Shira Applebaum Maresky is a relatively young woman who has had a lot more happen in her life than many people twice her age. L.A. writer Amy Alkon detailed the most tragic event in her life.
Maresky was in Vancouver recently and gave a short talk on her experiences as a paramedic in Israel:
The Israel-Palestine situation is an incredibly complex one to unravel, even more so for someone living within the confines of relatively safe North America. I've always employed the Common Sense Test: If America or Canada were in the place of Israel and the same sort of suicide bomber attacks were occurring (say from First Nations people on their reservations), would we just bow down and say, "Oh, I guess you have a point. We'll cave in to your demands" ?
Undoubtedly some on the Far Left would like to do that now (though never giving up their own property of course). But the vast majority of citizens would demand that the police, and military if necessary, do whatever it takes to bring order and civility back to the afflicted area(s).
How anyone can have one set of "rules" for here and a completely different set for Israel is something I will never understand.
The left in this country supporting the Palestine war against the Jews is a shame to this county. The postal union and all employs should be charged with aiding the war against the Jews.
I don't recall if it's mentioned in the video, but some Canadian Leftards sued the Canadian "Magen David Adom" organization (who help raise funds for the Israeli ambulance service. Why? Because a portion of the money raised in Canada was going to buy bulletproof vests for the paramedics to help protect them in dangerous situations, when they went to save Jews, Muslims, & Christians.
The Leftards argued that this constituted raising money for military supplies, which would have voided Magen David Adom's non-profit status.
Factoids like this lawsuit remind me of Dennis Prager's brilliant & true quote: "The beautiful thing about being on the Left is never having to apologize ... for anything!"
Are your suggesting our First Nation people are somehow equivalent to Palestinian terrorists? Where in hell did you come up with that comparison? With one sentence, you totally destroyed the credibility of your entire post.
Being a paramedic anywhere can be horrific. I knew someone who worked as a paramedic in Maple Creek SK, the head-on collision capitol of Canada. He had to quit after a couple of years, because of the carnage he'd seen. Cleaning up a minivan full of dead Christian students, who'd been run over by a train was his last straw.
Whoah, whoah, whoah Coach, I didn't make that assertion whatsoever!!! I was simply using literary license to project forward several years to come up with a possible scenario that would be roughly equivalent to what's going on in Israel.
The scenario I've invented is no different than Tom Clancy outlining a future militaristic Japan that attacks Washington, DC (with an airplane from Vancouver by the way). Are you also going to attack Clancy in the same way?!
In summary, I do not equate our First Nations people with terrorists nor do I think that they're likely to become terrorists anytime soon.
Robert,
Anyone with a rudimentary level of english comprehension knows you did no such thing. coach is employing a favoured tactic
of the left with "Are your saying..." when, of course, you said no such thing.
"Common Sense Test: If America or Canada were in the place of Israel and the same sort of suicide bomber attacks were occurring (say from First Nations people on their reservations), would we just bow down and say, "Oh, I guess you have a point. We'll cave in to your demands" ?
Ahhhhhh....yup. Caladonia comes to mind. And coach is a leftard troll. Ignore it. This shit has happened on reservations. They still practise a form of apathied.If an Indian women marries a non-"native",she loses all her rights!
But as far as Israel goes,they have a muzzie in the WH fighting against them.The Israel's first priority should be to remove him from office(legally),and then remove the Jews against Israel in the US of A.
SDH- Now you're suggesting I'm on the left. I voted for Robert Stanfield the year I turned 18. The only time I didn't vote Conservative was when I voted for Preston Manning's Reform Party.
I accept your explanation, Robert, but the power of suggestion can tilt things in an ugly direction, sometimes.
See what you've started? Idiots like justthinkin are already jumping onto the "blame the Indian" bandwagon.
The linked article mentions the pogrom in Baghdad
in 1941. It is worth noting that before WWII some
40% of the population of Baghdad was Jewish.
And Robert....NEVER apologize to a dipper like the coach. You said no such thing....and coach...let's hear your thoughts on Caladonia,and Native women losing their rights......crickets.
Try facts,coach,instead of ad hominems.
Having experienced Caledonia up close & personal, I agree with Justthinkin in his analysis.
Those Indians acted exactly as terrorists, only without the suicide bombs.
coach
" The only time I didn't vote Conservative was when I voted for Preston Manning's Reform Party."
CINO!!
Everything is easy for people who are not starving, homeless or constantly under attack. These armchair critics can attack Israel (figuratively speaking) because they are in their comfort zone. While I'm sure these useful idiots would bend over for terrorists, they would be secretly glad to see the back of them.
" The postal union and all employs should be charged with aiding the war against the Jews."
Please don't lump all postal employees into the union handbasket. Many do support Israel,and are seriously PO'ed at the union for this and other stands that they have taken.
"Relatively" young? Isn't she 26? Harsh, dude.
'Please don't lump all postal employees into the union handbasket. Many do support Israel,and are seriously PO'ed at the union for this and other stands that they have taken.'
Posted by: wallyj at July 3, 2011 4:42 PM
Are those people taking the union to task in words and deeds? I hope so. I would like to see them (the po'd group) stand up with some words and demonstrations to tell the union, that they pay to belong to, that they don't intend to co-operate or pay them (the union) dues they demand unless the latter change their views on Israel.
Israel is an inspiration for the best that human Civilization can achieve.
That it has achieved this, while it's very existence has been under constant threat from an Islamist death cult since 1948, is all the more remarkable.
Wally, I understand what you're saying. I have a female friend in the Fraser Valley who's a postal employee and is also dismayed/disgusted with the union leadership.
When you see people attacking the Posties, please know that it only refers to the Militant Left within the group.
I only include those that back the union leaders. Did you vote for them?
Not in a generation would I expect to see this in the MSM. Hardly the picture of what happens in Israel that I see in my decreasing exposure to the MSM.
Thank you Robert, and Kate for hosting this post...
When I was in Israel, very talented Arab physicians worked alongside their Jewish colleagues in Tel Aviv and other hospitals without any regard as to the patient's religious beliefs.
Don't condemn all.
It's very fashionable among the left to compare the Palestinians to Canada's First Nations and the Israelis to European colonizers. It's a bogus comparison since there have been Jews in the lands that now comprise the state of Israel far longer than anyone calling themselves Arabs occupied that land. Not only that, but hundreds of thousands of Jews were expelled from Arab countries following the UN's establishment of the modern state of Israel. They went to Israel.
If anything, the Arabs can be compared to European invaders some 1200 years ago, when Islam spread from its place of origin, Saudi Arabia.
The fact of the matter is, Arabs and Jews have a common ancestry stretching back to Abraham. The old patriarch, Abraham, kept a concubine in the wings named Hagar, and it is supposedly from her that Arabs trace their ancestry. In other words, they are the descendants of a prostitute, whereas Jews descended from Abraham's legitimate wife, Sarah. At least that's one way to look at it.
Oh, and if Canada's First Nations started strapping on suicide vests or bombing buses or slaughtering innocents, they'd be in violation of the treaties they signed in which they promised to keep the peace. We could call the treaties off and be done with them, since they no longer adhere to their promises.
Actually Louise....it is really more complex than that--arab migration patterns that is.
The well-spring/origin of all the arabs is Yemen....the area of the Arabian Peninsula bordering the Gulf of Aden and Southern Red Sea. The millenia old migration pattern leads south then east as the population spreads to open areas/grazing lands, each group pushed by the next,skirting "the empty quarter" (Rub-al-Khali)hence north up the Gulf Coast to Mesopotamia----in several generations. In the urban areas of Mesopotamia...they are decimated by disease from crowding and create a vacuum for new comers to fill.
Meanwhile the entire region /hadhas nomadic Bedoin wandering about, never establishing roots.
Prior to the late 19th century, indeed into WW1, what is now termed Isreal/Palestine was arid and sparsely populated. The inflix of Zionist migrants created job opportunities which attracted arab migrants, some directly from Yemen.
In the early 1920's the Tribe of Saud(nomadic Bedoin) succeeded in conquering Mecca, displacing the Hasmemites(former rulers of Mecca and the Arab Legion inspired by T. E. Lawrence) who retreated North headed for Syria (Damascus).....but were persuaded by the British Mandate to instead establish a Hashemite Kingdom centered on Amman....later another Hashemite prince was appointed king of Mesopotamia (Iraq).....finally deposed by Saddam's Baath Party.
A parallel to the invented Palestinian nation is the invasion of the SE US by the Mexican illegal migrants, who also have fanciful/bogus claims of past occupation. IOW Palestinians = La Raza. Both groups seem to enjoy support from ignorant leftists.
Louise and Sasquatch
When I was a student in the mid 1950s it was still possible to have a civil debate on the status of Israel and the Arabs. I vividly recall an Arab debating team making the analogy that, if the Jews are entitled to ownership based on historic occupation then, by the same token, the North American Indians should be declared the lawful owners of Canada and the USA.
I was unaware that 21st century Arabs had turned the argument around to make Arabs the natives and Jews the invaders.
Zog
"I was unaware that 21st century Arabs had turned the argument around to make Arabs the natives and Jews the invaders."
Yeah well, they found the first argument wasn't well received, so they then reinvented themselves as aboriginals.
And Zog,Arabs are about as native to Israel as the Indian is to NA.The Inuit where here long before.Opppssss....is that un-PC?
Justthinkin' - "The Inuit where here long before."
Dude, sorry, but no. Indians have been here for at least 12,000 years, Inuit only a few hundred.
Justthinkin,
Depends on who qualifies as Inuit I guess. The pre-Dorset people occupied the eastern Arctic as much as 4,000 years ago. I think that the Indians have been here longer than that but, 12,000 years? Reference for that?
Zog, the modern view of Israeli Jews as intruders is based on some element of truth, in that many, many European Jews fled Europe to the newly created state of Israel shortly after it was created. Who can blame them? The European Jewry were instrumental in the political development of Israel in the early years.
Regarding how long the Indians have been here, the 1200 yrs estimate is the most conservative estimate, but AFAIK the dating of the arrival of their ancestors on this continent is still hotly debated and the dating techniques available and used on archeological sites have been wildly all over the map. Some date as long ago as 60,000 years.
Some theorize that the "peopling" of the Americas was accomplished via migration down the Pacific coast line as the ice-age glaciers were receding. With all that water locked up in ice any remains of camp sites and what not that would prove this theory are now under several feet of water as the oceans rose due to the melting of the big ice sheets, so it will probably never be proven. In any case, most sites in the southern US and further south are dated much older than sites in Canada, which tends to support the theory that humans migrated north as the ice sheets receded. Of course, ask any representative of the Indian Industry and they will tell you they were created here.
Claims that Indians are the rightful owners of the entire continent ignore both history and treaties. Shit happens in history and fairy-tales never come true. When leftards learn that, they have a chance of growing up.
Oh, and the Inuit were the last aboriginal group to arrive and the 4000-6000 years ago estimate is widely accepted.
Ooops. That should be 12,000 years for the most conservative estimate.
It is far from clear as to who were the first to settle the Americas.
It has been established that several waves of asians arrived in the early Holocene(post glacial).
But the earlier Clovis have not been assigned an origin and there are contemporary artifacts that are Solotrean(ice Age Europe)....and significant European DNA in FN genes...
The Thule culture in the North was truly ancient....the Dorset culture spread across the arctic swiftly...as evidenced by a more or less common language and culture across the arctic.
As far as the arabs being Palestine's aboriginals, that is rubbish....BECAUSE NOBODY LIVED THERE! The "Little Ice Age" had turned "The Land of Milk and Honey" into a sparsly populated desert that without irigation would still be a desert.