{"id":49191,"date":"2026-06-26T01:58:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=49191"},"modified":"2026-06-24T14:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:13:39","slug":"israel-fighting-for-its-existence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/israel-fighting-for-its-existence\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel fighting for its existence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pat Johnson, left, interviews Jonathan Conricus at the Friends of JNF Pacific Negev Event on June 7. <\/i>(photo by Galit Lewinski)<\/i><\/p>\n

On June 7, a full sanctuary at Beth Israel Synagogue gathered for the annual Friends of JNF Pacific Negev Event.<\/p>\n

Howard Jampolsky, vice-president of Friends of JNF Canada Pacific Region, emceed. He spoke of the rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7, including in Canada, \u201ca country that many Jews believed was among the safest and most tolerant countries in the world,\u201d yet where Jewish schools have been shot at, synagogues vandalized, Jewish students intimidated, and Jewish businesses and individuals targeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntizionism that denies the Jewish people the right to self-determination is antisemitism,\u201d he said. \u201cIsrael is not an abstract political issue to us. Israel is family. Israel is history. Israel is survival\u2026. For 2,000 years, we have said, we have prayed, l\u2019shana haba b\u2019Yerushalayim<\/i>, next year in Jerusalem. Today, there is a Jerusalem. Today, there is a Jewish state \u2013 and we will never apologize for defending it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funds raised by this year\u2019s Negev event will support the Beit Elkana Centre for Holistic Therapy, in the Lakhish region of Israel\u2019s Negev. Established by Galit Wiesel in memory of her late husband, Elkana Wiesel, a reserve combat officer who was killed in battle in 2024, the centre will offer care to those suffering trauma-related conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cProjects like Beit Elkana are about more than buildings,\u201d said Jampolsky. \u201cThey are about resilience. They are about healing. They\u2019re about ensuring that Israelis living in the south of Israel know that they are not alone \u2013 that Jewish communities around the world stand beside them and with them. That\u2019s what Zionism looks like. Not slogans, not hashtags, certainly not hatred, but building, planting, healing, supporting, creating hope\u2026. Because our answer to hatred cannot be silence. Our answer must be courage. Our answer must be pride, and our answer must be action. We must support Jewish institutions. We must educate the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that vein, Friends of JNF Canada presented Rabbi Stephen Berger, head of Judaic studies at King David High School, with its Education Award, \u201crecognizing his tremendous contribution to Jewish learning, Jewish dignity, a Jewish identity, and the strength of our community.\u201d The honour was presented by two of Jampolsky\u2019s children, Elise and Jake.<\/p>\n

Berger started his work in the community with NCSY more than 20 years ago, moving to KDHS about 18 years ago. He considers himself a resource for the Jewish community, not just the high school, and half-joked that he\u2019d been teaching the same one idea in 25 different ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea, very simply, is that we are souls\u2026. We are spiritual in nature. We are not just super-smart animals\u2026. [Rabbi Israel] Salanter says the big problem with the world is we\u2019re always worried about our own physical needs and everybody else\u2019s spiritual growth, [and] if we just flip that, if we could just worry about our own spiritual growth and everybody else\u2019s physical needs, then the world will be a much better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Rabbi Stephen Berger holds the Friends of JNF Canada, Pacific Region, Education Award, presented to him by siblings Jake and Elise Jampolsky, whose father, Howard Jampolsky, emceed the event. (photo by Galit Lewinski)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pat Johnson, who writes for and serves on the editorial board of the Jewish Independent<\/i>, in addition to being the founder of Upstanders Canada, among other things, spoke about one of the main things he has learned in his 30-plus years of \u201changing around\u201d the Jewish community: \u201cthe depths of connection between Jewish people in Canada and the land, the state and the people of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Engaged in political activism and progressive causes for decades, Johnson said that, during the Second Intifada, his communities diverged.<\/p>\n

\u201cOstensibly, we were asked to choose to side either with Palestinians or with Israelis,\u201d he said. \u201cThe real choice we faced, though, was between coexistence, peace and a negotiated settlement to conflict as characterized by the Oslo process, or supporting chauvinistic fanaticism, violence and the eradication from the Middle East of its only oasis of pluralism, democracy and equality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did I, and why did you, face that choice and make the right one, when so many others faced the same choice and opted to betray the values we thought we shared? Perhaps because we know Jewish history.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople asked, \u2018Could we be right and, seemingly, the entire world be wrong?\u2019 Jewish history, for everything else it teaches us, reveals that the entire world can indeed be wrong \u2013 again and again,\u201d said Johnson, who spoke about the inextricable links between Jews and Israel. He held up a JNF Blue Box, pushka<\/i>, calling it \u201ca tangible symbol of that bond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Jewish homes in Montreal and Minsk, in Vancouver and Vilnius, in Casablanca and Krakow, parents and grandparents dropped coins into boxes like this, demonstrating from generation to generation the centrality of this eternal connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Israel reestablished, the Zionist dream today, said Johnson, is \u201can Israel that is safe and indestructible. An Israel that exists in a changed region, where peace prevails. An Israel that is respected in a world without hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan Conricus believes Israel will have to continue fighting for its existence.<\/p>\n

A retired lieutenant-colonel in the Israel Defence Forces, Conricus is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, where he provides analysis and insight on Israel, the Middle East, and the challenges facing democratic societies worldwide. His Vancouver talk was part of a cross-country tour with Friends of JNF Canada.<\/p>\n

Significant progress has been made in Gaza and Hamas has been diminished, Conricus said. \u201cIn terms of long-range weapons, far less, almost nothing; in terms of capital, far less, almost nothing; in terms of senior terrorists with decades of experience, almost nothing; and, in terms of an ability to project force and to threaten Israeli civilians, almost nothing. But you\u2019ll notice that I said almost in each and every sentence \u2013 and almost is a temporary situation. The nucleus of Hamas remains.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody has disarmed,\u201d he said. And anyone who thinks they will \u201csee a jihadi fighter lay down their weapons, doesn\u2019t know what a jihadi fighter is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laying down weapons \u201cis not in their DNA \u2013 they cannot do it,\u201d he said, adding that, if they did, \u201cthey are dead men walking \u2026 not necessarily because Israel will kill them all \u2026 but because there are long lists of grievances within the population in Gaza with most of the thugs and terrorists of Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaza will continue to challenge Israel, said Conricus, as the IDF continues to fight in Lebanon, \u201cclearing away the last remains of Hezbollah: storage facilities, bunkers, sniper positions and many other things that Hezbollah had built underneath and within civilian homes in Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal is to create a cleared area, \u201cwhere there\u2019s no infrastructure that Hezbollah can use in order to attack Israeli civilians along the border,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that, currently, we\u2019re in the best position that we\u2019ve ever been \u2026 [to] help our neighbours to the north in being a sovereign state for the first time in their history,\u201d Conricus said. \u201cThe Lebanese state was granted sovereignty in 1946 from the French colonial powers [when foreign troops finally left the country], and they haven\u2019t enjoyed a day of sovereignty in their whole lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Iranian front, the IDF is ready \u201cto get going against Iran again, with the purpose of dealing much more severe blows against targets that, up until now, have not been engaged by the IDF,\u201d said Conricus, but the Israeli government is holding back.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until now, Israel has decided not to do so, whether independently or together with the US, mostly thinking about the future of the Iranian people and wanting to leave intact infrastructure for the people of Iran to continue with their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Oct. 7, Conricus said, \u201cWe were responding, but we weren\u2019t really fighting strategically back.\u201d Now, however, \u201call the Iranian proxies that the Iranian regime spent billions and billions of dollars building, arming, training and equipping \u2013 none of those are even half as strong as they were before Oct. 7. Most have been dealt significant blows by Israel. And Iran itself, the Islamic Republic, is the weakest that it has ever been in its 47 years of existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

While concerned about \u201cthe looming threat of an imperialistic T\u00fcrkiye\u201d and about unity within Israel and between Israeli and diaspora Jews, Conricus said people should take everything they see in international media \u201cwith many grains of salt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease know that the situation in Israel is much happier, stronger, more resolute, united, and better than it is portrayed in international media. Please know that Am Yisrael, in Israel, is strong, committed to prosperity, to life, to creation, to peace, to beautiful things, and that, despite two-and-a-half years, almost three years, of relentless attacks against the very basic legitimacy of the state of Israel to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people, we\u2019re here, we\u2019re fighting and, much to everybody else\u2019s disapproval, we\u2019re going to continue to be so.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the conversation between Johnson and Conricus that followed, several topics were covered. One of the last questions was about Malmo, Sweden, where Conricus, who was born in Jerusalem, partly grew up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor a lot of us, the word Malmo \u2026 is shorthand for European multiculturalism gone wrong,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cIs there something from that experience you would want Canadians to know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Malmo is \u201ca cautionary tale,\u201d said Conricus, noting that most young Jews have left the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not really a future,\u201d he said. \u201cWithin a generation and a half, I think that the Jewish community won\u2019t exist there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He encouraged the community to focus on Jewish education and fostering Jewish identity, \u201chow we love each other, how we nurture the bond between the Jewish people and the Jewish state.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the event, David Greaves, executive director of Friends of JNF Western region, and Lance Davis, the organization\u2019s chief executive officer, also offered remarks, and Ilene-Jo\u00a0<\/span>Bellas, board member and event chair, thanked the speakers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pat Johnson, left, interviews Jonathan Conricus at the Friends of JNF Pacific Negev Event on June 7. (photo by Galit Lewinski) On June 7, a full sanctuary at Beth Israel Synagogue gathered for the annual Friends of JNF Pacific Negev Event. Howard Jampolsky, vice-president of Friends of JNF Canada Pacific Region, emceed. He spoke of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[801,24915,2462,24736,4330,60,24914,22234,3597,1774,3034],"class_list":["post-49191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-antisemitism","tag-friends-of-jnf","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-israel","tag-jnf","tag-jonathan-conricus","tag-negev-event","tag-politics","tag-terrorism","tag-united-states"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}