentance), in part by returning anything that we took unjustly. I would argue that despite the harsh actions that were made necessary by the war, the flight of several hundred thousand Arabs in 1948 was primarily a consequence of decisions made by Palestinian leaders and elites, as well as the leaders of the Arab states. We don’t have anything to do tshuva for. This business of narratives didn’t start with the Palestinians. Politicians and others have always understood the power of the narrative. It’s only recently that people have started saying that all narratives are inherently “truths” in some sense, as long as a large number of people believe in them. For example, many Germans believed that their loss in WWI was not due to running out of supplies and men, the entry of the US into the war, bad strategic decisions, and so on, but rather that their successful army had been “stabbed in the back,” mostly by the Jews. This narrative, which may have originated with a comment by German Chief of Staff von Ludendorff in 1919, became quite popular, and was later picked up by the Nazis. Would Rabbi Davids believe that this narrative too, contained a “truth” from which we must not “hide?” I don’t think so.
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In the eyes of many, the Hebron massacre is the defining event of the 1929 Arab riots in Palestine.
For centuries, the small Jewish community of Hebron coexisted alongside a much larger Muslim community. Although Jews were never accorded full equality and often faced rampant discrimination and even extreme violence, at times relations were cordial.
All that changed exactly ninety years ago, as violent Arab riots against Jewish immigration swept through Palestine, which was then administered by the British.
Triggered by a baseless rumor that Jews were planning to march to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and claim ownership of their holiest place, thousands of Arab villagers streamed into Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, many armed with sticks and knives. The crowds worked themselves into a frenzy, with some 20-30 gunshots reported fired in the vicinity of the Temple Mount by rabble-rousers. A British report on the events describes the excited Arab crowds as intent on mischief and possibly murder. Fed by rumors that two Arabs had been killed by Jews elsewhere in Jerusalem, Arabs in the Old City went on the rampage, attacking and murdering Jews.
The rumors, and the violence they prompted, spread swiftly across the land – most notably to Hebron, where a massacre unfolded.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that Jews would remain in the biblical West Bank city of Hebron forever on Wednesday.
"Hebron won't be Judenrein," Netanyahu said.
The prime minister made history when he became the first sitting prime minister to speak at a state ceremony in the divided city at a ceremony marking 90 years since the 1929 Hebron massacre in which 67 Jews were killed. However, despite expectations, Netanyahu did not deliver any dramatic announcements.
Netanyahu did not speak of the application of sovereignty in Hebron or elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, even though two Likud ministers, Yuli Edelstein and Miri Regev, had called on him to do so.
Earlier in the day, Knesset Speaker Edelstein said that “the time has come” to apply Israeli sovereignty in Hebron… We have to do everything we can to ensure that when the state ceremony is held for the 100th anniversary of the massacre, it will be held in Israel’s sovereign territory” of Hebron.”
Rather, the prime minister told the crowd that, “We did not come to dispossess anyone, but neither will we be dispossessed.”
90 Years to Hebron Massacre. Lessons for Today on Living in Middle East
Israel and Switzerland will work together to consider alternatives to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday after meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in Bern.
Switzerland suspended payments to UNRWA in July until completion of a UN investigation into ethical misconduct among senior officials in the organization. This decision came after Switzerland has already paid its $22.5 million pledge in 2019 toward the organization’s $1.2 billion budget.
Katz, according to a statement put out by his office, told his Swiss counterpart that some UNRWA officials in Gaza had cooperated with terror organizations in attacks against Israel, and quoted Cassis himself as saying in May that UNRWA is “the problem and not the solution.”
During those comments, Cassis said the organization fueled “unrealistic” hope among Palestinians of a “right to return” to Israel from refugee camps in the Middle East.
Katz recently directed the Foreign Ministry to come up with a document outlining an alternative to UNRWA, and a team established in the ministry has held a number of meetings on the matter.
Ryan Bellerose as an advocate for Israel seems an unlikely choice. Now 43, Ryan grew up in Northern Alberta, Canada. He spent half the year living with his dad on the Métis Settlement in Paddle Prairie, and half with his mother in town.
As an adult, Ryan has had an eclectic career trajectory. He operated heavy machinery in the far north, running bulldozers and backhoes; worked in forestry as a guide; fought wildfires, built ice bridges; and served as a GPS GIS consultant. From there he moved into security contracting, and then on to Telecom as a business analyst.
Nope. It’s hard to connect the dots from any of those things to supporting Israel. The only way to really understand Ryan Bellerose on Israel, is to listen to him. On social media, he is blunt, sometimes to the point of rudeness. If you say something he deems stupid, he won’t hold back. He will call you “asshat.” But he will also tell you the truth as he sees it. And I see that as a valuable commodity in a friend.
Ryan is one of the more interesting people I know in the pro-Israel advocacy world. And he is awesome. I present him here to you, warts and all:
Varda Epstein: People like to label. I am pretty sure a lot of people, when they think of you or have to describe you to others, say, at least in their minds, “Ryan is that pro-Israel Native American guy.” You’re Métis. Can you tell us a bit about the Métis people, and your genealogy?
Ryan Bellerose: My people are Métis and Cree. My father is Métis and Cree, his father was Métis, and his Mother was Cree/Métis. Our family traces back to the first Métis families and communities.
Varda Epstein: What is your connection to the politics of your community, the Métis people, and if relevant, to other indigenous peoples?
Ryan Bellerose: My father, Mervin Bellerose, was heavily involved in the indigenous struggle in Canada. He cowrote the Métis Settlements Act of 1989, was the chairman of the Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement Council for several years, and also served as its resource coordinator, which is like being chief.
Merv was also a founding member of the Settlements Appeal Tribunal (MSAT). Having watched him growing up, I realised early on that I would be a terrible politician because I have a low tolerance for BS. I have been asked to run for office, but I think the problem with Indian politics is that they are a familyocracy rather than a meritocracy. I would, of course, make an excellent benevolent dictator, but those jobs are in short supply!
Ryan Bellerose (left) and his father, Mervin Bellerose
Varda Epstein: When did you first become conscious of Israel as more than just a foreign country?
Ryan Bellerose:I have had several “epiphanies” but honestly when I started to make friends with actual Israelis, that’s when I became more motivated to learn about these strange yet familiar people and their customs and ways. When you see people as people and not concepts it changes how you see everything. Jews are kind of mysterious to non-Jews, once I got past that, everything else came easy.
Ryan with a friend.
Varda Epstein: You have made a lot of enemies, even among Jews. Why is that?
Ryan Bellerose: Wow, you aren’t lobbing me any softballs, lol. To be blunt, I think that people don’t like to be reminded of their flaws and inconsistencies, and having someone who is not only willing to have hard conversations, but who is unapologetic about it, scares them.
Jews have become used to non-Jews being ignorant about Jewish history and culture at best, and hostile at worst. Many Jews themselves became complacent about their identity and so having some random Indian who isn’t Jewish, say “It’s important for Jews to BE Jews” can be threatening. After all if someone hasn’t really considered their identity much or spent any effort understanding it, having an outsider tell you how important it is, could be seen as a hostile act.
My father has a saying “ comfort is the enemy of identity” and he used that to explain to me why Métis who lived in the bush, stayed Métis, while many who went to live among the whites, assimilated at the first opportunity. I talk a lot about the importance of identity, and for people who struggle with their own identity, being told how important it is, can be daunting. It’s easier to attack the guy talking about it, than to really dive deep into the subject.
I am going to say something controversial here, I believe that often antisemitism is rooted in jealousy and a feeling of “why do these people think they are so special?” I believe that the Jews who are upset with me are motivated by something similar: they are upset because a non-Jew not only spent the time and effort learning about Jews and Judaism that they have not, but that he has actually shown some insight that they lack but feel entitled to. They’re thinking:
“What’s so special about this guy?”
I always say “knowledge comes from effort, not osmosis.” This bothers my critics who up until now, always got away with simply saying “I am a Jew therefore I automatically know more about Jews than any non Jew”.
I think those Jews get upset that a non-Jew would even spend the time learning about Jews. I find that Jews who are very strong in their identity, are comfortable with me and the way I speak because they understand it comes from a place of commonality: I am not trying to replace them and I actually listen and apply what I hear.
I spent time listening to and talking to actual Rabbis, and scholars BEFORE forming my opinions. I take that information, filter it through my lens, and share my insights and what I have learned. And one thing I have learned is that there is always more to learn, and that it’s a lot of work but it’s totally worth it, lol.
Ryan at AIPAC with Iris Breidbord Langman
Varda Epstein: Ryan, let’s stipulate: you’re smart. Growing up, were you smarter than the other kids you knew? Were you always this tough and straightforward?
Ryan Bellerose: Haha. I was pretty precocious. Merv (my dad) used to say that if there was a question I hadn’t asked, he never heard it lol.
Growing up, I tended to get in trouble a lot because I was always doing things like building a parachute out of my grandmother’s handmade quilt and some binder twine and other ridiculous things. I was the youngest grandchild on my father’s side for most of my early childhood, but was kind of the ringleader of my older cousins because of my “plans.” I was also really good at talking my way out of trouble when those plans invariably went awry.
Ryan with Roseanne Barr
Varda Epstein: I had always imagined you as a little boy, reading some book about Israel and discovering this indigenous people who got back their land, and that the idea gave you hope.
Ryan Bellerose: I was always pro-Israel because as a kid, out of everything I learned during my Catholic school days, I always liked the Maccabee stories best. I actually pissed off the priest once: they were asking all the kids which story was their favourite in the bible and why, and I said "I like the story of the Maccabees," and then I said, "Because they kicked ass."
Hahahaha. They sent me home.
Merv still laughs about all my arguments with the priest, lol. Father Mercredi just hated me, I think.
Ryan Bellerose has worn many hats, including this helmet, back when he played defensive tackle for the Calgary Wolfpack
Varda Epstein: Ouch. Hated you not just on Mercredi, but on every day of the week?
Ryan Bellerose: Hahahaha. But back then, in my school days, Israel was just an ancient place that I thought was kind of cool, and I always sided with the Jews against the Hellenists and the Romans, lol.
When my dad brought me that book about Entebbe, "Operation Thunderbolt," Israel was still sort of a mythical place to me. But when I started getting to actually know Israelis, suddenly It was like it all came together: this place I had always thought of as somewhat mythical was not just real, but that it was a group of indigenous people who somehow made it happen.
You might say I was interested in historical Israel when I was young, probably 7 or 8, then again in junior high, but it was just after university that I started realising that the struggle of the Jewish people was so similar to my people, and it all started because an anti-Israel asshat invited me into a political discussion group to "educate" me. That’s where I met a terrible person named Greta Berlin and she pissed me off so I started standing up for Israel and wrote my first article in 2013.
Varda Epstein: I don’t know about your first article, but I certainly remember Who’s Indigenous as I believe I did some light editing on that one, and even gave it its title, on Dave Lange’s Israellycool site.
I link to that piece all the time because it’s so damned good. And not because I fixed a few typos or gave it a name. It’s brilliant, Ryan. But why do people think “indigenous” as it relates to people, means the people who were there first? How can we change their minds?
Ryan Bellerose: It’s because they use Wikipedia and YouTube for everything. “Indigenous” in regard to human beings, means your people had a cultural development and a coalescence as a people on an ancestral land. It has nothing to do with time and everything to do with connection. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and when it comes to indigenous status, this truism is even more valid.
Varda Epstein: Can you tell us about your friendship with Ari Fuld?
Ryan Bellerose: I don’t really like talking about Ari. I am not really a sociable person and I don’t make a lot of friends. So losing an actual friend was hard.
Ari was a good man who was underappreciated when he was alive. I don’t think people understood the amount of effort or work that Ari put into the pro-Israel cause. I remember how much it bothered me to see people mocking his strength of purpose and calling him stuff like “zealot” when really all he was doing was defending his people and showing everyone by example, what it means to be a proud, strong Jew who is unapologetic about being Jewish.
Also, the dude was tireless. I mean I am known for being online a lot and all over the place attending pro- and anti-Israel events and filming and confronting asshats, and if anything: Ari was even more busy than I was, lol. This was a guy who walked the walk.
We were kind of sympatico from the start. Neither of us tolerated fools and we could both be blunt, but either of us would do anything for the people we care about. I think if there were more Ari's the world would be a better place. I always say that Ari is still here, because as long as there are people out there fighting for what’s right, Ari will be remembered.
From left to right: Ari Fuld (HY"D), Dr. Nan Greer, cofounder and executive director of Alistar International, and Ryan Bellerose
Varda Epstein: Ryan, how do you see your role within the Jewish community. Do you see yourself as having a role? Wouldn’t your straightforward style tend to rule out your eligibility to serve as an ambassador?
Ryan Bellerose:I think I am a bridge-builder and a supporting character in the story of the Jewish people. I think I am both a teacher and a student, because while I may have changed the outlook of many Jews and helped them see that they are indigenous people, they have changed me and helped me learn a lot about myself and identity in general.
I would be a terrible ambassador because ambassadors are politicians and I am not a politician. A politician tries to compromise and see both sides, and I am an advocate. I see the other side’s arguments but I advocate for MY side. I do not compromise unless it’s absolutely necessary because I’m not here to help the other side: They have their own advocates. So that’s not how I see my role anyway.
I am a friend, an advocate, an educator and a pathfinder. I am teaching non-Jews that Jews are just people who should be treated like you would treat anyone else, and I am teaching Indians that we need to stand with indigenous people based on facts not feelings.
Ryan, with my favorite people, the Hyman family of Efrat (photo courtesy: Leora Hyman)
I am a pathfinder because Jews need someone they trust to be consistent and keep their word, who isn’t gonna cut and run when things get tough. The truth is that Jewish history is very similar to ours insofar as people lying to us, misleading us, and such, so in order for us to have an ambassador, we need to build bridges of trust first. That’s not easy, especially with traumatised people on both sides.
Earlier you asked me why I have so many enemies and honestly I think a large part of it has to do with my consistency. I may evolve, I may change some of my beliefs, but the core of my beliefs never changes or wavers and that scares people. I am not pro-Israel or pro-Jewish out of a religious notion or some love of democracy. I don’t see Israel as a bastion of the west in the Middle East. I genuinely love and respect Jewish people because you are indigenous people, just like me, only unlike me, you overcame massive obstacles to obtain self-determination on your ancestral lands WHILE NEVER LOSING WHO YOU ARE.
You guys have a saying during Passover, Dayenu, and it applies for me here. If you had only ever given us an example of what indigenous people can accomplish, despite all odds?
It would have been enough.
Varda Epstein: Can you describe for us your spiritual outlook, what it was and how it has changed through the years? What changed it?
Ryan Bellerose:I follow traditional Cree spirituality. It’s a pantheistic belief system that my people have always followed. Basically we believe in the Creator of all things, that we are all part of the Creator but we are not the Creator.
I was raised Roman Catholic because that was my mother’s belief system, My father was extremely anti-religion because of his experiences with residential schools. I was pretty religious growing up and I slowly learned more about the issues within the Church and historically and how it treated my people and drifted away. When my fiancée was killed, I left religion entirely.
My first trip to Israel was the push to return to my indigenous beliefs. It took visiting the birthplace of Christianity to understand that I wasn’t meant to be Christian but that there was something deep and important missing from my life.
I advocate cultural resurgence, so I needed to walk the walk. Relearn my language. Learn my own people’s belief system and try harder to decolonise.
Ryan with my friend Michael Behar, in Seattle
Varda Epstein: What is your life goal?
Ryan Bellerose: the short answer? To leave things better than I found them. The detailed answer? To have enough money to be comfortable; start a family and continue my family line; to build bridges between indigenous peoples; and hopefully see the resurgence of my people. I have been blessed to meet a lot of cool and interesting people along the way.
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.
One of the more disingenuous parts of groups like IfNotNow demnding that Zionist organizations like Birthright include an anti-Zionist point of view is that no one - and I mean no one - ever even considers politely requesting so-called "pro-Palestinian" groups include the Zionist narrative in their discussions.
The reason this comes up is a small article in the PLO website. A delegation of students and professors from Glasgow University and from a university in California attended an "educational program on history, the Palestinian cause and Israeli violations against our people and their violation of international law" this summer.
Is anyone demanding that the PLO allow these students and professors to speak to Israelis, let alone Jewish settlers?
The very idea is absurd. Because absolutely no one expects Palestinians to be even-handed, or fair, or unbiased. No one demands that they consider Israeli positions as having any validity, or even that they have the right to be spoken out loud.
Birthright does give students an opportunity to ask about and learn about the Palestinian perspective. Do the anti-Israel tours - whether from the PLO or from Breaking the Silence or International Solidarity Movement - allow similar opportunities in their tours?
We all know the answer. According to these so-called progressives, Zionist groups must include an anti-Zionist narrative and anti-Zionist groups must also teach an anti-Zionist narrative. Pro-Zionist voices must be shut down or drowned out, because only one side has any legitimacy according to these people who congratulate themselves on how open-minded they are - in one direction.
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Kerry frankly admitted that America’s decision to abstain on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 on 23 December 2016: “was about preserving the two-state solution. That’s what we were standing up for: Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and security with its neighbors. That’s what we are trying to preserve for our sake and for theirs.”
Kerry was consumed by his own ignorance and arrogance when proclaiming: “Today, there are a number – there are a similar number of Jews and Palestinians living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. They have a choice. They can choose to live together in one state, or they can separate into two states. But here is a fundamental reality: if the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic – it cannot be both – and it won’t ever really be at peace. Moreover, the Palestinians will never fully realize their vast potential in a homeland of their own with a one-state solution.”
It obviously did not dawn on Kerry that there was another alternative to his “one state or two states” mantra: the division of the West Bank and Gaza between Israel, Jordan and Egypt in direct face to face negotiations to complete the allocation of sovereignty in former Palestine between Arabs and Jews first contemplated by the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Conference and the Treaty of Sevres in 1920, and the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.
Obama and Kerry’s treacherous act of abstaining on Resolution 2334 was swiftly repudiated by the House passing H -Res 11 by 342 votes to 80 on 5 January 2017.
The PLO has committed political hara-kiri since – refusing to negotiate with Israel on Trump’s yet-to-be-released peace plan – vacating the field to other Arab states including Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to fill the negotiating void.
The State Department’s recently re-designed website sends a clear message to Arab states wanting to end the Jewish-Arab conflict to come to the negotiating table.
Is the PA trying to ignite a new terror campaign? In anticipation of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs today, the PA Ministry of Religious Affairs has threatened "religious war."
The ministry compared Netanyahu's visit to the visit of then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount in 2000, which then PA Chairman Arafat exploited to ignite the PA's 5-year terror campaign - the Intifada. Over a period of 5 years, more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered in terror attacks that included numerous suicide bombings: "The Ministry of Religious Affairs emphasized in a statement it published yesterday that Netanyahu's visit constitutes a grave escalation and a blow to the Muslims' sensibilities, and that it will drag the region into a religious war whose consequences will be grave. It reminds us of [Israeli Prime Minister] Ariel Sharon's visit in Jerusalem (i.e., to the Temple Mount) in 2000, which ignited the Al-Aqsa Intifada."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 4, 2019]
The PA ministry also encouraged violence and confrontations: "The ministry called on our people to defend the Ibrahim Mosque and prevent all of the plans to take it over and remove the Muslims from it. He called on the international community to help and stop the Israeli actions, out of fear that the entire area will go up in flames."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 4, 2019]
While the cancellation of at least two events planned by the US embassy and scheduled to be held in Ramallah is significant, the fact that the organization taking credit for thwarting the events is the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces should possibly raise alarm.
During the September 2000 - 2005 terror war initiated by the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces functioned as the umbrella organization for coordination between many different terrorist groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Recently, one of the founders of Hamas, Hassan Yousef, elaborated on how Hamas terror activities during the terror war were coordinated with the PA under and directed by Yasser Arafat, and the active role played by the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces.
Hamas founder Hassan Yousef: “We were in contact with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (Hamas founder and leader), regular daily contact with Sheikh Yassin’s office. And for your information, at the time my office was the [Hamas] Movement’s gateway to the PA. Yasser Arafat was here in Ramallah, and did not leave, to the point that everything that the [Hamas] movement wanted I would convey [to Arafat], and we would sit and reach understandings, and discuss and talk among ourselves. For instance, Yasser Arafat would say to us: ‘At this stage we want to calm things,’ and we would calm them. There was mutual agreement. [Arafat would say]: ‘This time we want to move together and encourage things’ - and there were mutual understandings. The national relations were at the highest level at that time...”
Yasser Arafat coordinated Hamas and PA terror, says Hamas founder Hassan Yousef
But this school year the texts are more notable for what they omit.
In previous years, the textbooks at least mentioned the previous peace agreements and conferences between Israel and the PLO - the Oslo Accords, Wye River Agreement, Annapolis Conference of 2007 and so forth.
They are all erased.
Jordan's peace treaty with Israel - erased.
The textbooks have also removed examples of Jewish history in the land that were in previous editions:
Recognition and acknowledgement of Israel and its establishment in 1948.
Yasser Arafat’s call for a new era of coexistence, peace, and non-violence.
Negotiations with Israel as the ultimate goal to live side-by-side in peace and security.
The name "Israel" on two maps of a history textbook for eleventh grade.
Meetings between Israelis and PLO leading to peace negotiations.
Jewish historical presence and connection to Jerusalem as the Jews’ capital for that period.
Ancient Jewish kingdoms in Palestine such as "The Jews' David's Kingdom," "the Northern
Kingdom of Israel," "the Kingdom of Judea."
A map titled "Palestine in the Reign of Prophet David" with an accompanying passage about
the "Children of Israel."
The Jewish revolt of Bar Kokhba in Jerusalem.
All erased.
Jewish history is whitewashed and eliminated from the curriculum.
These aren't textbooks - they are propaganda and incitement.
As IMPACT-se writes, "The two-state solution and peace and coexistence with Israel are not options to be advocated within textbooks. There is no hint at even a possibility of solving the conflict with Israel peacefully. "
IMPACT-se also notes:
In addition, the text of Yasser Arafat’s letter of mutual recognition to Yizhak Rabin is presented with what appears to be intentional deletions. Arafat announced that the signing of the Declaration of Principles was an "historic event opening a new era of coexistence in peace and stability, an era without violence," and proclaimed the PLO's commitment to "assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance." Both appeared in the previous curriculum. Instead, violent struggle for the liberation of Palestine in its entirety is propagated. Jews and Israel are delegitimized and demonized to such a degree that one cannot perceive either as partners for peaceful coexistence.
Even Arafat's pretense of wanting peace and ending terror against Israel is gone.
Everyone who blames Israel for the lack of peace in the region studiously ignores how the PLO has been methodically raising generations not for peace but for war and terror. This is why there is no peace, period.
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Haaretz published an article by Muhammad Shehada, a "writer and civil society activist from the Gaza Strip and a student of Development Studies at Lund University, Sweden. He was the PR officer for the Gaza office of the Euro-Med Monitor for Human Rights."
Shehada is very upset at how the Arab world is embracing Israel, and he is trying to tell everyone that cooperation between Israel and Arab states will be a disaster for the world.
There was something unprecedented about the latest escalation between Israel and Hezbollah - and it's got nothing to do with firepower.
For the first time in the Israeli-Arab conflict, significant Arab officials (and mouthpieces for Arab regimes) openly and unabashedly took Israel’s side over their fellow Arabs, while others fell silent
.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister attacked Lebanon's government for "standing by, watching battles taking place on its borders," the UAE foreign minister said - in a dig at Hezbollah - "The decision to make war, peace or stability should be the decision of the state," Saudi regime loyalists cheered and applauded Israel’s attack on "the ugly face of Iran," and the crown prince of Gulf Likudnik trolls, Mohammed Saud, declared: "Netanyahu knows what to do against Hezbollah."
Not long ago, such full-throated support for Israel from states and their subjects who don’t even officially recognize Israel would have been astonishing. Not long ago it was the expectation that any even tentative references to Israel had to be justified by - at least - paying lip service to the Palestinian cause, or the peace process.
One word has changed it all: Iran.
So far, so good. Who could be against peace, whether de facto or de jure, between Israel and the Arab world?
Palestinians, that's who.
Shehada explains how peace is a bad thing because it is "humiliating."
This [normalization] paradigm embraces the humiliating, defeatist path of normalizing relations with Israel regardless of, and untethered from, any progress on the Palestinian front, because: Iran.
...
What a victory for Benjamin Netanyahu: he can present himself as the pioneer who broke the normalization game and exposed its fragility, while offering a vision of another new Middle East which doesn’t require any practical or ideological retreat vis-a-vis the Palestinians.
Along the way, he accumulates domestic political capital by framing himself as a King who can twist Arab leaders’ arms, humiliating - if not forcing - them into submission.
Indeed, it’s a common belief in the Arab world that Netanyahu deliberately humiliates Arab officials engaged in normalization, whether this is grounded in fact or not.
Is there a better example of how the honor/shame dynamic is an enemy of finding a win-win solution?
Notice how Shahada ignores the other benefits of relations with Israel - cooperation in intelligence, science, technology, education. He places it in terms only of opposing Iran - and yet, even on that factor alone, Arab nations are still acting in their self-interest in allying with Israel, a fact that Gazans like Shehada want to disappear.
And they’re ignoring the depth of Arab popular solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Netanyahu himself has admitted that the biggest threat to normalization is grassroots Arab opposition: "The greatest obstacle to the expansion of peace today is not found in the leaders of the countries around us. The obstacle is public opinion on the Arab street," he declared at the event marking the 40th anniversary of Sadat’s Knesset speech.
Yet Egypt and Jordan, which are the most antisemitic states in the world, maintain that peace because it is in their self-interest. It would be wonderful if Israel was accepted completely, but Arab antisemitism (not solidarity with Palestinians, whom they really don't care about) is what prevents it. Still, who will argue that Israel's peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan are a bad thing?
Only Palestinians.
Normalization without any progress on Palestine is a trap: covert cooperation is fine, but public acts have to be kept occasional, and contained, for fear of a potentially destabilizing public outcry.
Actually, the number of articles in Gulf Arab media openly touting cooperation with Israel are increasing. Most Arabs will never embrace Jews in positions of power in the Middle East but they will accept a strong Jewish state, the way they accept a strong Christian West.
For any peace process, the implications are severe. Israeli-Arab normalization has always been one of the last bargaining chips Palestinians retained in peace negotiations. Losing that leverage leaves Palestinians cornered, isolated and in despair, increasing the possibility of an explosion of chaos in the occupied territories.
So, in the end, Shehada falls back on the oldest trope in the Palestinian arsenal: If we don't get what we want we will start to kill people.
This article proves the opposite of what it tries to prove: that the main obstacle to peace is Palestinian rejectionism, not Israeli actions. Israel can co-exist with Arabs in the Middle East, but Palestinians have rejected all peace offers because their real goal is the destruction of Israel in stages, and Israel will never accept that.
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Thursday, September 05, 2019
Elder of Ziyon
Maale Adummim, September 5 - A resident of this town in the Judean Desert east of Jerusalem gushed with pride today upon mastering the task of setting his VHS machine in advance to record an upcoming television broadcast, a feat to which he has devoted the bulk of his spare time over the last thirty-two years.
