TNL in Jerusalem #24 - All Eyes on Israel - The Essence of Hasbara, Israel Advocacy

the landof israel.com and Israel national TV present Aria brtz and Jeremy gimpel Live From The Heart of Israel it's Tuesday night live in Jerusalem thank you all for joining us again Tuesday night live in Jerusalem tonight we have a very special treat he's the director of Israel national radio a spokesman for the Jewish people his name is isi fler and he's here with us tonight he actually had his wedding in Krone at Mar one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to you know there was a lot of kevron action happening about a month ago and the Jewish people were kicked out out of their home beta Shalom and everybody was talking about it and the news media wanted somebody to speak up about KRON they wanted to pigeon hole somebody to make him look like a crazy settler so they picked me why I think it's a facial thing so Al jazer called me did anybody see my Al jazer interview woo all right well joining us now are our guests in Jerusalem Rabbi yesai fisha he's a radio host at Israeli National radio and co-founder of Kuma an organization that promotes Jewish immigration to Israel what's wrong with Jews living in kevron why is that illegal he just said that it's illegal by international law for C why would it be why would it be illegal for people to live the question is why are the Jews there in the first place and if anybody had a historical perspective or around here then they would understand what's going on here the Jewish people have been yearning to return to their ancient Homeland for a long time and our tiny little strip of land in the Middle East excuse me excuse me I'm answering the question because it comes out of that it comes out of that when you have 23 Muslim countries all around in a tiny little Jewish country that's under constant attack then people react when they're being pushed out of their natural heritage and their authentic home right peace comes from the word Shalom as in Hebrew peace comes from the word Shalom which means you can only have peace if somebody not Ste Equitable agreement Al jazer called me and uh well I went you know everybody told me you're crazy don't go to Al jazer and I went to Al jaaz they have their studios in the Mal Mall uh in Jerusalem uh at the at the te Technology Park and it's not actually their Studios it's an Israeli Studio company that rents out their Studios to Al jazer and the guy that was filming me and making sure that I was doing my interview right was an Israeli guy with an earring and a ponytail and he was working for Al jazer maybe he had sold his soul you know and I got on Al jazer and they asked me questions about KRON and I was just excited and wild and flailing my arms and I wasn't just the calm spokesman of it you know the Israel spokesman that you always expect well yeah the territories are uh occupied maybe or I don't know what I said no this is our land I said I will never give up this land as long as there's Jewish blood and Jewish veins we will never give up Kone and do you know why that is and do you know why that is because my daddy's buried there because our forefathers our matriarchs our Patriarchs they're buried in KRON and that's why we will never give it up and that was basically my message and I thought to myself well Al jazer is just going to cut that tape and make me look like an idiot maybe they'll just put a still picture of me and they'll be like well you're un occupied land what do you say about that and I'd be a dub over maybe you know yeah maybe a dub or something like that okay and I thought that they'd just cut my video and make me look like an idiot and I said well what are you going to do you know you got to do your best you know send your your bread upon the waters and then the camera guy after I finished the camera guy looked at me and he said Z Zak it was good it was strong he said he said that was good you were strong and I thought to myself if just this one Jew if I got this just this one Jew if I changed his life if maybe he went home and thought to himself maybe I should say sh Israel maybe I should leave peace now maybe I should be a good Jew if that one moment worked then it was all worth it and that was the message that I learned this past Kaneka light that candle one more candle one more candle hit another Jew turn on another don't hit him love him hug him Pat him on the back love another Jew and you know what at the end all the candles are lit and all the Jewish people and all the whole world is going to be ignited to God we have a good man joining us tonight we have a man that's positioned himself in the pages of Jewish history helping facilitate Aliah speaking on behalf of the Jewish people to the superpower of the world he was the Israeli ambassador to the United States and he's the co-chairman of nefes Benes we have with us tonight Ambassador Donnie alone thank you very much thank you do this all right I need a hug too great show great show you have Ambassador alone you've really positioned yourself as Jeremy mentioned as a historic figure you've helped inther the Exiles that's a pretty auspicious task by the way I need to say that my parents are here from Houston Texas and they've announced that they're making Aliah how do you you've spoken on behalf of the Jewish people on behalf of Israel to to America which really is the superpower of the world what do you think is the most important task facing the Jewish people today we have special responsibility not just to ourselves and to our children and to our children's children but for entire Humanity tikun Lam and today this world is of great danger and we are the ones to point it out whether it's because of military force against us in Iran or in Gaza or in Lebanon or wherever whether it's anti-Semitism in Moscow or London or waro or anywhere else we have to point out we have to flush it out we should not be bashful and we have to be outspoken well it's you know lately you've gotten a lot of coverage in the Jerusalem Post you've written a couple of Articles people have written articles about you and the truth is when I first read these articles I got a little excited and I'm just going to quote one of the things that you wrote in your article having tried the conventional wisdom of land for peace having tried military might and economic sanctions and failed public relations programs it's time to think outside of the box let's be courageous and examine these issues and ideas from every angle you then said Israel's too politically correct you're tired of being politically correct what does that mean well it means that we have not just to identify the problem and to speak about it in back rooms or speak about it euphemistically or diplomatically we have to put the issue and speak about it Cloud loud and clear in 1938 there was no room for political correctness we are now almost in the same world situation so what I mean is when the world is coming to to us and say well you are quote unquote the stronger power you should give the Palestinians a state you should do this you should do that we should tell them no look at what is happening well I I'll tell you Ambassador I alone can I call you Donnie just between you Ari the crowd and the cameras absolutely all right so D the truth is that's beautiful but the truth that still sounds pretty politically correct because when we read these articles there were rumors going around Jerusalem and when I mean rumors Ari and I were talking about it and what we were saying is that perhaps someone is actually going to get up and say the truth that the war in the Middle East has nothing to do with the 67 borders it has nothing to do with politics or diplomacy it's a religious spiritual war the Muslims are religious people they pray five times a day and it's time as diplomats we need to speak to them on their level and say that the god of Abraham loves the Jewish people and he's brought us home to the land of Israel just as the Bible tells that he will we need to tell the Christian world who believes in the Bible and say our deed to the land of Israel is in this book that you believe in it's our homeland what do you think about that absolutely there is great great there is a misconception and I see it everywhere now partly it's naive partly it's very cynical and self-serving to press Israel and that is that all the problems in the Middle East stem from the existence of Israel you know there are some in Europe who say right now we shouldn't have voted for you in 1948 you know at the United Nations now they ignore all the facts because if I look back 60 years of Israeli existence right or you know Israel is it was reborn it always very important to tell everybody that Israel was not born in 1948 it was reborn as a sovereign C country in 1948 this is something that everybody has to understand and you have to drive the point home not everybody understand it but if you look just for the last 60 years okay in the Middle East Iran Iraq war 1980 to 88 more than million casualties had nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinian conflict Kuwait being engulfed and devoured by Saddam Hussein in 1990 August 1990 had nothing to do with Israel Lebanon being actually invaded by Syria in 1976 had nothing to do with Israel 1970 I don't know how many of you uh remember Syria was going to invade into Jordan only because of Israel they didn't take over Jordan even in the 1960s they were fighting all over the Arab world the Kurds and the Iraqis and the Yemen and the Egypt in Yen so all these problems have nothing to do with Israel so when you tell them you know they don't have an answer to it but people try to ignore it now if you look at it today the real problem in the Middle East is as you say a religious War the extremist islamists they start in Taran but they go all over the place and not only they want to take the entire Middle East but also the entire world they want to renew the khalifat you know take over Spain and Europe and then the United States by the way most of Americans understand it they understand that we fight here not just for ourselves but for for them and uh to anyone to anyone who say just solve the Palestinian problem and everything will be okay we say no just solve the Iranian problem maybe then everything could be okay or we could embark on the way for peace thank you we have now just another minute or two if you had one message you'd like to share with the crowd tonight all the viewers around the world what would the message be of the former US ambassador Israeli US ambassador very simply put you speak Hebrew I saw it your Hebrew was very great thank you um I'm Israel I'm isra and I I can tell you it's a great privilege it's a great responsibility as well but it's a great privilege and and pride to represent Israel whether it's in Washington or anywhere else because you represent not just 7 million Israelis not just 13 and A5 million Jews you represent God no well I I wish I was a rabbi maybe in my next life but you represent hundreds of generations of Jews you represent King David and you represent uh you know uh Mori who was a great Ambassador for the Jewish people in in Persia you represent Moses who was a great Ambassador for the Jewish people in in Egypt but you know uh Donnie I want you to know I love you I love this whole talk we're having whether you like it or not you represent God good you know what if you you know what I if you say so I will take it gladly I mean I wouldn't want to be presumptious to say it but if you think that way I will not defy you I will take it l that's great that's great that's great all right thank you so much for being with us dud thank you very much a real pleasure great seeing you all thank you let's face it no matter what we do we are always going to be in the world's Spotlight so let's stop trying to get out of it it's our lot and as long as the eyes of the world are on Israel are on the Jewish people let's Inspire them let's take this opportunity because they need it now more than ever you know most Jews in Israel are not so observant and they don't have such a great Jewish Education but they are religious they believe in God they believe in the Torah they believe that God gave us the land of Israel so let's stand up as a nation step onto the center stage of world history and teach not always defend ourselves all the time but teach teach Torah teach truth teach that the god up in heaven and this reality in the world below is all one when we fill our task when we do our role then and only then will we get that positive press coverage we've always wanted Shalom from Jerusalem IM all and the all fore lady for ah ah la w