The true story of Gilad Shalit

After more than five years in captivity, Israel and Hamas inked a landmark deal which will see the 25-year-old soldier, Gilad Shalit's freed within days in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israel's Prisoner swap fills the airways. Arguments are made for and against; A stream of words flows endlessly even before the swap has occurred.

Our tour group is far away from all that noise. We are climbing up Masada, an ancient desert fortress situated on top of an enormous, isolated rock engulfed by the silence of the desert.

As our tour group arrives at the top, we spot, between the stony ruins, a plank of soldiers shouting in-sync. "Masada shall never again fall!". It is an oath made by every combat soldier in Israel.

After Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70, the Great Revolt ended-except for the surviving Zealots, who fled Jerusalem to the fortress of Masada, near the Dead Sea. There, they held out for three years. As the Romans succeeded breaching Masada's walls, Elazar ben Yair, the Zealots’ leader, decided that all the Jewish defenders should commit suicide.

Elazar preached; "I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God has granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom."

This speech and the Masada story recorded by the first century historian Flavius Josephus, became a symbol of the conviction that it is preferable to fight to the end rather than to surrender and acquiesce to the loss of independent statehood.
Jewish tradition largely ignored this story until recent times. The reason may be that Jewish law strictly forbids suicide and that Jewish tradition sanctifies life rather than death.

Announcing the Government decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted the Talmud (Jewish law). "Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world".

Netanyaho conveniently skipped the first portion of the Talmudic verse "Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world." To save one life, Israel has taken a grave risk on others. The agreement frees murders such as Ibrahim Jundiya, who dispatched a suicide bomber to a Jerusalem bus in 2002. Eleven bus passengers were murdered in the bombing , Fadi Muhammad al-Jabaa who plotted the suicide bomb attack on a Haifa bus in 2003, in which 17 passengers were murdered, Maedh Abu Sharakh, also convicted of plotting the Haifa bus bombing. Mazen Muhammad Faqha, who plotted the 2002 suicide bus bombing near Safed, in which nine passengers were murdered and forty injured, Tamimi Ahlam, the Palestinian female Hamas terrorist convicted of aiding and abetting the suicide bomber who murdered 15 civilians and injured 140 in the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing and Abd al-Aziz Salaha, who in 2001 took part in the murder of two IDF soldiers who mistakenly drove into Ramallah. Salaha was caught on camera holding out hands covered in blood after beating one of the soldiers to death.
To this Hamas leadership says: "We welcome our heroes that are returning from the occupation's jails."
The price Israel is paying is painful and controversial. Even amongst the bereaved families of terror victims there is no consensus. But the majority of Israelis support this deal. This controversy and its conclusion are the real story of Gilad Shalit. A story that is beyond one soldier, or one family. It is the story of a nation that faced with surrounding enemies, and the imminent threat of extinction seeks the moral path.

I am grateful to be living in a country where we discuss such important questions of ethics and values. Where even one soldier jailed for 5 years is not forgotten. Where we make choices based on our moral stance and not our interests alone. Where one life is sanctified to such overwhelming extents that a deal like this could be brokered and supported.

I believe that this is our strength, our fortress in this hostile region. So long as we are true to our values and heritage Masada will never again fall!

Identity Travel Israel - Newsletter October 2011

Palestinian UN Bid and the Inevitability of Change

As Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority marches assertively into the UN assembly to bid for a recognized Palestinian State, there is no doubt: Change is coming. To his denouncers Abbas says: "it is inevitable."

In today's diplomatic arena change is ever present. But New York is far from the streets of Jerusalem where Identity Travel is guiding a tour group through the ancient sites. For most Palestinians living here, and for their Israeli neighbours the thought of a Palestinian deceleration of statehood without a bi-partisan agreement is a petrifying concept. The unanswered questions and daunting challenge that lie in store are like darkness around a forbidding forest trail. Who can help but fear the violence that seems to lurk around every corner. Who dares contemplate the mere possibility that the wrong path has been chosen.

The tour group walks with me through the Arab Quarter of the Old City. The scenery of old stone and tourist mementos (for all faiths and denominations) has seen little change over the years. Talking to people here, one finds their opinions to be as diverse as their reflection. An old Arab market vendor with a long white turban and a thick moustache says "Why this? Why now? No good for business!" Down the pebbled alleyway a head covered Jewish woman with a long Jeans skirt says; "This country was promised to the Jewish people by G-d and no one has the right to give it away!" A soldier in uniform cuts her off: "Let them have it! Let them deal with their own problems, I would rather be out in Tel Aviv than spending my time in the checkpoint on the way to Ramallah."

Regardless, of their preference they all seem to rush and make their judgment: For or against, good or bad. But while there are pitfalls in every path, surely, each route we travel also has its merits - if only for the experience gained along the way.

It is important in these dynamic times to realize that every change entails an opportunity and a challenge. Every unknown future into which we stride cannot simply be labelled as better or as worse than the present – it is, however, simply different.

The current challenge to the status quo, whether it shall bring about real change or not for ordinary Palestinians and Israelis, will no doubt elevate the Israel-Palestine conflict back into the limelight of public discussion. A Palestine with 1967 borders, recognized or not by the international community, leaves an Israel with 1967 borders as its necessary partner. My tour group walks the invisible green line and we all wonder: Decelerations aside, what will happen next?

My guess; after all the dust settles at the UN, the Palestinians and Israelis will find no other choice but to return to the negotiations' table and there, as they will be forced to choose their path, they will face yet again the inevitability of change.

Identity's tour groups will keep strolling through Jerusalem's markets and asking people for their opinion, After all, the dynamic nature and extraordinary diversity of thought is Israel's most powerful tourist attraction.

Identity Travel Launches New Engaging Tour in Collaboration with Christian Friends of Israel

This tour allows participants to enjoy an intellectually stimulating first-hand experience of Israel, prior to attending the CFI conference.

Modi'in, Israel September 6th, 2011 - Identity Travel, a leading tour operator specializing in educational and politically-relevant tours, announced today the launch of its Engage Israel Tour in collaboration with Christian Friends of Israel. This enriching tour combines educational content and sightseeing to further the understanding of Israel's historical, cultural and political heritage. The itinerary includes eight days of touring seamlessly followed by the 4 day CFI Jerusalem conference.

This May 27th - June 7th integrates New and Old Testament heritage sites, Zionist sites and contemporary tourist attractions with diverse key note speakers and politically-charged workshops. The highpoint of this experience will be in Jerusalem where participants will join the Christian Friends of Israel Annual Conference.

Eran Kolran, Director and Co-Founder at Identity Travel Israel, says: "Identity Travel is delighted to be able to join forces with Christian Friends of Israel to promote understanding through travel. We have no doubt that our customers will see the conference as one of the highlights of the tour."

“CFI is welcoming Identity Travel to join our Annual CFI Conference in Jerusalem for 2012,” says Sharon Sanders, Executive Director of Christian Friends of Israel. "It has always been a highlight and unforgettable experience for Christians who love Israel to attend.”

CFI's conference has brought thousands of Christian supporters to Jerusalem over the past 26 years for in-depth teaching of God’s Word on Israel. The conference will include some of the world’s most distinguished speakers on Israel and the Church as well as Christian praise and worship.

About Christian Friends of Israel
Christian Friends of Israel (CFI), headquartered in Jerusalem is a charitable, non-profit, international evangelical Christian ministry registered in Israel with representative offices throughout the world. They are charter members of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus and pioneers in the Christian Zionist movement.

About Identity Travel Israel
Identity Travel Ltd. is a pioneering educational tour operator headquartered in Modiin, Israel. Since its establishment the company has launched a variety of group travel itineraries for academic seminars, senior travel, Jewish and Christian tour groups as well as political activists. The company's mission is to promote understanding through educational travel. For more information see our websites http://www.identitytour.com and http://www.christian-tour.com

NOT ANOTHER PILGRIMAGE! New Christian Tourism

How many times have you heard of yet another pilgrimage to Israel? Ever since the dawn of Christianity, a modest but constant stream of dedicated believers have made their way to the Holy Land to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. After the Six Day War in 1967 Israel's tourism experienced unprecedented growth and achieved a staggering 2 million tourists a year. That’s when pilgrimages to Israel first became a marketable product – a business.

Many Christians have ventured here over the decades touring sites related to the life of Jesus or mentioned in the New Testament. Seeing the sites dating to this very specific 40 year era is in itself such a moving and fulfilling experience that tourists often felt no further need to expand the scope of their spiritual exploration. The tour operators, to their end, failed to provide innovation and thus pilgrimages were reduced to a sightseeing checklist devoid of any context or contemporary relevance.

Today's Christian tourist is no longer satisfied with the classic 'Walk in His footsteps ' pilgrimage. Many supplement the traditional sites with Old Testament sites and Jewish sites to get a better understanding of the backdrop to the birth of Christianity. Others take a wider view to Christian history, including its less convenient segments such as the Crusades. Most of all, Christians are interested these days in the political situation, the role and stance of Christianity on the issues of modern day Israel.

The Christian Tourism of today is a true exploration, offering a spiritual journey of discovery. A discovery of ancient roots ignored for millenniums, a discovery of the connection to the land, the people, and their fate – It is an exploration into ones identity and that, my friends, is the essence of all meaningful travel.
At Identity Travel we try to cater to this demand and we have created educational tours that offer self-discovery through history, culture and politics. Our agenda is to educate our customers and enrich their sense of place, time and identity. If our success is in any way a reflection of the extent of this new market, Israel's potential for growth as a tourist destination for the 'thinking Christian market' is infinite.

Camping Out in the Acropolis

Tour Groups traveling through Tel Aviv recently might have been very surprised. Down the street from the Theater and Culture Hall, right smack in the bustling central streets of Israel's largest metropolis, an endless row of colorful camping tents popped up like mushrooms. Young couples with guitars and homemade demonstration signs lay in the summer heat and humidity, men and women trying to gain attention for their worthy cause. Under the shade of the ancient sycamore trees that line the Boulevard, these demonstrations seems almost as out of place as the trees themselves. Here in a city whose residents are constantly reproached for their apathy and lack of conviction, no one thought a new movement would take to the streets.

The young rebels are protesting against the hike in real estate prices all over Israel and in Tel Aviv in particular. "We will be left with no option but to live in tents" they say. They are angry at the government who they say is not doing enough to restrain apartment prices or create new budgetary housing for students. Their rhetoric often strays to socialism although they would never admit to being socialists; often they stray to other vexing issues and seem to lose focus. Yet they seem to embody something far more encompassing then their own opinion, a notion almost universally felt and expressed.

Walking between the tents this week I couldn't help but think of Tel Aviv's modest beginnings. In Patrick Geddes's town plan blue prints from 1919, which are the foundation of the city plan till this day one finds a social utopia, a city where green urban gardens serve all classes of citizens, and shade and benches are provided for everyone's pleasure, where intimate residential blocks are weaved together to form a wider communal form of city life. The apex of this plan was to be situated on the top of the hill just off the main boulevard, an urban acropolis that would serve both as city hall and the city's cultural epicenter with theaters and concert hall. Geddes's Acropolis is today where the youth demonstrations are held.

Around the thousands that came to the acropolis to manifest their discontent the Bauhaus international style buildings for which this city is famous seem but a shadow of their glorious past. The international Bauhaus style was an ornament-less functionality-first school of architecture that became popular in Tel Aviv in the 1930's because it provided affordable and practical housing . Their white exterior gave the city its reputation as the White City.

Today the white exteriors are covered with black and grey soot, many of the old sycamore gardens where cleared away to make room for modern high-rises, and although we they are far more rich than they were, Israel's working class find much less time to engage in cultural activities at Gedes's Acropolis.

Perhaps the youth procession in Tel Aviv expresses our nostalgic longing to the social ideals this city was founded on. Even if it was only a utopia and was never realized, at least we once aspired to build a better more socially just society where every person can afford a roof over his head, a night at the theater and some pleasant shade under the old sycamore trees.

Glenn Beck Preaching to the Choir in Israel

Popular and controversial American TV commentator Glenn Beck arrived in Israel. Speaking at a meeting of the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee Beck Said: "We have created a system of politicians who are afraid to tell the truth. Instead they're telling people what they think they want to hear," said Beck, recalling that he mistakenly viewed Israel as a hostile, war-torn nation before actually visiting himself.

When asked why he retired his show on Fox News Beck said "I was tired of preaching to the choir".

Beck touches on an important issue. He complains that the only people who tune in to his show, are people who already agree with his opinion, people who subscribe to the gospel he preaches.

Becks gospel like any other is a narrative, a story. People are storytellers and the stories are the way our mind views history and justice. It serves as a framework for our human experience and the foundation of our moral, social and national values. Although truth may be predominantly the premise of the stories we choose to tell ourselves it is seldom an entire and all-encompassing truth.

However flawed our perception of the world may be, we are inclined to strengthen our conviction with the embrace of like-minded individuals and communities. We find people who agree with us, at least to some extent, and surround ourselves with their soothing voices of solidarity, adding our own to the mix to the constant sound of their applause.

It is in this spirit that chairman MK Danny Danon (Likud) invited Glenn Beck to share his support of Israel with the Knesset committee and the reason he was so lavishly praised by its members. "It isn't a coincidence that you're a religious person [and support Israel]," said Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely. "This conflict isn't territorial. If it was, it would have been solved a long ago".
Hotovely continued: "This is a religious battle led by Islam. We can't ignore this basic truth. It's important that we stand behind a historical truth: We're not just here because of Zionism, but because of the Bible."

As an Israeli, I believe in this truth, in our right to be here, in our just cause, in the danger of fundamental Islam and yet it does not suffice me to hear this truth alone. If its truth we are after it cannot be partial it must be inclusive, it must include the Palestinian story, the Muslim story, the Christian story, the Jewish story. It is not history and fact that lend importance to these stories but rather the abundance of people that believe in them and live their lives by them.

On August 24 Beck will host a "Restoring Courage" rally in Jerusalem. He said thousands are expected to attend, including 70 prominent world politicians and four US presidential candidates. Beck said he hopes the event will help Israelis see that they are not alone, even if the mainstream media tries to make it out as though they are.

Glenn Beck is right about mainstream media covering only the stories in line with their school of thought. But the reason Glenn Beck is still preaching to the choir is that he acts in precisely the same bias.

What is needed in order to achieve true change is not more preaching but rather more listening. Not bigger mega-phones and rallies but rather bigger and more sensitive ears and hearts. if we seek a truth that is more inclusive we can find a narrative that leads to peace, a story with a happy ending.

Identity Travel Israel's 'The Traveller' Newsletter June 2011

Obama and Netanyahu Battle Like Prophets

This week the world was treated to a spectacular event, a champions' competition of an ancient sport, practiced since Homo Sapiens uttered their first spoken words. Two of today's leading orators collided in a match of prose and rhetoric excellence. Obama and Netanyahu sharpened their pens, cleared their throats and battled!

Oratory is a subtle art. In Judeo-Christian tradition it is widely associated with the prophets Ezekiel, Amos and Joshua, and lest we forget Jesus. These men stood in turbulent times, faced their people and spoke with conviction, eloquence and a determination to change the wrongs of their society.

It would perhaps be interesting to note the similarity in the content of their speeches. All of the aforementioned prophets lectured on morality and religion. Standing at the city's gate, they reproached sinners for their religious hypocrisy and for using their temples as refuge while committing immoral acts against their fellow human beings. They contended that human solidarity and social justice are of greater importance than religious fervor.

"Away with the noise of your songs (of praise)! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
Amos 5:23

Here we are in turbulent times once again, glued to our TV screens and listening to the new leaders of men, political leaders. Obama and Netanyahu disagree on many issues, however, the Israel-USA alliance stays strong because of the core values they share. The belief in certain unalienable rights that amongst them are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is key to democracy. As the USA looks for Middle Eastern countries to adopt these values Israel still stands alone as the only democratic state in the region.

"Israel is not what is wrong with the Middle East, Israel is what is right about the middle east"
Benjamin Netanyahu

"Palestinians leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection"
Barrack Obama

Netanyahu and Obama reproached the Palestinian authority for its reconciliation with the religiously violent Hamas organization. They both share the fear that religious fervor would undermine the advances towards democracy in the Middle East.

Many more eloquent speeches would undoubtedly be sounded on Palestinian statehood, but the prayer for democracy and peace in the Middle East will go unanswered until Arab leaders speak of human decency and generosity before prayer and martyrdom. Then the Palestinians and all of the Middle East might enjoy Justice and righteousness like a "never-failing stream".

Identity Travel Israel's 'The Traveller' Newsletter March 2011

Unmasking the World

This week, as the Muslim world trembles and regimes fall one after the other like flies the Jewish citizens of Israel celebrated Purim. Huge festive parades marched through the streets. From school children to working adults from kindergartens to offices through every street in the city, it seemed that everywhere everybody was dressed in customs and masks.

This age old tradition began long ago in Persia, as recorded in the Esther Scroll After Jews got the upper hand and escaped persecution, winning the favor of king Xerxos. it was hip to be a Jew. Many of the local non-Jews dressed up as Jews in the hope of escaping punishment.

Esther 8:17:
And in every province, and in every city, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land behaved as Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

This ancient tale is a wonderful example of the fickleness of public opinion and its hypocrisy and is a stark reminder that things are not always as they seem.

Nobody knows today what the shift in the Arab world will bring but there is no doubt that many of our past conceptions about the Arab world and about western foreign policy have been debunked. Perhaps the Arab world and western policy never changed but their true nature was unmasked for all to see.

The recent events have managed to unmask the poverty, lack of rights and despotism, so wide spread in Arab countries. The western world's dependency on oil and its effect on foreign policy have been unmasked by the unbalanced stances regarding the Egyptian, Libyan, Tunisian and Baharanian civil unrests.

The Arab League's unity was unmasked as nothing but empty rhetoric. Iran's invisible hand in Middle Eastern politics became very apparent. But most importantly Arab governments around the world have been unmasked for what they are, terror-based dictatorships, travesties of human rights, corrupt and unjust.

Unmasking the villain has allowed Arab citizens to fight for their rights for the first time, to fight for democracy. Their success will depend largely on their ability to spot hypocritical villains and unmask them, to see thing for what they are, Then they too will be able to parade proudly and unafraid in the streets of their cities.

War of Words, War of Worlds

Saturday's gruesome murder in Itamar, an Israeli West Bank settlement, horrified Israelis. A Palestinian perpetrated a violent murder killing a mother, a father and three children, the youngest of whom was a three-month-old infant.

As opposed to other terrorist attacks this attack did not yet instigate a war of weapons but rather a War of Words.

Israel is demanding an apology from CNN over its coverage of Saturday's terrorist attack in Itamar claiming it was "tendentious and deceptive."

The CNN report stated: "Five members of an Israeli family were killed in the West Bank early Saturday morning in what the Israeli military is calling a 'terror attack.'" Israeli officials contested the quotation marks around the term terror attack stating that there should be no argument on the fact that this is a terrorist attack.

The report went on to say: "According to a military spokeswoman, an intruder entered the Israeli settlement of Itamar near the northern West Bank city of Nablus around 1 am, made his way into a family home and killed two parents and their three children."

The report rephrased the IDF's official statement that noted forces were searching for a "terrorist" using instead the words "intruder" and "assailant". I myself remember many articles that called a suicide bomber, a freedom fighter.

Why is terminology such a controversial issue? Or as Shakespeare put it "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

To answer this question we should consider another article that hit the wires recently.

In Rome Pope Benedict XVI has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ. He deconstructs one particular Biblical account which has the crowd saying, "His blood be on us and on our children" — a phrase frequently cited as evidence of the collective guilt Jews bore and the curse that they carried as a result.

The phrase, from the Gospel of Matthew, has been so inflammatory that director Mel Gibson was reportedly forced to drop it from the subtitles of his 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ," although it remained in the spoken Aramaic.

The reason for Pope Benedict's interest in this debate could be traced to his childhood, when he was forced to join the Hitler Youth. As an adult he has made improving relations with Jews a mission and has visited the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland and Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Years of blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus along with newer anti-Semitic propaganda may have led to the extermination of Jews in World War II.

Words and terminology motivate people to action. Language has cultural and practical consequences. The Pope understood this. Israel has become aware of this and is now asking the world media as well as global leaders to unequivocally denounce these most recent attack.

One of the workshops we run on our tours is an exercise in the vocabulary of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What is the language used in your local media to describe the conflict? How do you reconcile between terms such as apartheid wall and separation fence, terrorist and freedom fighter, targeted killing and assassination?

At the end of the workshop we show a clip and deconstruct the phrasing of each sentence. By choosing our words we choose our moral ground, our social values and our identity – In effect our world is made up of words.

How were the Itamar "killings" reported in your part of the world?

An Earthquake in Egypt.

Egypt is in turmoil. The people are revolting against their oppressor. They chant as so many before them "Give me liberty or give me death!"

This chant echoes in my mind as I travel to Beit She'an excavations. Beit She'an Hill, houses some of this region's most important archaeological finds, including artifacts from Egyptian, Roman, Byzantine and Muslim eras. These same rulers ruled Egypt for millenniums and I have to wonder what influence they must have had on the Egyptian people and their ideas of liberty, faith and government.

I walk into the ruins of an Egyptian Royal administration center and travel back in time to the age of the Pharaohs. These kings were believed to be deities, their reign divine. The reign of the Pharaohs did not bring with it much liberty, in the Jewish bible the escape from Egypt is also the attainment of liberty and is a cornerstone to millenniums of Jewish philosophies on personal and national freedoms. From the corner of my eye I spot the ruins of an ancient synagogue and think how relevant the story of Exodus must have been as the Greeks took over this town and brought with them the first raw form of democracy.

From the Roman amphitheater in Beit She'an, I walk through a Byzantine street fully equipped with period columns, and into a Byzantine basilica. In Egypt The Byzantine Era brought with it rulers believed to be the messengers of god on earth and their colonial rule enslaved the Egyptians until the decline of the empire.

I continue my time travel experience in Beit She'an to the 7th century when the Muslim conquerors took over. Here as in Egypt the local population could choose to convert to Islam or be considered second class citizens. When Umar conquered Egypt from the Byzantine Empire, Islam offered them the same deal. To the local inhabitants this meant that by becoming Muslims they would gain many more freedoms. They would subscribe not only to a faith but to a nation, a class and an ideology.

Back to modern Egypt, although it is ruled by a strong tyrant the power on the ground is divided. The government and military on one side and the Islamic clergy on the other.
The most apt manifestation of this is the rise of The Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamental Islamic movement established in the 1920's. During Mubarak era they have become the only well organized opposition.
Disenfranchised and poverty stricken the Egyptian people are rebelling; they chant words like freedom, and change.

But the Egyptian people have never really experienced freedom in the way that western countries have, and that makes the west very worrisome of the type of change they plead for.
If democratic elections were held today the Muslim Brotherhood are likely to take over and bring with them a religious government based on Shariah (Islamic) Law. What that would mean is a loss of that all-important separation of church and state, and with it the loss of many of the essential personal liberties enjoyed by the average Egyptian.

In Beit She'an the story ends with an earthquake which shattered the city's neglected Greek-Roman foundations. The marble floor and Greek columns, so associated with democracy today have mostly collapsed or disappeared. The city perished and was never rebuilt.

In Egypt the country's foundations are shaking, will the ruins provide a breeding ground for democratic ideas and government or for a faith based dictatorship?
Will it be liberty or death?