Islamic State

Fighter returns to Israel

Former British Columbian Gill Rosenberg spent nine months fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. (photo from Gill Rosenberg)

Gill Rosenberg returned to Israel a month ago, after spending nine months fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Born in Surrey, Rosenberg, 31, grew up in White Rock and graduated from King David High School before continuing her studies at B.C. Institute of Technology, finishing a program in airport operations management. She moved to Israel in 2006 to serve in the Israel Defence Forces, volunteering through a program called Mahal (the overseas volunteer IDF program). During the course of her service, she made aliya. She now lives in Jerusalem.

“I served as a search and rescue NCO (non-commissioned officer) and as an instructor at the Search, Rescue and Civil Defence School,” Rosenberg told the Independent. “It was a great experience.”

She also spent time training the Kenyan Armed Forces and helped them establish a disaster response unit in their country.

Growing up in British Columbia taught Rosenberg “to respect the diversity of culture, beliefs and religion,” she said. “As well, being raised Jewish, I had a strong education on the Shoah and participated in the March of the Living, visiting the concentration camps in Poland.”

After that experience, Rosenberg was invited to speak at the B.C. Legislature on behalf of Jewish youth when the government voted to enact Holocaust Memorial Day legislation, when Ujjal Dosanjh was premier.

Intolerance and totalitarianism are two things that she has vowed to never tolerate. “I fully believe that when we say ‘Never again,’ we don’t mean just for us Jews,” she said. “We can’t stand by and stay silent to any genocide taking place – and that’s what I saw happening to the Yazidi population on Sinjar Mountain. The Christians and Yazidis in Iraq have lost the most in this war.”

Rosenberg fought in Syria with the YPG/YPJ (Kurdish militia groups) for three months and then headed to Iraq for six months, fighting with the Assyrian Christian militia, Dwekh Nawsha.

“In Syria, I was in Serekaniye and it was a pretty static front over the winter months,” she said. “It was bitterly cold, always raining, muddy, and darkness like I’ve never experienced anywhere else.

“There’d be a firefight at least once a day, but it was mostly from a distance of over one kilometre. My first day on the frontline, a suicide bomber blew himself up about 50 feet from our checkpoint. He intended to get closer, but because of the deep mud, his vehicle got stuck and, thank God, he was the only casualty that day.

“In Iraq,” she continued, “I was at a frontline 25 kilometres from the city centre of Mosul. They were in Baqofa and Telskuf, and the next town over, called Batnay, was already Daesh-occupied.

“The Daesh [ISIS] are hitting that position with mortars, Katyusha rockets and heavy machine gun fire daily and especially at night. They attempt to ambush, but both Dwekh Nawsha and the Peshmerga at that frontline have prevented any advancement of ISIS forces.”

Rosenberg said she was treated with the utmost respect and not any differently than other fighters. “They feel like the world has forgotten them, so for an Israeli Jewish woman to pick up a weapon and stand with them on the frontlines meant a lot to them,” she said. “I still keep in touch with the leader there and he tells me I’ll be a part of them forever, that we’re family.”

As she was fighting, Rosenberg wore the Canadian flag on her uniform proudly. “I feel that Canada is one of few countries that still stands tall and supports democracy and freedom, and it isn’t afraid to condemn those committing evil in this world. And that’s something to be very proud of.”

Earlier in the interview, she noted, “Stephen Harper is the only world leader condemning the nuclear deal with Iran and speaking out against the evils of this world and standing with our best allies.”

Since returning to Israel, Rosenberg has met with several members of the Knesset and shared with them some of her experiences. She also has been approached by several nongovernmental organizations working in Syria and Iraq for her help with their efforts.

“I want to continue helping women and children in Syria and Iraq,” she said, “so I have to determine where my experience and abilities can be best put to use. As far as returning to the frontline, I have no plans to return at this stage.”

Rosenberg was very clear that she does not see herself as a recruiter. “I very adamantly would advise against anyone traveling to the region to fight,” she said. “There are many ways to help, including a Montreal Jewish foundation called CYCI (the Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq), which are buying and liberating the children that are sold like sheep in the market in ISIS-controlled areas.

“Pikuach nefesh [to save a life] is an obligation we have as Jews, and the Talmud even requires us to spend money to save a life if we have that ability,” she said. “This organization [CYCI] gives us that ability.”

Another Canadian organization, also coming from the Jewish community, is Rape Is No Joke (RINJ). This group provides medical care to women and children who have been victims of rape and other brutality in Syria and Iraq.

From what Rosenberg has been hearing, the dynamics on the battlefield have changed in recent weeks, with the Iranians making gains in Iraq against ISIS. However, she was quick to add, “They might be fighting ISIS just as I was, but, ultimately, they’re not a friend and I believe they’re a much greater threat than is ISIS.”

Reiterating her discouragement of anyone traveling to the region to fight, Rosenberg said, “I believe that if we don’t stop ISIS now, they’ll be at our doorstep before we know it. ISIS are geniuses at social media and media and know how to look strong and strike fear in the hearts of the West.

“I can tell you, from my personal experience on the ground, that they fight in a very cowardly manner and often run away when challenged. This is especially true when it’s the women of the YPJ. Their beliefs are such that they think if they’re killed by a woman, they will go to hell. So, my only question is this, What happens to them when that woman is also Jewish and Israeli?”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

ISIS destroys cultures, history

In July 2014, ISIS destroyed the Tomb of Jonah, the biblical prophet revered in Judaism and Islam, which was in the Iraqi city of Mosul. (photo from news-centre.uwinnipeg.ca)

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is disconnecting the present population from its past, and they will stop at nothing to achieve this goal, including murdering civilians and destroying cultural, religious and historical sites that interfere with their beliefs.

These were the sentiments shared by Winnipeg-based archeologist Dr. Tina Greenfield, who has worked in the Near East and conducted fieldwork in Turkey and northern Iraq under the threat of ISIS. Her University of Manitoba biography says that she is co-director of the Near Eastern and Biblical Archeology Laboratory (NEBAL) in Winnipeg, and is actively analyzing animal bone collections from Tel es-Safi and Tel Burna in Israel, Ziyaret Tepe and Gol Tepe in Turkey, and several sites in Iraq. Her lecture at the University of Winnipeg – ISIS and the Destruction of Archeological Sites in Iraq – was held on April 23.

photo - Dr. Tina Greenfield is working to document archeological sites — Dr. Tina Greenfield is working to document archeological sites. *(photo from umanitoba.ca)*

She prefaced her talk by noting that keeping the population safe is, by far, more important than the artifacts on which she has worked. She then outlined the level of destruction that has occurred to some of the world’s oldest cities, and how she narrowly missed the expansion of ISIS in Iraq last year.

“I’m going to try to add some dimensions into this, so you understand how important this region is and why we should care,” said Greenfield. “So, while I will be discussing the Islamic State and a bit of their history and mantra, I twist into it my own experiences working in this region for the last two years, specifically.

“Yes, there are archeological sites being damaged, but it needs to be put into perspective. There are lives being lost in this region on a monumental scale. While I’m an archeologist, I’m trying to give another perspective. The priority is keeping the people safe in this region.”

The area in question is bordered by Turkey in the north, Iran in the east, and Saudi Arabia in the south. Also in the region, once known as Mesopotamia, are Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Israel and parts of Egypt. In the past, said Greenfield, “Mesopotamia refer[red] to the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. It’s also referred to as ‘the fertile crescent,’ because animals and plants were domesticated in this region. It’s also known as ‘the cradle of civilization.’”

The world’s earliest cities were built in this area, and major empires emerged from here, as well. Additionally, of historical and biblical interest, the first writings of the story of a great flood also originate there, as do the foundations of mathematics, astronomy, literature and poetry.

“Of all the empires, archeological sites from this region, each one has been damaged from Islamic State,” said Greenfield. “I’m giving you a brief introduction, so you can understand when I show you the sites, what is being damaged.”

The Assyrian Empire stretched from 2000 to 611 BCE, she explained, with its height about 3,000 years ago. “This is arguably the earliest empire of the ancient Near East, and Ashur is the capital of this region,” said Greenfield.

“There were some 19th-century gentleman explorers who came from Europe to try and find evidence of the Bible; they ended up in northern Mesopotamia and they dug these magnificent sites. It was a bit of a competition, because one was from Britain and one was from France.

“They each brought these riches back and displayed them in the British Museum and the Louvre. Suffice it to say, there was an awakening [about this historical time period] and the Mesopotamians and Assyrians were ‘rediscovered.’” It is these places that have sustained the most damage by ISIS out of all the Assyrian sites during the last four years, she said.

The motives and tactics of ISIS are many, she suggested. “We’re talking about terrorism, kidnapping, horrific murders, spreading terror throughout the region,” said Greenfield. “It developed from Al Qaida in Iraq. ISIS took precepts of the organization and beliefs, and developed them even further. It views itself as the restorer of early Islamic learnings. It also believes that it will cleanse the region of anything idolatrous or offensive…. There are eight million Iraqis and Syrians living under the control of ISIS right now. They seek to purify and stamp out anything offensive, idolatrous, any religious manifestations that don’t fit into their general ideas.”

In early 2015, museums and archeological sites became targets of the ISIS advance. “They weren’t picky,” said Greenfield. They targeted “everything from mosques, to churches, tombs, literary hero statues and manuscripts. They don’t want to have any part of that in this new caliphate state.

“They’ve publicized over 50 percent of their destructions in print and on social media. This is highly choreographed, highly targeted. There is no surprise that they have specialists in media. They want to break the link of what they consider heretical association with ancient Mesopotamia, destroying cultural heritage from all ethnic beliefs.”

This conquering tactic “isn’t new,” however. “We can look at Egyptian temples with statues, with faces smashed out, conquerors coming in and declaring things are idolatrous and smashing them. But, this is on a level we’ve never seen before. It’s calculated, choreographed and very well managed.

She continued, “There is looting … they are taking artifacts from these sites and selling them. There’s a massive network from South America to Asia to Europe. They’re selling to finance their organization.”

It’s important to bear witness to the destruction, she added. “Several of my Iraqi colleagues are trying to document, taking their lives in their own hands, essentially, to see what actual damage has been done to these sites. They’re also, in association with international organizations, trying to desperately document sites that haven’t been damaged yet, because we never thought these sites would be damaged and look what’s happened.”

Greenfield recounted that she had received an email on the day of her lecture from someone asking her what they can do, saying this must be stopped and asking by what means it is possible. So, what can be done about the damage being done to the region’s – and the globe’s – historical sites?

It’s an “excellent question,” replied Greenfield. “What do you do? How do we counteract the social media frenzy right now? Do we share them with people? How do we not play into their hands? But, how do you keep people aware of what’s going on?

“ISIS wants the link severed. They want the people gone and the history gone. How do we fight all of that at the same time? In my very humble position, the only thing I seem to be able to do is to continue to go out there – like this September and October again – and document this stuff.”

Since 2010, ISIS has been recruiting within the local population by paying more than government positions. “So, if you’re sitting there as a youth who is completely unhappy with the situation that’s occurred already and you’re offered a lot of money, it’s a no-brainer,” said Greenfield. “They are portraying themselves, in a sense, like Robin Hood, stealing and giving out food, giving out houses. They’re saying they’re protecting their own. Absolutely … there’s this ideology that they’re taking care of their people.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Remembering Steven Sotloff

“I am Shirley Sotloff. My son, Steven, is in your hands.” So began Shirley Sotloff’s emotional appeal to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the terror group ISIS (or IS, Islamic State), on Aug. 27. The terror group had just released a video of a British-accented fighter sawing off the head of American journalist James Foley. At the end of the video, Steven Sotloff, a 31-year-old freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria last August, was dragged into view and threatened with beheading, too.

Shirley Sotloff continued, explaining that she has been studying Islam since her son’s capture, and tried to reason with the IS terror leader. She even addressed him with the honorific “Caliph,” as if he’d already created the Islamic caliphate across the Middle East that is his goal. “Steven is a journalist who traveled to the Middle East to cover the suffering of Muslims at the hands of tyrants,” she explained.

This assessment was shared by Steven Sotloff’s professional colleagues, too. He “lived in Yemen for years, spoke good Arabic” and “deeply loved” the Arab world, said one colleague. Another recalled how he insisted on going to Syria – where more than 70 journalists have been killed and more than 80 kidnapped in recent years – despite security concerns. Committed to recording the plight of ordinary Syrians, he slipped over the border.

“I’ve been here over a week and no one wants freelance because of the kidnappings. It’s pretty bad here,” he e-mailed to a colleague. “I’ve been sleeping at a front, hiding from tanks the past few nights, drinking rain water.” Soon afterwards, in August 2013, he was kidnapped by IS rebels.

What almost none of his colleagues realized was that Sotloff was a Jew who made aliyah to Israel. He’d grown up in Miami, the grandson of Holocaust survivors; his mother has taught in a Miami synagogue’s preschool for years. In 2005, at age 22, he moved to Israel, becoming a citizen of the Jewish state, and studied at the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya.

He worked for Israeli publications, filing articles with Jerusalem Report and the Jerusalem Post, and helping colleagues in Israel with his perspective from Arab capitals. Once, an Israeli colleague asked him what a journalist like him – with an obviously Jewish name and connections to Israel – was doing in volatile countries like Libya, Yemen or Bahrain. “I don’t really share my values and opinions,” Sotloff replied. “I try to stay alive.” When the Israeli colleague pointed out that his Jewish background could be discovered in a simple internet search, he was unfazed: “Yeah, Google definitely isn’t my friend,” he acknowledged.