למלחמה בין ישראל והחמאס ברצועת עזה יש השלכות חמורות לגבי ביטחונם של הישראלים הגרים מחוץ למדינה. המראות הקשים של ההרוגים הרבים בעזה מסיבים נזק גדול לישראל. רבים בעולם כמעט ושכחו מה הביא לפעילות של ישראל בעזה – אירוע השבעה באוקטובר הנחשב לדבר בלתי נתפס. ולמרות זאת, בעולם מתעסקים כיום בעיקר בצד הפלסטיני הסובל מהרוגים ופצועים רבים, בו בזמן שרצועת עזה הולכת ונמחקת
הפגנות נגד ישראל, ישראלים, יהודים ומוסדות ישראלים ויהודים בעולם מתרחשות כל העת במקומות רבים. הכעס והשנאה המופנה כלפי ישראל כבר מזמן חצה את הקו האדום ולא זכורה תקופה כזו בעבר
בנוסף להפגנות יש גילוי שנאה ואלימות כלפי ישראלים ויהודים הגרים בערים שונות במערב. גם תיירים מישראל מרגישים כבר שלא בנוח לטייל במקומות שונים
המטה לביטחון לאומי פרסם לפני מספר שבועות היום את הערכת האיום לישראלים בחו”ל מצד גורמי טרור, במטרה להגביר את המודעות של הציבור הישראלי לאיומי הטרור במקומות שונים בעולם. במוקד: בקשה מהישראלים להימנע מהגעה למדינות שכנות של שיראל ובהן: לטורקיה, מרוקו, מצרים (כולל חצי האי סיני) וירדן. וכן מומלץ באופן כללי לא להחצין סממנים ישראליים או יהודים
בהודעה שפרסם המטה לביטחון לאומי נכתב כי בשנים האחרונות מזוהה מגמה מתמשכת של החמרה באיום כלפי ישראלים ויהודים בחו”ל, שהוחרפה מאז תחילת מלחמת חרבות ברזל (בחודש אוקטובר אשתקד), לאור עלייה במוטיבציה של גורמי טרור שונים בעולם לממש פיגועים. במסגרת זאת, בולט האיום האיראני שהתעצם ולצידו גם חמאס וגורמי ג’האד עולמי, המקדמים ביתר שאת פיגועים נגד ישראלים ויהודים מחוץ לישראל
עוד נכתב כי בחודשים האחרונים סוכלו עשרות פיגועים נגד יעדים ישראלים ברחבי העולם. לאור זאת, הדגישו במטה לביטחון לאומי כי פוטנציאל איומי הטרור כלפי ישראלים ויהודים כעבור למעלה משבעה מתחילת המלחמה – גבוה במיוחד
חודשים האחרונים התגברו הפרסומים של ארגונים אלו ותומכיהם, הקוראים ומעודדים לפגוע ביהודים וישראלים ברחבי העולם. במדינות המערב, האיום המרכזי הינו מצד מפגעים בודדים, אשר פועלים בהשראת הארגונים ועלולים לממש פיגועים כנגד ישראלים ויהודים, כפי שאירע למשל בשוויץ ששם נדקר אזרח מקומי יהודי בראשית חודש מרץ. זאת, ביתר שאת לאור אווירת המלחמה, האנטישמיות וההסתה חסרת התקדים נגד ישראל, ישראלים ויהודים ברחבי העולם
גורם המדיני ציין כי גם משחקי היורו שיתקיימו במהלך קיץ בגרמניה והאולימפיאדה שתתקיים בצרפת, שני אירועים שעשרות אלפי ישראלים צפויים לפקוד אותם, הם אירועי שיש לנקוט בהם זהירות מיוחדת. עיקר החשש הוא מגורמי ג’יהאד עולמי, כאשר גם ישראלים ויהודים על הכוונת, אמר הגורם הישראלי. בכל רגע נתון יש מאמצים חובקי עולם כדי לבצע פיגועים נגד ישראלים ויהודים, הוסיף אותו גורם. יחד עם גורמי ביטחון מקומיים, קהילת הביטחון של ישראל מבצעת אינספור פעולות על מנת לסכל. מפעם לפעם יש פרסומים על סיכולים, אך מה שמתפרסם הוא קצה הקרחון של מה שקורה באמת
אני עצמי חזרתי לאחרונה מנסיעה בת שבועיים בספרד כולל הערים ברצלונה ומדריד. לאור המצב המתואר לעיל נקטתי באמצעי זהירות מירביים. לא הסתובבתי ליד שום ארגון יהודי או ישראלי ולא דיברתי עברית בשום מקום. אני לא נושא שום סממנים ישראלים או יהודים בכל מקרה אך הפעם הקפדתי במיוחד. ולכן גם לא הבאתי עימי לטיול הפעם ספר בעברית. ראיתי בטיול לא מעט דגלים פלסטינים התלויים באזורים שונים בברצלונה וספרד וזה לא בדיוק נעים
Members of ZAKA identification, extraction and rescue team search through the destruction in a Gaza Envelope community following the Oct. 7 attacks. (photo from ZAKA)
The annual Yom Hazikaron ceremony, marking Israel’s day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, took place May 12 at Temple Sholom. It was an unprecedentedly poignant ceremony, with hundreds of in-person attendees and hundreds more attending virtually, many of whom lost loved ones on Oct. 7 and in the war that began that day.
Dikla and Etsik Mizrachi, parents of Ben Mizrachi, the young Vancouver man murdered while heroically providing medical aid to others at the Nova music festival, both spoke.
“This Yom Hazikaron is different,” said Dikla Mizrachi. “This Yom Hazikaron, I can’t think of the many lives that we’ve lost. My heart can’t take the burden. The weight of my grief is too heavy to bear. This Yom Hazikaron, I can only think of one special boy, a boy who had big dreams, life ambitions.”
Ben grew up in Vancouver, she said, attended Vancouver Hebrew Academy and then King David High School.
“Ben was so proud of who he was,” his mother told the packed synagogue. “He was proud to be a Jew, he was proud to be Israeli. He had his mind set that, after high school, he would go to Israel and learn in a pre-army Mechina program to prepare him for the IDF. He couldn’t imagine himself doing anything else. And he didn’t. He did it all.”
Ben Mizrachi served three years in the parachute unit and completed a paramedic course.
“On Oct. 7, at the young age of 22, Ben was brutally taken from this world at the Nova festival in Re’im,” his mother said. “But he was not taken without a fight. His personality and moral core would not allow it. He did not run away to save himself when he had the chance. He showed tremendous courage and bravery as he tried to save others.
“We do not know everything about the last hours of Ben’s life. But we have been able to piece together some of them. What we know is that, from 6:30 a.m. to 8:10 a.m., Ben was under attack. We know that he and Itai Bausi, a friend from his kibbutz who went with him to Nova, made a choice to leave the safety of their car and their chance to flee. We know they made this choice in order to render aid to the injured,” she said.
Two brothers who survived the music festival attack have shared the story of how Ben used his medical skills to attend to the injuries of a young woman and then, with three other young men, transported her on a stretcher to the medical tent, holding her at hip level to avoid snipers.
“We know after they deposited the woman the boys then separated to run in different directions to escape their attackers,” said Dikla Mizrachi. “We know from the last voicemail message Itai’s girlfriend received from him that he was shot in his back and his leg. We know from both the phones that Itai called Ben multiple times but there was no response and we know that Ben died a hero, as did Itai.
“This past Oct. 7, our life as a family and our life as a Jewish nation changed forever,” she said. “Our collective hearts are completely shattered. Today, we are all in mourning. We all have soldiers in Gaza. We all have 132 hostages in Gaza. We all have evacuees from the north scattered all over the country. We are all suffering together.”
She told the audience that, at her son’s shiva, an army friend of Ben’s told her that he had lost a cousin in 2021, in Operation Guardian of the Walls.
“That year, on Yom Hazikaron, Ben had called him and said, ‘I know it’s your first Yom Hazikaron, so if you need or want to talk to someone, I’m here for you,’” she recounted. “This was Ben, thinking about others at every moment and being so sensitive.”
Addressing her late son, she said: “Ben, this is my first Yom Hazikaron and I need you.
“I need you to help our family choose life each day and give us strength. I know that you are still with us, but can you please send us a sign very soon, a sign that you are OK and in a good and peaceful place? Ben, we will do our best to live our lives according to your values, to be there for others, as you always were, and to cherish the things you loved. We love you. We think about you and we miss you every day a bit more.”
Later in the evening, Ben’s father, Etsik, said Kaddish for his son.
Geoffrey Druker, who has led the annual event for years, noted that this year was different.
“We have within our community families who lost loved ones in the past seven months, lost a son, a father, a brother, a sister, cousins, extended family, and friends,” he said. “Tonight, with our bereaved families here and worldwide, we remember our fallen in the establishment and the defence of the state of Israel, and all who have been murdered in terrorist attacks. We remember them all.”
Members of the BC Jewish community lit candles and spoke about those they have lost. A montage of photographs remembered friends and family of locals, from 1948 to recent months. Druker shared individual stories, a microcosm of the many stories of tragedy and heroism from Oct. 7 and the months since.
He told of the five members of the Kutz family of Kfar Aza – father Aviv, 54, mother Livnat, 49, and sons Rotem, 19, Yonatan, 17, and Yiftach, 15 – who were found hugging each other on a bed, father Aviv trying to provide a protective embrace.
In all, 64 members of Kfar Aza were murdered, and 13 soldiers killed in the battles on Kfar Aza. Among these residents was Mordechai Modi Amir.
“Modi was a creative person, always thinking outside the box,” Druker said. “So, when they built his secure room, he decided to add a small shower room, a room within a room, with its own door. At 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7 – when the red alert siren went off, Modi, his two daughters and granddaughter entered the safe room.
“When they heard shots close by, and voices speaking Arabic, he told his daughters and granddaughter to enter the tiny shower room and to remain quiet as he closed the door behind them. He then stood waiting in front of the shower room door,” Druker said. “He most likely thought, when the terrorists enter the safe room, they will see a man standing by the wall, they will shoot him, and move on. A member of Kfar Aza later said: ‘Modi was shot several times and fell to the floor. He most likely, in his last seconds alive, saw the terrorist leave, knowing he saved his family.’ And,indeed, 13 hours later, his three family members left the tiny shower room alive, and survived.”
Destruction at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. (photo from US Embassy Jerusalem)
Vancouverite Amnon Kones and his family lived on Kfar Aza for 20 years and knew many of those killed. He lit a candle of remembrance, as did Sam Heller, who lived there during his military service as a lone soldier.
Adi Vital-Kaploun, an Israeli-Canadian who lived on Kibbutz Holit, was a relative of Vancouver residents Jason Rivers and Helen Heacock Rivers.
“Her husband was away that weekend,” Druker explained. “When Adi realized terrorists had infiltrated her kibbutz, she phoned her husband and asked how to operate his weapon, to defend her children.
“By some miracle, Adi persuaded the terrorists to allow her two young boys, Negev, 3-and-a-half, and Eshel, 6 months old, to be kept by her neighbour, Avital. Adi was shot and murdered in her home, and her body booby-trapped by the terrorists,” said Druker. “The Hamas terrorists then marched Adi’s neighbour, Avital, who was carrying Negev and Eshel, towards Gaza. At the Gaza border, for some unknown reason, they were released, and they survived, though 3-and-a-half-year-old Negev had been shot in the foot.”
Noam Caplan and Kessem Keidar, members of Habonim Dror Camp Miriam, lost family members and a friend on Oct. 7. Caplan spoke of his cousin, Maya Puder, 25, who was murdered at the Nova festival. Keidar remembered her cousin’s uncle, Amit Vax (Wachs), who was murdered in Netiv HaAsara.
“When he was killed, he was not aware that his brother Igal Vax was murdered earlier, while he too was fighting the terrorists on the other side of the moshav,” said Keidar.
The pair lit candles in memory of these victims, as well as Vivian Silver, another Canadian-Israeli, who lived on Kibbutz Be’eri.
It is estimated that about 120 people were murdered on Kibbutz Be’eri, among them Sylvia Ohayon. Dalia Ohayon lit a candle in memory of her sister.
Five members of the Bira family were murdered on the kibbutz: Oron Bira, 52, and his wife, Yasmin Laura Bira, 51, and their daughters Tahir, 22, and Tahel, 15, along with Oron’s elder brother, Tal, 62. Yahav, Oron and Yasmin’s son, was in another house, and is the sole survivor.
Navah Jacobs, a member of the extended Bira family, lit a candle in their memory.
Vancouverite Hofit Sabi recalled her cousin, Yinon Tamir, a 20-year-old paratrooper killed in action in the Gaza Strip in November, having earlier served among the first responders at Kibbutz Be’eri.
“Before going into Gaza, a few weeks after the battle of Be’eri, another comrade told of how Yinon comforted and guided him through his fears and anxieties to go into Gaza,” said Sabi. “Yinon promised that he would stay by his side and protect him, and he did, until his death. Yinon’s courage and leadership qualities shone through.”
Tamir had told his mother that he saw things at Be’eri that he could never unsee and that he felt a profound sense of privilege to serve and protect the right “to live as free people in our homeland.”
Itzhak Ben Bassat, a colonel nicknamed Benba, had just returned from vacation abroad at the end of a storied military career when he received a message to head for Be’eri on Oct. 7. He fought there for two days, securing the kibbutz, and survived. He died in battle two months later, age 44. His sister, Hamutal Ben Bassat, lit a candle in memory of her brother.
Nicky Wasserman Fried, whose uncle Aaron Fried died in the 1948 War of Independence, lit a candle in his memory and told the audience of casualties in Vancouver’s partnership region in northern Israel.
“Three IDF soldiers from our region were killed fighting Hamas as they infiltrated our communities surrounding Gaza on Oct. 7,” Fried said. “Since Oct. 7, an additional seven soldiers and three civilians have been killed.”
Cantor Yaacov Orzech chanted El Moleh Rachamim. The Clore & Roll Ensemble, who were the featured entertainers at the next evening’s Yom Ha’atzmaut event, performed, as did singers Mayan Molland, Shir Barzel and the Meitar Choir. Shir Barzel played piano.
The ceremony was presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Rabbinical Association of Vancouver and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.
Last November, Dror Israel helped evacuees from northern Israel celebrate the holiday of Sigd. (photo from Dror Israel)
Noam Schlanger of Dror Israel is returning to British Columbia to discuss the group’s emergency response after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel. He will speak at Congregation Emanu-El in Victoria on May 28, at 7 p.m., and at Congregation Beth Israel in Vancouver on June 2, at 5 p.m.
“We had been working with many of the affected communities for a long time before the attacks, so, when the war broke, we had the connections and the know-how to immediately set up educational frameworks for evacuated communities, with an emphasis on therapeutic and empowering platforms,” Schlanger the Independent.
“I will also be talking about our work with the tens of thousands of evacuees from the north, who still haven’t returned to their towns and homes. We have been providing day camps, leadership training courses and social-emotional support to many children and teens who have been living in cramped hotel rooms with their parents for seven months.”
Schlanger is an engagement director with Dror Israel, an Israeli organization that teaches leadership and responsibility for both individuals and community. Comprised of 1,300 trained educators in 16 communities on the social and economic periphery of the country, the organization promotes social activism to drive positive change. Educators live in the neighbourhoods they serve to bridge gaps and solve local problems. Through its youth movement, schools and programming in Israel, it helps an estimated 150,000 people a year.
Dror Israel educators have supported children traumatized by previous wars, the COVID lockdowns and the war in Ukraine. During the current war, the organization, in cooperation with local municipalities and the Israel Defences Forces Home Front Command, has established programs to help evacuees and residents who have been hardest hit.
Schlanger shared several stories of how Dror Israel has played a crucial role in allowing life and events in the country to continue as normally as possible under the circumstances. In November last year, they helped evacuees celebrate Sigd, a holiday celebrated by Ethiopian Jews that falls 50 days after Yom Kippur.
This past March, students from Dror Israel’s Tel Aviv high school used their skills in urban agriculture to create community gardens. The portable gardens were made at several evacuee centres for displaced communities and not only provide fresh produce but therapeutic spaces that give solace and connection.
In April, 400 children from the evacuated city of Kiryat Shmona were supplied structure and some fun through a Passover day camp. The children, from grades 1 to 6, who are presently housed in Tel Aviv hotels, went bowling, visited an amusement park and had a picnic near the Alexander River.
Dror Israel has been giving evacuees the chance to have some semblance of a normal life. (photos from Dror Israel)
Dror Israel works with animals as well. Following the Oct. 7 attacks, many dogs ran away or were leftbehind. With the help and care of students in the Dog Training Vocational Course at Dror Israel’s high school in Karmiel, dogs went from being fearful and hesitant to curious and loving, and many are now ready for adoption.
Besides being an engagement director, Schlanger’s involvement with Dror Israel has included leading a youth centre in Kafr Manda, an Arab town in Lower Galilee, and working at the community garden in Akko (northern Israel).
From Schlanger’s standpoint, the essence of Dror Israel is one of an inclusive vision of Zionism that yearns to create space for everyone, and the dream of a just and equal Israel. He believes it is a welcome message amid the polarized discourse that has been prevalent in the country for many years.
Schlanger last visited British Columbia in the summer of 2022 and has maintained a close relationship with both Congregation Emanu-El and Congregation Beth Israel. In October 2023, only a couple of weeks after the Hamas attacks, he wrote to his friends in Victoria, “We will do our best to better people’s lives during these terrible days. Our educators across the country are continuing to assess the safest and most necessary next steps in our communities.”
“The sense of connection goes deep into our community and we have people there, too,” said Susan Holtz, executive director of Emanu-El, about the synagogue’s ties with Dror Israel.
Rabbi Adam Stein of Congregation Beth Israel said, “We are very excited to have Noam come here. Dror Israel is a wonderful organization that has been doing great work for Israeli civil society, especially for those who were evacuated after Oct. 7.”
“I visited Dror Israel in Akko and was very impressed at the programs they offered and the process they undertook,” Beth Israel member Penny Gurstein added. “Their commitment to social justice and partnerships between Jews, Arabs, and all sectors of Israeli society is even more needed now.”
Dror Israel was started in 2006 by graduates of the Israeli Youth Movement, Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed, who served together in the IDF and shared a belief in the founding principles of Zionism.
After his talk in Vancouver, Schlanger will travel to Portland to speak at the annual federation meeting there. For more information about Dror Israel, visit drorisrael.org.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Spending a night in late March at Kibbutz Erez in southwestern Israel was an unforgettable experience. Visiting friends, it was somewhat eerie. Most residents have not returned since the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, and the absence is profound.
The area is like a Canadian suburb. A group of houses surrounds a large grassy area, which has children’s playgrounds and lemon, orange and kumquat trees. This type of living is a rarity in Israel, where most people live in apartment buildings.
While the environment was scenic and comfortable, explosions could be heard in the distance and puffs of smoke periodically arose from Gaza, the border of which is less than a kilometre away. The Israel Defence Forces were entrenched nearby.
Kibbutz Erez fared better on Oct. 7 than many other kibbutzim and towns in the region because they received advanced warning from a neighbouring kibbutz that an attack was underway. Their neighbours had seen hang gliders from Gaza soaring overhead.
The security team of Kibbutz Erez quickly assembled to try to prevent the invaders from entering the kibbutz through the main gate. First, they called the IDF to make sure that the army wasn’t conducting an exercise. Receiving confirmation that it was a terrorist attack, the kibbutzniks asked how long it would take for the army to come – they were told they were on their own.
A firefight involving rifles, grenades and RPGs ensued. According to one of the kibbutzniks, “we fought like lions.” This was no ordinary military engagement, but a battle to protect their children and other family members from the Hamas terrorists. If they failed, they knew that Hamas would hurt their children.
Amir, one of the kibbutzniks, whose wife was expecting their first baby, was killed in the encounter. Danny received a bullet to the neck and Uri suffered wounds to his head and leg.
Liora, a nurse described as having nerves of steel, recognized that neither Danny nor Uri would survive without immediate medical attention. Both were bleeding profusely, and their level of consciousness was decreasing. With the help of a friend, she packed them into a car, drove out of the kibbutz amid a hail of bullets and got them to a nearby hospital, where they received lifesaving treatment. Both survived in relatively good physical shape.
After a fight of close to two hours, the terrorists decided that Kibbutz Erez was too difficult to overcome, and moved on to wreak havoc on the next village. The IDF did not arrive until later that day.
The whole kibbutz was evacuated to Mitzpe Ramon. Many of the families moved into hotel rooms there. After several weeks, makeshift schools were established and members of the kibbutz achieved some measure of normality, as much as it can be normal living in a hotel,totally dependent on caring neighbours, a supportive community and government help. Since then, some of the kibbutzniks have relocated to Kiryat Gat, which is much closer to their home. Some, including my friend, have returned home.
What is the future of Kibbutz Erez? People are slowly trickling back. The telling test will be in the summer, if families return in preparation for the start of the school year in September.
Kibbutz Hatzerim and Kibbutz Be’eri
Earlier in March, we visited extended family who live on Kibbutz Hatzerim, and heard about their experiences on Oct. 7.
People on Kibbutz Hatzerim awoke that day to sirens and multiple WhatsApp messages from friends and relatives, letting them know that Israel was under attack by Hamas terrorists, who were infiltrating the settlements close to the border. Were the attackers coming to Kibbutz Hatzerim, 20 kilometres west of Beer Sheva? Rumours circulated that they were on their way to Tel Aviv. People were reluctant to turn on their TVs, to protect their children from seeing the horrors that were happening. People received no directives from government sources or from the army. It was an information vacuum.
Some visitors at the kibbutz, who had arrived for Simchat Torah, decided to return to their homes in central Israel, but was it safe to drive there? Nobody knew.
Would the kibbutzniks be able to defend themselves? They did not have many weapons and the kibbutz could be easily infiltrated from several locations. But people on Kibbutz Hatzerim ended up being the fortunate ones. The terrorists were planning to move in that direction but didn’t make it that far. Apparently, they had killed and kidnapped enough people by then – 364 people killed and 44 kidnapped at the Nova music festival alone, mainly young people.
After Oct. 7, life returned to some degree of routine on Kibbutz Hatzerim. However, there were frequent missile attacks, necessitating trips to the bomb shelters. People were called up to do army service (miluim). The IDF was fighting in Gaza and soldiers were being killed. The plight of the more than 240 hostages was on everybody’s minds.
The death and destruction of some of Kibbutz Hatzerim’s neighbours is indescribable. Of special note is Kibbutz Be’eri: approximately 70 terrorists entered the kibbutz. Of the 1,000-plus residents, 97 kibbutz members were killed, 11 people were abducted and one-third of the houses were severely damaged.
Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Hatzerim have a lot in common. Hatzerim is famous for having developed the drip-irrigation technique and has a large production facility at the kibbutz. Be’eri houses one of the largest printing companies in Israel. Both kibbutzim resisted privatization, which many others had adopted as additional sources of revenue.
Hatzerim and Be’eri were both established in 1946 and both were comprised mainly of people on the left of the political spectrum. They looked forward to a peaceful future with the residents of Gaza. Many were involved in a program that transported sick people from Gaza to hospitals in Israel for advanced treatment. One of the residents of Be’eri, Vivian Silver, originally from Winnipeg, had learned Arabic to better communicate with her Palestinian neighbours, but that didn’t save her life on Oct. 7.
Currently, most residents of Kibbutz Be’eri are being housed in temporary locations, such as hotels in the Dead Sea area. They are safe and relatively free from missile attacks, but life is far from normal. Trying to reestablish a kibbutz lifestyle, while living in a crowded hotel with none of the amenities that glue kibbutzniks together, is challenging.
A house in Kibbutz Be’eri after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. (photo by Tomer Persico)
A massive building project is now underway adjacent to Kibbutz Hatzerim. A whole new temporary kibbutz to house the residents of Be’eri is under construction. The plan is to have the temporary kibbutz finished by the summer, so that families can move in before school starts in September.
Some facilities, such as medical clinics and administrative offices, will be shared by the two kibbutzim. Otherwise, the temporary Kibbutz Be’eri will have its own houses, schools and offices. Hatzerim will expand its present dental clinic, seniors lounge and grocery store to accommodate the increased needs from the larger population. In typical kibbutz fashion, members of both kibbutzim have met many times to jointly plan this project.
The ultimate plan is to rebuild the original Kibbutz Be’eri, which was mainly destroyed on Oct. 7. It is hoped that this will be accomplished within the next two years.
Kibbutz Yiron
Look at the label on your kosher wine from Israel. Most likely it comes from Kibbutz Yiron. Next year will probably be different, as the kibbutz is on the Lebanese border and has been evacuated – no one is allowed into the area. As a result, according to one kibbutz member, the pruning of the vines, which usually takes place in the spring, did not happen this year. The same kibbutznik informed me that $20,000 worth of his favourite apple, Pink Lady, was left to rot.
Kibbutz Yiron is an oasis in the desert. We have visited because we have friends who live there, but people come from many other places in Israel and elsewhere to enjoy the mountain scenery, go for hikes and rest in a peaceful environment. Lebanon is visible in the background, but the border was quiet. It is heartbreaking to see this piece of paradise abandoned.
Spring pruning hasn’t been possible at Kibbutz Yiron’s vineyards because of the evacuation. (photo by B. Negin / flickr)
The jewel of Yiron was its Pinat Chai, a literal oasis consisting of a zoo with multiple animals, including a python, which would be taken out on non-feeding days and draped around the necks of unsuspecting visitors. Peacocks, ducks and geese roamed freely. Deer would run around their enclosed area, frequently escaping into the wider area, trying to evade recapture. A lake in the middle of the zoo was a star attraction. Row boats and paddleboats navigated the small artificial lake in a region with no natural lakes.
Kibbutz members looked forward to the day when Pinat Chai would serve as a meeting place for children and families of different origins. They anticipated a day when Lebanese children would enjoy themselves at Pinat Chai together with Israeli children.
But the zoo is now gone. The government also ordered them out of the kibbutz. The animals have been relocated to other places in Israel, and even to other countries.
The evacuation was part of a larger one that included all settlements close to the Lebanese border, like the city of Kiryat Shmona, with 22,000 inhabitants; and the town of Metulla, home of Canada Centre and one of only a few skating rinks in Israel. This area of northern Israel has special significance to the Jewish community of Vancouver, as our partnership region. Since the mid-1990s, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver has worked closely with Etzba HaGalil (the Galilee Panhandle).
Kibbutz Yiron was not attacked on Oct. 7. However, the northern border has heated up since then. Hezbollah has been firing many missiles into the region, sometimes 30 per day, killing several Israelis.
Villages, especially in the Gaza Envelope, are receiving government compensation and many have relocated so that they are all living as a group, whether in Mitzpe Ramon or Eilat or the hotels at the Dead Sea. People in the north have not received the same compensation, so they are widely scattered. The kibbutznik with whom I spoke is living in a village close to Haifa. When I asked him when he’s going back to his home, he said anywhere from six months to maybe a couple of years.
There are many in Israel, including government ministers, who think that a war with Hezbollah is imminent. Hezbollah’s arsenal of weapons is much larger than that of Hamas, so a war with them could be even more destructive. The IDF has been stationing additional troops in the north, as tensions rise. Many people are strengthening their bomb shelters.
Looking to the future
Oct. 7 changed Israel in dramatic ways. Stories of neglect, abandonment and destruction are legion. At the same time, Israelis have shown incredible resilience to plan and rebuild for the future.
For many years, kibbutzim have defined Israel’s borders and acted as a protective barrier, both in the north and surrounding the Gaza Strip. But will the kibbutzim be able to rebuild their lives with some semblance of security? Can they ever again trust a government and an army that so dramatically let them down?
People are slowly returning to the kibbutzim surrounding Gaza, but many may never return. For the people along the Lebanese border, the situation in some sense is more dire. They have been exiled from their residences for more than seven months. The agricultural and industrial bases of the kibbutzim economies have been shattered. When will they be able to return? Will the small-scale conflict in progress along the Lebanese-Israel border become a major war?
It’s a very challenging time to be an Israeli, especially a kibbutznik living close to Israel’s borders. Hopefully, their future will include some degree of peace and normality.
Larry Barzelai is a semi-retired Vancouver family physician, who travels to Israel frequently to visit his three grandchildren there. He is presently co-chair of the Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia.
MP Anthony Housefather was in Vancouver last week. (photo from Government of Canada)
Anthony Housefather, the Liberal MP who openly considered joining the Conservatives, made an urgent plea during a presentation in Vancouver last week for Jews and pro-Israel voters to keep a foot on both sides of the political divide.
Housefather, member of Parliament for the Montreal riding of Mount Royal, was on the West Coast for a series of meet-and-greets with Jewish organizations and individuals. At Temple Sholom just before Shabbat on May 17, Housefather was open about the disappointments some Jewish Canadians – including himself – have felt with the current Liberal government.
“We’ve seen a government that has had an excellent record on Israel for the past eight years turn away from that excellent record that we all cherish so much,” he said before going into examples he said show his party has been a voice for Jews and Israel.
Since Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party came to power in 2015, Housefather said, Canada has had a better voting record at the United Nations than the previous Conservative government had.
“We voted against 87% of the anti-Israel resolutions at the UN, comparable only to the United States, at about 90%,” he said. “Most European countries were between zero and 10%.”
On antisemitism, Housefather said it was his party that appointed a special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and antisemitism – first Irwin Cotler and now Deborah Lyons – and adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism. The federal government apologized for this country slamming the doors on Jewish refugees before and during the Holocaust, initiated Jewish Heritage Month, and made antisemitism one of four pillars of the federal antiracism strategy, he said.
“I’ve been proud of the record of my party while we have been in government on these issues,” he said.
“Since Oct. 7, I think the Jewish community across the country has felt somewhat abandoned,” he said. In January, the government was “not able to articulate that Israel was not committing genocide,” he said. The decision to restore funding to UNRWA – the UN’s Palestinianrelief agency some of whose employees, evidence shows, were involved in the Oct. 7 terrorism – was a blow to many Jewish Canadians. The turning point for Housefather was the New Democratic Party motion that was widely seen as condemning Israel, including calling for an end to military trade with the country.
“Unfortunately, the decision was made to amend [the motion], which made the resolution better, but it was still bad,” Housefather said. In the end, only he and two other Liberals voted against the motion. What really hurt, said Housefather, was when the NDP member who moved the motion was given a standing ovation, including by Liberal MPs.
This combination of events led Housefather to question his place in the party and to publicly acknowledge he was considering crossing the floor. He decided to stay with the Liberals, in part because the prime minister tasked him with new responsibilities to address antisemitism, but also, he said, because he realized that his voice – and those of other Jewish and pro-Israel Canadians – is needed in the governing party.
“I need to be there to make our voices heard in the party,” he said. “Once you place all your eggs in one basket and you have no allies in the other party when it comes to power, then you’re screwed.”
Housefather has a list of actions he wants from the government and others. He is urging Criminal Code amendments to add “bubble legislation,” which would prevent protests within a certain distance from synagogues, Jewish schools and community centres, after protesters laid siege to a Jewish community building in Montreal and people inside were prevented from leaving for hours.
Police need to be told that they must enforce the law around harassment and hate speech, and university administrations need to act to keep students safe, he said.
Housefather pushed for parliamentary hearings on campus antisemitism, which have now begun.
He urged Jewish Canadians to develop relationships with their elected officials, and he passionately urged them to leave their hatred aside.
Housefather said he gets barraged by hate messages from antisemites and anti-Zionists – including death threats – but it’s the hate from Jews that really upsets him. No matter how much some voters agree with him on issues that are important to the Jewish community, he said, they nevertheless condemn him in extreme terms – “traitor,” “quisling” – for being part of the Liberal party.
“If our community wants MPs to support our community, you have to deal with them in a way that doesn’t send them hate, that doesn’t treat them like dirt.”
Above all, Housefather said, Israel and Jewish issues shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
“We should all fight for them and we shouldn’t be trying to create wedge issues that divide the Jewish community,” he said.
Chutzpah! Festival acting managing director Jessica Gutteridge. (photo by Tallulah Photography)
After nearly 25 years at the forefront of Jewish arts and culture in Western Canada, Vancouver’s international performing arts festival, Chutzpah!, faces an urgent financial crisis. And it needs your help to keep the stage lights on.
Shifting priorities in government arts funding, as well as the impacts of Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza, have created a perfect storm resulting in a dramatic drop in revenue.
How did this happen?
Chutzpah! depends significantly on government grants. Presently, the stagnant pool of arts funding, alongside a growing number of applications, means fierce competition for fewer dollars. In addition, Jewish arts programming officially falls outside of funders’ “designated priority groups.” Funders have told the festival that, this year, only 15-20% of proposals will be approved, and Chutzpah! has already been declined for several grants that it has received historically.
“The arts community, generally, is facing difficulties with sustainable government arts funding, as the funding pool has returned to pre-pandemic levels with more applicants seeking funding,” explained artistic managing director Jessica Gutteridge. “But there are compounded challenges that Jewish performing arts and artists are facing, especially as tensions escalate locally in response to the war inIsrael. Jewish organizations and events require additional security and access to funding is hampered by the fact that Jewish artists areexcluded from funding prioritycategories, due to a misunderstanding that Jews are a marginalized ethnocultural group, and not solely a religious group.”
Adding to the financial challenges, Chutzpah! opened last year within weeks of the Hamas attacks and war in Gaza, within an atmosphere of rising anti-Jewish hate that has been felt both globally and locally. Despite the festival’s efforts to ensure the safety of performers, audience and staff, ticket sales suffered dramatically. With Jewish arts organizations and events in Vancouver, across Canada and elsewhere targeted with petitions and protests, the erasure of Jewish language, art and culture is, once again, a real threat. As a community, we cannot allow this to happen.
This is why Chutzpah! urgently needs support. The challenges the festival faces are serious, but not insurmountable, and organizers are taking several steps to try and secure its future.
Chutzpah! is speaking with new philanthropic foundations, exploring capacity-building needs in the short- and long-term. Increasing its capacity would give the organization more resources to diversify and grow revenue through grants, audience development plans,sponsorships, private donations, and more.
As well, the festival has established a circle of advisors – a few community members who are passionate about the arts, the Jewish community and Chutzpah! With their help, the festival hopes to strengthen its base of individual donors and identify prospective program sponsors and partners.
Chutzpah! is also reaching out directly to its community of patrons and supporters to share the challenges it is facing and ask for support.
“We’ve been so heartened by the response to our campaign to date. We’ve nearly reached 50% of our goal,” said Gutteridge.
The goal is to raise $60,000 by May 31. There are five ways people can help:
1. Contribute to the campaign. You can donate online directly and securely through CanadaHelps (or by cheque to Vancouver West Side Theatre Society).
2. Help Chutzpah! grow its network of support by sharing information about the situation with like-minded friends/colleagues. Add a brief note explaining why you support the festival and ask them if they might consider doing the same.
3. If you or your contacts donate before May 31, campaign co-chair Emet Davis will match all gifts, up to a maximum of $10,000.
4. Increase your own impact by offering a formal or informal matching gift challenge within your personal or professional networks. Simply direct friends and colleagues to the festival’s donations page, confirm gifts, then issue your matching gift. Let the festival know if you do this.
5. Be a sponsor. Sponsorships subsidize production and associated costs for festival performances. There is a range of giving levels, recognition and other benefits.
“With rising costs for artists, staff and production expenses, all needed to bring the high-quality work that Chutzpah! audiences are accustomed to, we are looking to gather a small but mighty group of philanthropists and arts lovers to support us – producer-level supporters,” said Gutteridge. “This group will help offset the challenges we’re facing with limited government arts funding and rising costs, by financing specific content for the festival and joining us to share those programs with their networks. We can match their artistic interests to our programming – for example, help produce a series of Israeli artists, or step up to support an evening of klezmer music.”
“Until several years ago, I only attended Chutzpah! occasionally,” said Davis. “To be honest, I think I took for granted that it was a permanent fixture in our community. But, when I made a decision a few years ago to engage more meaningfully in Jewish community, the festival became part of my journey – it has deepened my knowledge and my sense of pride in my identity. Chutzpah! is about something much more than entertainment – it’s about the preservation and celebration of our language, art and culture. Now more than ever, I’m reminded we can’t take that for granted.”
Donate via chutzpahfestival.com or save Chutzpah! the processing fees and give by cheque to Vancouver West Side Theatre Society, mailed to 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver, BC, V5Z 2N7.
With antisemitism rising in British Columbia, professionals from three sectors – health care, post-secondary education and K-12 schools – have started organizing so incidents of hatred in their workplace are challenged at every opportunity.
The Jewish Academic Alliance of British Columbia and the Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia have launched in the past few months, while BC Teachers Against Antisemitism has grown more active since the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
“Antisemitism is reaching crisis levels in BC, and we are proud to be able to support the important work of these newly formed groups at this critical time for our community,” said Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.
“I am in awe of all of our community members and allies who are stepping up to address what is a clear crisis at workplaces across the province – particularly since employees are uniquely positioned to address workplace issues with their employers,” noted Nico Slobinsky, vice-president, Pacific Region, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
“We have seen an incredible increase in worrying activities – from terror-affiliated organizations like Samidoun setting up an encampment at UBC to teachers making inappropriate comments towards Jewish students in the classroom, to troubling behaviour in our healthcare system. Yet, we have seen little by way of new activity by government,” said Slobinsky.
“The rise of antisemitism inside health care has been chilling. In a profession dedicated to healing people, we’ve witnessed hateful words and actions that have some fearing for their safety,” said Sharon Gershony, clinical instructor, pediatric nuclear radiologist, BC Children’s Hospital. “The Jewish Medical Association of BC is a supportive community for Jewish physicians, trainees and allied healthcare professionals. Together, we will create safe workspaces by confronting antisemitism with engagement, education and promotion of respect and greater tolerance.”
“Post-secondary institutions across BC have been a focal point of antisemitic activities and actions, some of these threatening the safety of faculty, staff and students. There is no place for this in BC,” said David Silver, a University of British Columbia professor who is helping form the Jewish Academic Alliance of BC. “By bringing together Jewish professors, educators and staff from across campuses, the Jewish Academic Alliance of BC will work to ensure that hate is confronted and campuses are again a place where Jews can feel safe.”
“Since Oct. 7th, some horrible things have happened in classrooms and in schools – to teachers and students alike, who have been singled out because they are Jewish and only because they are Jewish,” said Ginaya Peters, founder of BC Teachers Against Antisemitism. “We have had to become more active and will continue to push back against the hatred and discrimination and create a safe learning environment for all.”
Achiya Klein and Joy at Trout Lake Park in Vancouver April 4. Klein and Joy were brought together by the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)
“The Israel Guide Dog Centre is not just a centre,” said Achiya Klein. “It’s like a family.”
Klein and his assistance dog, Joy, came to Vancouver from Toronto earlier this month with Atarah Derrick, executive director of Canadian Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind. The Independent met with them at Trout Lake Park April 4.
It was an educational experience to see Klein and Joy interact, like a unit. Even when Joy was off leash, clearly enjoying the freedom of running around on her own, meeting other dogs, she would respond to Klein’s occasional check-in whistles or calls. Being a Hebrew-speaking dog, one wonders what she had to say to her Canadian compatriots. Only once, enticed by the lake, did Joy hesitate to return to Klein, but she did – and before taking the plunge she so obviously wanted to take. On our walk, Derrick explained that all the
Israeli guide dogs have English names so that the animals will know it’s them being called – imagine, she said, if a client called out a name like Yossi in an Israeli market, for example.
Klein has had Joy since the end of last October, since his first guide dog, Night, passed away at the age of 8.
“Having a guide dog is my way to get my independence again,” said the Israel Defence Forces veteran, who was injured in 2013. “I can do whatever with a guide dog because I can walk alone, with no fear, and being comfortable.”
Klein has serious visual impairment. “I have some sight,” he said, “but it’s minimal.”
A team commander in Yahalom, a special unit of the IDF that deals with the handling of dangerous ammunition and weapons, Klein was injured in a Gazan tunnel. “I was on a mission to demolish the terror tunnel that crossed into Israel,” he explained, “and, when we were walking in the tunnel … there was a booby-trap, and I got injured from that when it exploded.”
Klein moved to Canada with his wife, who is Canadian, in 2023. Noach Braun, the founder of the Israel Guide Dog Centre, personally brought Joy to Klein, where he worked with the pair for 10 days. The training period was shorter than usual because Klein had already had a guide dog. Normally, after matching a client with a dog, the pair train together for a few weeks at the centre, which then provides more training in the client’s home environment.
“It’s not like they just give you a dog and say, ‘OK, good luck,’” said Klein. “It’s more than that, and I think that one of the best examples is, after Night passed away, even though I was in Canada and I was supposed to go to Israel to receive a new dog, because of Oct. 7, I couldn’t make it to Israel, so Noach … came here during the war. He came here with Joy and I think that’s a beautiful story, to show what it means to be a part of the family.”
According to Derrick, who has been leading the Canadian Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind since 2021, the centre has placed 796 guide dogs, 39 post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) dogs and 442 emotional support dogs, for a total of 1,277 since its founding in 1991. In 2023, there were 176 puppies being raised by centre volunteers, she said.
“The IGDCB (as it is known in Israel) serves Israel’s blind community by providing them with mobility, independence, self-confidence and companionship through the faithful assistance of guide dogs specially trained in Hebrew to meet Israel’s rigorous and challenging environment,” Derrick explained in an email. “We also breed and train service dogs for IDF veterans who have service-related PTSD and provide emotional support dogs for children on the autism spectrum.”
Canadian Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind was established almost 20 years ago and Canada accounts for 6.6% of donations, according to its 2022 annual report. It is one of Derrick’s goals to increase that amount.
“I have always been passionate about community service and working in the charity sector, raising funds for vulnerable communities,” she said. “I’m a real dog person and, when the opportunity opened at Canadian Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Centre, it was the perfect match for my skills, interests and passions – helping people, Israel and dogs!”
Last year, Derrick and Braun visited Vancouver to visit donors and meet others interested in the centre’s work. “Everyone asked us to come back soon, preferably with a client and their dog, so they could see our work in action,” said Derrick, which was why she came this spring with Klein – who has become, she said, since being injured, “a Paralympic rower, a dedicated skier, a father and an asset to the IDF” – and Joy.
“We visited Vancouver Island first, with a meeting in Ladysmith to meet new friends there,” said Derrick. “We then headed south to Victoria, specifically Chabad of Vancouver Island. Then we moved east to Vancouver, where we met with Schara Tzedeck, the Kollel, and held a parlour meeting at the home of new friends. It was such a lovely visit, and we got to meet terrific people with whom our work really resonated.”
Initially, former Jewish National Fund shaliach (emissary) to Vancouver Mickey Goldwein, his wife Lili and her dog, Zita, were to accompany Derrick on the BC visit. Unfortunately, they couldn’t make the journey from Israel.
Lili Goldwein was partnered with Zita in 2018, explained Derrick, “because Lili’s vision had significantly deteriorated. Mickey joined the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind’s board in 2022.”
The need for the centre and its services has increased since Oct. 7.
“Due to this war, we altered the criteria for receiving an emotional support dog to provide an immediate response to those injured or suffering due to the war,” said Derrick. “Since then, we have provided our emotional support dogs to children and adults with special needs whom the war has immensely impacted. Some of these people fought on Oct. 7 and were discharged immediately because of the trauma they endured. Some are widows of fallen soldiers. Some have been afraid to leave the house for months.
“We are aware of some soldiers who have lost their vision in this conflict, and we need to be ready for them when they need us. This is in addition to the current clients on the waitlist,” she said.
The war also has disrupted the centre’s training, which may impact the number of guide dogs it can provide this year. “But we are doing our best to meet the challenge,” said Derrick.
Atarah Derrick, executive director of Canadian Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind, with Cookie. (photo from Atarah Derrick)
And they are meeting the challenge while still feeling the effects of the pandemic.
“COVID had two major impacts on our training,” said Derrick. “The first was in the socialization of our puppies. In their first year, it’s crucial to expose them to as many environments as possible. The office or university, the mall and the train station are all places where our pups get to experience lots of people, noises and smells and become more comfortable navigating those environments. Because of the lockdowns, most were cut off from those experiences, and many were not ready to take on service work. So, our success rate through COVID dropped, and our clients had to wait longer periods for their dogs. This was the case worldwide.
“The second was that we were not able to open our residences to clients in guide dog courses. When a person is partnered with a guide dog, they live in residence with us for two weeks while they train together with our professionals. This was impossible during COVID, so our trainers went to the clients and worked with them at home, one-on-one, to complete the course. We put a lot of mileage on our vans during those years.”
Now, it is hospital visits that account for some of the mileage being put on the centre’s vans, with puppies and guide-dogs-in-training traveling to offer comfort to injured soldiers and civilians across Israel.
“As the war rages on, we’re committed to continuing this mission of love and compassion,” reads the centre’s latest blog. “Because no matter the circumstances, a little bit of puppy love can go a long way in healing hearts and bringing people together.”
Seeing Klein and Joy together at Trout Lake Park and getting a glimpse of what having a guide dog has meant to Klein, the importance of the IGDCB’s work seems clear.
“They provide you with one of the most basic tools that you use every day,” Klein said. “But it’s not just a tool, it’s also a friend.”
To learn more about the Israel Guide Dog Centre for the Blind, visit israelguidedog.ca.
Dr. Gil Murciano of Mitvim, the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, and Uri Weltmann of Standing Together, spoke April 17 at Temple Sholom. (photo by Pat Johnson)
For months, weekly rallies across Israel after Shabbat have demanded the return of the hostages from Gaza. These rallies have often coincided with separate protests, which have been going on much longer, against the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu generally and its proposed judicial reforms specifically. These two streams of protesters have coalesced in recent weeks, according to an Israeli activist leader who spoke in Vancouver last week, because, he said, many Israelis are convinced that Netanyahu is not advancing freedom for the hostages, but hindering it, for his own political advantage.
Uri Weltmann, field organizer of Standing Together, made the claim April 17 during an event at Temple Sholom organized by New Israel Fund Canada.
“What happened three weeks ago is that it stopped being two different protest movements,” said Weltmann. “They are basically changing their strategy. They are calling for early elections and for [Netanyahu’s] government to be removed and replaced with a different government. [Activists are] pointing their finger at him as the obstruction, as the obstacle toward advancing to a ceasefire agreement.”
Weltmann argues that Netanyahu is concerned not only for his political survival, but for his freedom.
“For Netanyahu, the protraction of this war, the continuation of this war, is in his political interest,” said Weltmann. “He knows that a temporary ceasefire might lead to a permanent ceasefire. A permanent ceasefire would mean an end to the war. An end to this war would bring an end to this coalition government because the extremists he huddled with have already said publicly that, if they will end the war before total victory, they will topple the government.”
The end of the current government and the ousting of Netanyahu, he said, would have more than just political ramifications for the prime minister, who opinion polls suggest would be soundly routed if an election were held now.
“New elections mean him losing the majority and him losing the majority is not only Netanyahu the politician being ousted from office. It’s also Netanyahu facing corruption charges, having his trial resume, [and he] might lose his personal liberty. For him, it’s intimately linked to the continuation of the war.”
The consensus among these activists is that Netanyahu is seeking to prolong the war and the captivity of the hostages to protect his political and personal interests, said Weltmann.
“It’s an incredibly important political development within Israel that a broad movement around the families and friends of the hostages have made this link,” he said.
Weltmann’s group, Standing Together (known in Hebrew and Arabic as Omdim Beyachad-Naqif Ma’an), was founded in 2015 and is one of the on-the-ground groups New Israel Fund supports.
Among the goals of the group is to build a grassroots movement for peace and progressive politics in Israel, including in rural and peripheral areas of the country. Making such a movement successful beyond the activist hub in Tel Aviv is the only way to advance Standing Together’s goals, Weltmann said. Even a more centrist or progressive government, if elected tomorrow, would not necessarily advance meaningful steps to peace and coexistence if there is not a broad popular movement in support of such a policy shift, he said.
Without a national movement for peace, he said, a new prime minister, however well-intentioned, would not feel the pressure to abandon the status quo and take steps for a changed future.
“We must, as a strategic starting point in our process of progressive transformation of Israeli society, be present in the Negev, be present in the Galilee, be present in those parts of Israeli society that for too long have been the playing ground of the right-wing with left-wing actors completely non-present,” he said. “We must be there organizing local communities.”
Jewish citizens cannot do it by themselves, said Weltmann, and neither can Arab citizens.
“We must have Jewish-Palestinian unity and cooperation within Israel for this change to be effective,” he said. An example of this strategy was a slogan adopted by a joint Jewish-Arab slate in Haifa during the recent municipal elections. The far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party of Itamar Ben-Gvir ran slates across the country trying to solidify the party’s roots at the civic level. The joint slate in Haifa played off Otzma Yehudit’s xenophobia with the slogan “Jewish Arab Power.”
“We are at a crossroads,” said Weltmann. “Every Israeli should choose which side am I on: the side that leads to a continuation of the status quo, a continuation of the state of affairs in which the Palestinians live in the occupied territories under military rule devoid of citizenship, devoid of rights, a situation that can lead to Oct. 7 one after another unless we put an end to it, or the reality of an Israeli-Palestinian peace that will guarantee both people safety, security and an imaginable, livable future?”
Weltmann spoke alongside Dr. Gil Murciano, an Iran expert and chief executive officer of the think-tank Mitvim, the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, which one journalist has called “the diplomatic wing of the protest movement.”
Like Weltmann, Murciano longs for a “new majority” in Israel’s body politic. “A new majority that will allow us to advance toward a state where we live in peace, we live in dignity, we live in equality, without the occupation, without the injustices, throughout our society,” he said.
A fundamental shift in perspective is needed, argued Murciano.
“We used to speak about ‘wars of no choice’ in Israel,” he said. “We need to start thinking in terms of ‘peace of no choice.’”
On the one side, he said, the extreme right has a plan of annexation, with Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s minister of finance and head of the far-right National Religious Party, calling for the government to “encourage” migration from Gaza to Egypt. On the other side, he said, since Oct. 7, people on the left have been motivated to seek an alternative to the status quo.
Dr. Maayan Kreitzman, a local food systems researcher and activist who moderated the event, challenged Murciano on this point. Rather than progressive voices calling for more coexistence, she said, she has heard the opposite. People that are “quite dovish” have had second thoughts about their worldview and transformed into a more hawkish, securitized attitude, she suggested.
Murciano acknowledged that all Israelis share one overriding priority. “For Israelis, it’s pretty clear,” he said. “The first, second and third priority of Israelis right now is security.”
That is a prerequisite to any advancement, he said.
Murciano proposes something he acknowledges to be “a little bit symbolic,” an international peace conference to kick off a new process between moderate Israelis and moderate Palestinians. This could be a first step to breaking an impasse that has existed in recent years, he said.
“Some people have described the last decade as the lost decade of Israeli diplomacy,” he said, a period where “conflict management” has been the priority; effectively, a maintenance of the status quo.
“I think that’s the right description, actually. It’s a strategy of not having a strategy,” said Murciano. “Coming to terms with the fact that there is no political way out and basically every couple of years we’re going to have a bit of violence.”
This approach sees Israelis forfeiting the initiative to Hezbollah and Hamas, he said, “Basically setting yourself in a situation where you only respond to a reality that is forced upon you.”
Oct. 7, he said, destroyed this conceptual framing.
Part of any future needs to include a multilateral project to “rebuild life-sustaining systems” in Gaza, he said, not a “peace-keeping force” but a “multinational force” that will be an on-the-ground part of a larger process toward peace and coexistence.
Ben Murane, executive director of New Israel Fund Canada, spoke of the emotional impacts of recent months.
“If you’re like me, what has been excruciating the past six months has been not just holding my pain, our Jewish pain, the pain of my Israeli coworkers, my family, my friends there, the pain of the Israeli people, but also, in my heart, holding the pain of the Palestinian people too,” he said.
Since the earliest days of the current war, Murane said, there have been countless glimmers of hope in the form of cross-cultural dialogue.
“In the first few months, we were astounded to see, across Israel, dozens of gatherings, conferences, events with hundreds of Jews and Palestinians standing together holding up those now-iconic purple signs saying ‘Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies,’ ‘Jews and Arabs stand together’ or just simply ‘B’Yachad,’ together,” said Murane. “We were astounded to see Jewish citizens of Israel respond to the needs of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, Palestinian citizens of Israel making calls to families of the hostages, joint Jewish-Arab humanitarian aid missions to the south and to the north. As the war in Gaza accelerated, those Israeli voices also said, ‘We do have choices, even now. We have lots of choices with how we execute a just war justly.’”
Any long-term solution to the decades-long conflict must bring safety and dignity to both peoples, said Murane, “and anything else, anything short of fairness to both sides, will perpetuate this for another generation.”
New Israel Fund partners with and supports, according to its website, “organizations in Israel that fight for socioeconomic equality, religious freedom, civil and human rights, shared society and anti-racism, Palestinian citizens, and democracy itself.”
The April 17 event was hosted by Temple Sholom and co-sponsored by JSpaceCanada, which calls itself the advocacy voice of Liberal Zionism, Ameinu Canada, described as the voice of labour Zionism in Canada, and Canadian Friends of Peace Now, as well as the speakers’ organizations.
Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, senior rabbi at Temple Sholom, said he had received emails expressing concerns about hosting a perceived left-wing event.
“I get the same emails when we host people to the right of centre,” he said.
One of the purposes of a synagogue, he said, is to engage with ideas that “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
“You may find your truth by agreeing with what you here tonight,” he said. “You may find your truth by disagreeing with what you hear tonight. The important part is to engage with it.”
Vancouver activist David Berson promoted the opportunity to listen to the Israeli guests as a chance to gain a perspective apart from the most common refrain he hears on social media and WhatsApp threads.
“There’s another way you can look at what’s going on,” he told the Independent after the event. “Come out and hear a different perspective. I invited people to come tonight and listen to a different narrative.”
The 200 to 300 people at the event was about double what organizers had earlier expected, he said.
Daphna Kedem speaks at one of the weekly rallies she organizes to unite the local community and express solidarity with the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas (photo by Pat Johnson)
Until recently, Daphna Kedem was a single mom with two jobs, an Israeli-Canadian who came to Vancouver in 2011. Upset by political and social developments in her homeland, she mobilized a local branch of the global activist movement UnXeptable. Then, on Oct. 7, driven by grief and an inability to sit idly, she became the face of weekly vigils for Israel’s hostages, terror victims and families.
UnXeptable is, according to its website, “a grassroots movement launched by Israeli expats in support of a democratic Israel.” The group mobilized around the world against the “judicial reforms” of the current government, which critics say would fundamentally undermine the democratic nature of the state.
The Vancouver activists were meeting weekly and, in the hours after the Oct. 7 terror attacks, it was immediately evident that there was a need for people to come together. Community organizations, she said, were waiting until the close of Shabbat to announce a community response.
“I said, no, we can’t wait,” Kedem told the Independent. “In the Jewish tradition, a war or a crisis like this is beyond Shabbat. You can actually break Shabbat if it’s very important.”
In her capacity as an individual – not on behalf of UnXeptable or any other organization – Kedem brought the community together at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Oct. 9 and has continued, with a few exceptions, at that location every Sunday since. (Conflicting events have resulted in shifting locations a few times and there were no rallies on Dec. 24 or 31.)
Kedem doesn’t recall specifically making the decision to hold a weekly event, nor would she have imagined it would go on so long.
“I don’t know how it came about but I just said, let’s do this every Sunday at 2 p.m. until all the hostages are released and, unbelievably, we are here six months after,” she said.
Kedem works for a Vancouver company specializing in products for chiropractors, massage therapists and other medical professionals, and she is also an entrepreneur who bakes pies and sells them at farmer’s markets. The weekly rallies have become effectively a third job. On top of all this, she is also deeply committed to animal rights, being a local organizer for a California-based global animal movement called Direct Action Everywhere.
At the weekly rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery April 21, Daphna Kedem leads the call to release the Israeli hostages. (photo by Pat Johnson)
Kedem laments that attendance at the rallies has dropped off – it is challenging to keep audiences engaged week after week. She notes that she hears some people in the community talking worriedly about the size of anti-Israel rallies, but then does not see those faces at her Sunday gatherings.
“For me, it should not happen because it’s like saying we are giving up on the hostages,” she said of the declining numbers. “It’s like saying this is our new normal, and it shouldn’t be this way.”
Kedem, who was born and raised in Israel, lived in London, England, in her 20s. When she decided she and her daughter, who is now a student at Western University, in Ontario, needed a change, she considered Berlin, which has a large Israeli expat community, but decided an English-speaking city would be better. Her experience of London had been one of bigoted locals with unwelcoming attitudes toward “bloody foreigners” and she is not enamoured of the political climate in the United States. Australia and New Zealand seemed too far away.
“I had friends that were moving to Vancouver and I said, OK, I can get a tourist visa for a year and, if things don’t work out, we can always have an experience of a year in Canada,” she said. “That’s how it started.”
Bringing the community together on behalf of Israeli hostages, victims of terror and their families takes effort and volunteers, Kedem said, but it is also a vital source of empowerment and comfort for her and all who attend.
“It’s necessary that we unite in common as a community,” she said. “It is for the solidarity with the hostages but the other thing is just being together, the community in Vancouver. People need to feel a part of something and, for the past six months, it has been created. People find a safe space and a safe space can grow with more people coming out.”
Kedem has a lot on her plate. Rather than adding to her stress, though, the weekly rallies are a comfort. She said, “It’s helping me because I have to do something.”
