Israel has a unique value system, analyst says

Jim Lederman

TORONTO — What was originally a private letter to Rabbi Dow Marmur of Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple forms the foundation of a talk that Jim Lederman, senior Middle East analyst for international consulting firm Oxford Analytica, will deliver this evening (Sept. 17) at Holy Blossom.

The speech, entitled “The Real Israel – Without the Hype, Slogans or Spin,” will examine what Lederman calls a kind of “cumulative ignorance” on the part of the international news media what it comes to the situation in Israel, as well as what he describes as Israel’s unique value system.

The longest-serving foreign correspondent in Jerusalem, Lederman, who was born and raised in Toronto, has lived in Israel for 47 years. He previously worked as a reporter for the CBC, National Public Radio and the New York Post.

He told The CJN that a letter he wrote after the first week of this summer’s Israel-Hamas war to Rabbi Marmur – whom he’d formed a relationship with after the latter attended the funeral for Lederman’s mother, a Holy Blossom member – detailed his reaction to world coverage of Israel.

“I saw what had been written in the world and saw how clueless they were about what was really going on,” Lederman said.

“Later, when Rabbi Marmur asked me to speak at Holy Blossom, I decided the letter would be the basis of my speech.”

He stressed that the stories in the news media about Israel haven’t really changed in the past 30 or so years, but that Israel, a country he believes is deeply dynamic, has “changed in many ways.”

Namely, Lederman said he’s referring to what has evolved to be the country’s inimitable set of principles, which guide political decisions made by both the government and the population.

As an example, Lederman cited how Israel decided to continue supplying water to Gaza during the war this past summer, despite “international law stating quite clearly that Israel had the right to cut off the water supply.”

He also said that, despite claims in the news media that Israel has, of late, shifted to the right politically, roughly 62 per cent of Israelis say they favour trading land for peace, and many Israelis are less divided and far warier of internal disagreement and civil war than is perceived outside the country.

“There are rationales that have been accepted by the Israeli public regarding their approach to life, politics and social matters… that nobody [outside Israel] takes any notice of. That’s one of the main things I’m going to be dealing with.”

The talk will take will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Holy Blossom Temple, 1950 Bathurst Street.