Jack Chivo: Who is this rabbi?
Last July, Charlie Smith was coming out of the Vancouver Central Library on a Saturday early afternoon, when he encountered about three dozen protesters standing in front of the CBC building downtown, carrying Palestinian flags. Some were delivering fiery speeches in support of the "Canadian Boat to Gaza", a pro-Palestinian group attempting again to breach the sea blockade imposed by Israel against the Hamas-controlled strip of land squeezed between the countries of Egypt and Israel.
The blockade was declared by the United Nations in the fall of 2011 as being legal under International laws.
To his surprise, as shown in the picture on the top of the article, a member of the demonstration was a person wearing a Jewish skullcap, who described himself as a Rabbi David Mivasair, the spiritual leader of a small Vancouver synagogue, which he identified as Ahavat Olam. When Charlie asked the rabbi to write down the name, so it can be used correctly, the rabbi politely refused, because it was Shabbat—and a religious Jew does not use pen and paper on such a holy day.
Apparently, Charlie wasn't aware exactly who the man was and did not ask the esteemed rabbi, who had refused on apparent religious grounds to even write something on Shabbat, how come that he was able to travel from his home in Vancouver, some 10 miles away, to the CBC building. Driving on that special day of prayers and rest was a much graver religious offence, especially for a rabbi, than scribbling a few words on a sheet of paper.
And I don't believe that Mivasair walked there.
The rabbi told Charlie that a good number of the three dozen demonstrators there were from his congregation and from other similar groups, like Jews for a Just Peace and Independent Jewish Voices, and one could see behind Mivasair that two of his followers were displaying a huge Palestinian flag.
Based on my knowledge, almost always these groups involve the same few people, using different labels.
During the interview, Mivasair made a few stunning statements, like alleging that "I think that the majority of the Jewish people in the Vancouver are very disturbed by what Israel is doing in Gaza", which begs the question why only a few Jews were there, out of a population of about 30,000.
He also stated that "I came today because I think that it's a moral necessity to be here"..."I feel that I have more responsibility because I am a Jew and Jewish religious leader and a teacher, I just think I have to be here."
After reading these enlightened statements, I started thinking that if Rabbi Mivasair felt so "responsible" to support the few dozen flotilla members allegedly trying to help the Palestinian Arabs, even on the Shabbat, he must have also been extremely concerned about the terrible crimes committed for almost one year by the bloodthirsty Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, with many thousands of innocent civilians, including elderly people, women and children, being slaughtered there by heavy artillery, rockets, tanks, and by snipers, often from other countries.
"As a Jew and religious leader" and as "a teacher", Mivasair must have been compelled to attend demonstrations, in front of the CBC building and elsewhere, write and angry letter to the prime minister, like the one he fired only a few years ago requesting the recognition by Canada of Hamas as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, in which he would demand the quick intervention of our government in securing the immediate cessation of the murderous aggression unleashed by Assad against his own people.
As I could not remember seeing any reports about Mivasair's efforts to help the embattled Syrians, at least comparable to the demonstrations he had organized for the Gazans, I decided to Google his name, but I could not find on any of the websites available anything even remotely related to his previous protests, letters or activities, in which he would be condemning the daily massacres there.
Therefore, I started wondering whether I had used the right words in my research.
Immediately, I changed the heading to "Mivasair and Syria" and something totally unexpected popped up. On a website, I easily uncovered a message from March 2009 in which Rabbi Mivasair was appealing to anyone who could help him arrange a visit to Syria, even then under the iron fist of the same cruel dictator, Bashar-al- Assad. This request being made during a time when tens of thousands were lingering and being tortured in the country's notorious jails, hundreds killed yearly by his murderous security forces, and hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who have lived there for millennia, were still denied citizenship, the right to vote, the right to even use their language in public, newspapers, books, or have it taught in schools.
I thought that Mivasair must have surely intended to travel there to express his solidarity with the suffering Syrian people, as he had often done it for years in supporting the Palestinians, the Iraqis, or the Afghanis. Perhaps, this was the "smoking gun" I was looking for!
To my surprise, the opposite was there, in his posting.
What he wanted to do in Syria, was not to help the oppressed people there. Not even to investigate the fate of the Syrian Jews, who had lived there since Babylonian times, thousands of years before the arrival of the Arabs, with a prewar population of almost 50,000, now diminished because of pogroms, killings, and a brutal dictatorship to only a few dozen elderly and sick people.
His desire to travel to Syria was motivated by something else, namely, as he expressed in his message: "I would very much love to humbly enter one of the old holy mosques and pray there from my heart", to which he added, apparently as an afterthought, "and maybe visit the Harat al Yahud and the synagogue".
His priorities were established in advance.
Which makes me wonder whether I was wrong all along. Maybe there is not only one David Mivasair here in Vancouver. Maybe there are a few of them, each with their different agendas, priorities, and actions, and I was expecting something from the wrong ones.
One Rabbi Mivasair who is a Jewish religious leader and a teacher, feels a "moral necessity" to care about the well-being of his fellow men and women, wherever they live.
Another one wants to have the terror group Hamas recognized by Canada as the legitimate governing authority in Gaza.
A third one was looking forward to be humbly praying from his heart in the mosques of Damascus, and maybe to visiting a synagogue there.
As I really do not know to which one of the three this message should be addressed, would the real Rabbi Mivasair please stand up and speak out.
Jack Chivo is a retired journalist who lives in West Vancouver.
Comments
12 Comments
Just Checking
Feb 27, 2012 at 4:35pm
Jack do you denounce all violence against innocent civilian bystanders such as civilian Syrian Muslim Arabs, Israeli Citizens & Palestinian Women and Children and innocent Journalists from around the world who are being killed in Military strikes?
I believe from your writings that you support primarily only one side in the Middle East conflict and therefore in my opinion I do not believe that you are an impartial and/or neutral writer on these conflicts.
Jack Chivo
Feb 27, 2012 at 5:35pm
Thanks "Just Checking".
I try to be very specific in my opinions. If you could privide me with some specific examples of civilians, women, children, journalists, purposely killed by any miltary, I will respond immediatelly!!
Please, no websites from some dubious or partisan sources, on BOTH sides, but from recognised media, or government officials.
I look forward to receiving your info!
SPY VS SPY
Feb 27, 2012 at 6:50pm
Jack, when was the last time someone destroyed a Jewish School, the Israeli Air Force bombed a School for the Blind in Gaza.
Jack, when was the last time someone bombed a major food distribution center for impoverished Israeli's, the Israeli Air Force Bombed the United Nations Food center in Gaza.
Jack when was last time someone bombed the front of a Synagogue when the Faithful were walking out. The Israeli Air Force fired a Hell-Cat Missle into a group of Palestinians who were exiting a Mosque.
Jack, when was the last time People of the Jewish Faith were thrown into Canadian Prisons for walking across Oak, Cambie or Main Street because they did not have permission from Christian Canadians. 5,000 Palestinians are in jails for walking across a road IN GAZA.
Jack when was the last time Canadians of the Jewish faith were banned from returning to Canada after marrying someone from another country. Palestinians who leave The West Bank to marry, may never return.
Jack, take a look in a mirror one day and ask yourself,
WHAT HAVE I BECOME ?
Just Checking
Feb 27, 2012 at 7:23pm
So Jack do you denounce all violence against innocent civilian bystanders such as civilian Syrian Muslim Arabs, Israeli Citizens & Palestinian Women and Children and innocent Journalists from around the world who are being killed in Military strikes?
Feel free to answer the question anytime :))
Jack use your journalism experience dig via Google, BBC and CNN.
GOT
Feb 27, 2012 at 7:40pm
"As I really do not know to which one of the three this message should be addressed, would the real Rabbi Mivasair please stand up and speak out."...Jack, what is the actual message? All I see here is your usual semi-demented rambling, which obviously is intended to target the rabbi activist for not being the kind of Jew you would like him to be, and which you no doubt imagine to be clever and amusingly pointed. I'm all for freedom of expression, but maybe it's time for Jack Shivo the 'retired journalist' to sit down and be quiet. You're not clever, you're not amusing, and you're not relevant. You're not even very well versed in what you seem to imagine is your subject area, politics in the Middle East. You're a tedious bore looking for attention by playing the stroppy silly bugger. It's kind of Charlie to put up with you, and I see you dragged his name into your piece to give it an air of legitimacy, but it is very, very dull - and completely pointless - drivel.
Grigori Khaskin
Feb 28, 2012 at 8:05am
All these people form the left who left comments - are they all from church of Mivassair?? - thanx to GS submission policy, have the luxury to be anonymous. All them for now went for Jack's blood, shooting habitually him as the messenger. They have zero interest to discuss the topic of "wonderful" deeds of self-hating "rabbi". This is more to his activities than what Jack had described. I can add if demand exist here.
Jack Chivo
Feb 28, 2012 at 6:00pm
To those who tried to divert the attention from the facts, the inability of the left wing activists, rabbis included, to support the Syrian people and oppose the criminal there, Assad, who has killed so far some 10,000 people, what is the reason you guys keep silent??
Or the scores of people hanged in Iran last year, with no legal procedures, as reported by Amnesty International!!
Don't you care about human rights in the world??
As for the questions, please be SPECIFIC, and I will condemn any criminal act proven to be factual, no matter who commited it!!
Give me the FACTS first.
Just to answer the person hiding under the fake nasme Spy vs, Spy, Israeli Air Force NEVER targeted a Shool for the Blind in Gaza.
The incident happened ten years ago, when Hamas terrorists used the streets NEXT to the school, to launch misiles into Israel. Using civilian areas for military operationais under the Geneva Convention is a
WAR CRIME!!
Commited by Hamas!!
Israel bombed the terrorists and some windows and walls in the school were damaged.
The school was EMPTY and not ONE student, teacher, instructor or employee was hurt. According to the UN!!
Just asking you, how can you justify the terror attack last year against a school bus full of Israeli pupils going home with many killed and wounded??
Did you enjoy it??
I bet all of you will be hiding under the bed!!
Yo Jacko
Feb 29, 2012 at 6:25am
Respected Credible Sources on WAR CRIMES by BOTH ISRAEL & HAMAS
SOURCE WASHINGTON POST excerpt...
A U.N. human rights panel accused Israel and Palestinian militants on Tuesday of committing war crimes during the three-week war in the Gaza Strip last winter, but it reserved its harshest criticism for the Israeli military, saying that soldiers targeted civilians in an offensive that left as many as 1,400 people dead.
In a 574-page report, the four-member panel accused Israel of targeting civilians in mosques and schools, as well as destroying crops and factories, including the only flour factory in Gaza City. The panel also said Israeli soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian civilians and, at gunpoint, used them as human shields to enter unsecured homes.
UN REPORT - GOLDSTONE REPORT...
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNF...
So Jacko is it your belief & position that Israel has never done anything wrong? That No Civilians Women & Children were ever killed by Israeli Forces?
That is obviously not credible...
Jack Chivo
Feb 29, 2012 at 11:40am
Nice try "Yo... whoever..."
But no cigar!!
You must have burried your head in sand some three years ago, and did not read the news since,
This so-called report isued in September 2009, was rejected last year by the same Judge Goldstone himself, who wrote that he was given the WRONG information by his staff.
Upon further research, he concluded that there was NO evidence of wilful crimes commited by Israel.
NADA,NOTHING, RIEN, NICHTS!!
He was fooled once, but he retracted EVERYTHING.
BTW. Did you look who were members of the UN Human Rights Commission in 2009??
Some of the countries with a great human rights record, Like CUBA, CHINA, SAUDI ARABIA or NIGERIA!!
But, why bother with telling the truth when a lie is more useful for your cause.
Finally, do YOU condemn the butcher in Damascus??
SPY VS SPY
Feb 29, 2012 at 12:42pm
Jack,
Please make sure you have a permit from the Canadian Army before you drive over the Lions Gate Bridge from your home on the North Bank of Burrard Inlet. Be sure to apply at least 6 months ahead of time and these applications must be carefully reviewed.
We have serious security concerns about you North Bankians in Vancouver Proper as we do not consider you as equals. Be sure to have your ID on you at all times or else you could end up in a prison camp in Surrey for at least 3 - 5 years and these prisons are not inspected by the International Red Cross or the UN.