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I attended the Israel Advocacy Seminar run by David Bedein, with the assistance of Gail Winston and the "Winston Israel News" in memory of her late husband Manny.
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Nobody asked Bassam Eid of Activists for Human Rights in the Palestinian Authority the question that ran through my mind about the legitimacy of the term "Palestinian" after hearing what he had to say. Bli neder, not an oath, I'll blog about that in another post.
The speaker who really woke them up was the factual and blunt Sha'i Ben Tekoa, author of the invaluable book Phantom Nation: Inventing the "Palestinians" as the Obstacle to Peace. His invaluable information was received by many as if it was a diagnosis of cancer. Today's young students were there to get an easy to swallow pill to counteract the anti-Israel atmosphere, professors and activists on campus, and Sha'i informed them that there was no easy cure. No simple pill, slogan or formula. They begged him. They argued with him.
I just wanted to cry, to hug them.
Kids, the world hates us. You're not going to change them. All we can do for you is to try to make you stronger and clarify the facts.
There were also older participants who couldn't or wouldn't accept the simple fact that it's useless and dangerous to negotiate with the Arabs, since their word can't be trusted. I agree with Sha'i Ben Tekoa that this is a fact and not racism.
Sha'i gave the history, well-documented, about the myth, lie, fallacy of Arab Palestine. I strongly suggest reading his book or getting him as a speaker in English or Hebrew. Certainly check out his site. And listen to him here, which is the basic talk he gave to us.
I didn't stay until the end of the program, my loss for sure.
4 comments:
Hi Batya, I just wanted to say ASHRAICH!!
The blogging that you do is incredibly important.
I want to qualify what you said: much of the world hates us, much of the world sides with Arabs on account of oil interests, then there there is the indifferent lot, but there are some who love us. They may be a small minority but they do exist. In my travels I have randomly met people who on discovering that I was Jewish told me very emotionally how much they love the Jewish people and Israel.
A1, A2, thank you both
came from HH- very intersting
RM thanks
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