Baskin’ in the Limelight of His Mind
We correspond with a professional peace advocate who thinks he is the answer to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Gershon Baskin calls himself “The Negotiator” and claims to be responsible for the secret back channel between Israel and Hamas that traded kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for over a thousand Muslim criminals and murderers held in Israeli jails. With peace like Baskin’s, who needs war?
We were notified of the following talk being given in Lethbridge, Alberta on March 13, 2014: How is Peace in Israel, Palestine and the Middle East Possible? Victor listened to what Gershon Baskin had to say and wrote him this letter several days later:
Optimism without realism is like counterfeit currency – it appears to be effective for a time, but in the end proves itself illegitimate.
Hi Gershon,
We briefly met Thursday evening, March 13th, after the SACPA meeting at the University of Lethbridge. I gave you a Harvest Haven card on the back of which was penned another site, www.ThePathofTruth.com. At this site, I directed you to Israel and the Jew.
Without enmity, but in true friendship, I say you greatly err in your philosophy and mission.
I’m not sure when to use terms like “Arab,” “Palestinian,” “Muslim,” or “Islamist.” Let me define these as I understand them (accurately or otherwise). Though I may not always use the appropriate appellation, at least you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
Arabs – descendants of Sarah’s Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, through her son by Abraham, Ishmael (Genesis 16), living predominantly in Middle Eastern countries. Individual Arabs may or may not reject Israel’s right to exist; however, Arab nations that are Muslim cannot accept Israel’s right to exist, based in their Islamic holy book and doctrine.
Muslims – adherents to the religion and culture of Islam, to varying degrees and with diversity of sects and beliefs. This religion, in the main, is defined as worship of the “one and only true God” Allah and deep respect, if not worship, for Muhammad, purportedly Allah’s ultimate prophet, and the Quran and Hadiths, their holy books.
There are two main Islamic sects, the Sunnis and the Shiites, which differ from one another to the death, as we continually witness, apparently because true succession of Muhammad and certain doctrines are of grave importance to the followers.
Palestinians – Arabs and Muslims living primarily in the West Bank and Gaza, otherwise known as the “occupied territories,” as well as what is known in the world today as Israel. Individual Palestinians may or may not deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish nation.
Islamists – those who are known as “extremists” by much of the world and many Muslims. As I and “extremist” Muslims understand the Koran, Islamists are faithful to the spirit and essence of the Koran, as expressed in Muhammad’s clear, uncompromising directives. There are at least tens of millions of Islamists out of 1.3 billion Muslims, who seek or would readily approve of Israel’s annihilation. These are the authoritative movers and shakers of the Islamic world, whom the majority inevitably follow as sheep.
Gershon, how is it you presume to prevail upon Muslims to make peace with Israel? Have you never red the Koran? Are you so unfamiliar with the tenets of orthodox Islam? Yes, you may know Muslims who don’t really agree with, or believe, what many mullahs and Islamic leaders teach against Jews and Israel; however, Islam is what it is and Islam is the problem. You fail to acknowledge this predominant, decisive factor.
As Netanyahu has said, “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.” We see this played out in countless ways and incidents, including many wars throughout the world ever since Muhammad and the Koran came into being in the seventh century.
You wish to establish a separate state for Palestinians in the land that is now Israel and the “occupied territories.” Surely you must know Islamists aren’t interested in a two-state solution. According to Islamic doctrine, as instituted by Muhammad, the Jews are a hated people, and Muslims are mandated to retrieve what Islam once possessed – all lands under the Ottoman Empire, which includes Israel. Understandably, then, their ultimate geopolitical and religious aim is to wipe Israel off the map. And their divine responsibility to Allah is subjugation of the entire earth. These facts are all on Islamic record.
Why wouldn’t you read the Koran? It certainly seems you haven’t done so. Why wouldn’t you realize that if people are willing to blow themselves up and indiscriminately kill anyone anywhere (the more the better) to serve Allah (with mothers even raising their children to that heinous end), you aren’t dealing with rational people prepared to negotiate in good faith?
Will a peace treaty prevail? Aren’t you aware that Muslims aren’t obligated to keep any deals, contracts, or treaties with infidels (they practice tawriya – “creative lying”) as directed by Allah in the Koran? Or that Muslims aren’t to make friends of Jews and Christians, “the people of the Book”?
Do Muslims just want land? Yes, they want it all, along with the subjugation and Islamification of everyone the world over. That is their divine obligation to Allah and “his prophet Muhammad.” Don’t you understand that?
Do you really believe you can persuade Muslims to believe in you more than in Allah, Muhammad, and the Koran? Are you really that deceived?
In the question period, Garry Kohn and Jill Skriver brought up the fact that Palestinians teach their children from the cradle in their educational systems to hate and kill Jews. Of course, you know Islam teaches that Jews are descendants of apes and pigs and that nature itself will scream for their blood. The mystery is that you don’t recognize that reality.
Do you really think to escape their indoctrinated concept of you, a Jew, notwithstanding the veiling of their expressions (according to taqiyya – “holy deception”) when you meet with them?
When these facts were brought up in the meeting, I saw your negotiating spirit rise and justify the Palestinians and suggest that Jews were equally guilty, if not by commission of those same crimes, then by omission of a solution. You’ve taken the tack that if you can show yourself, a Jew, as objective, then you’ll win the Palestinians to negotiate with Jews in goodwill and faith. How noble of you!
There can be no doubt there are Palestinians who see you as a fair and honest man because they hope they’ll retrieve that which they’re determined to have. As well, there can be no doubt many Palestinians and most Islamists see you as a “useful idiot,” a naïve descendant of apes and pigs, who is willing to glorify himself at the cost of his people while foolishly believing in the goodwill and sincere desire of Muslims for mutual peace with the world, Christians, and even Jews.
Did not Ehud Barak offer Arafat almost everything the PLO demanded, and Arafat flatly refused?
Where have you seen, in the main, Jews acting and reacting as do Islamists in dealing with their adversaries? You touched on Gilad’s terrible treatment and ill health at the time of his release. Do you not see the the contrast between how the 1,027 released Palestinians had been treated and Shalit? Isn’t that a stark example, among countless others, of the nature, passion, and intent of each side?
You treasure and promote yourself as a negotiator. Why do you ask Jews to expose their throats to those who consider it their solemn duty under God to slit them? What won’t you do to be seen as a success?
Gershon, you proclaim yourself an atheist. Are you unfamiliar with the Torah and the prophets (the Tanakh)? Aren’t you aware of what God said to Abraham concerning Ishmael’s descendants?
“He will be as free and wild as an untamed donkey. He will fight with everyone, and everyone will fight with him. He will have conflicts with all his relatives” (Genesis 16:12).
Haven’t these things been so? Can you deny them?
Are you aware that the prophets of Israel declared with perfect accuracy what would come in these days? Have you red Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah? These men, by the Spirit of God, Whom you don’t believe exists, spoke things that have, and will, come to pass. These things are on record.
Try arguing, for example, with Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the succeeding empires. Look at how much of Daniel’s foretelling has marvellously come to pass. How was he to know these things, which would take centuries to unfold? Think about it.
Is there or isn’t there a God of Israel?
I believe you to be misguided, even intoxicated with your mission, blindly driving to accomplish what is irrational, against nature, and purely impossible. That is giving you benefit of doubt because you could be seeking Israel’s destruction, knowing what you’re doing. In any case, you are pro-Palestinian/Islamist and, sadly, self-destructive.
Are you blind, Gershon? I say you are, and I’ll tell you why. You’re an atheist and, as such, a humanist. You believe in the progressive evolution of the inherent and ultimate goodness of man (though such goodness doesn’t exist) and to that end you’re committed in faith. Furthermore, you see yourself as a man with a mission, to go down in history as the one to accomplish peace in Israel and the Middle East. Am I not right?
If I’m wrong, it doesn’t much matter; the issues remain as they are. If I’m right, you have a wake-up call coming – a very unpleasant one. In your selfish error and ignorance of Islam, and indeed of human nature, you’ll find yourself having betrayed Jews, Israel, and the world, instead of bringing peace. Seeking to be the hero, you’ll woefully find yourself, in the end, as an erring enabler of Haman.
Victor Hafichuk
Gershon wrote back immediately:
You speak in slogans which are full of propaganda – you don’t know the real people, the players, the ones who live here. Your arguments are so full of ignorance it would take hours to correct. BTW I have studied the Quran, the Old testament and the new one. You know nothing of real Islam and Muslims, and you don’t encourage me in any way to dialogue with you. Your arguments are so much regurgitations of myths and lies. Just keep on believing whatever you want. You are so far away from reality that it really doesn’t matter at all.
Victor replied:
Hi Gershon,
According to you, I have no understanding of the affairs and people of Israel and the Middle East – Jews Arabs, Muslims, Islamists. However, I heartily agree with this lady (Caroline Glick) whom I, rightly or wrongly, judge to have a wondrous grasp of the situation in the Middle East. She has wisdom, understanding and foresight. I say she has a grasp of reality unlike the vast majority, including many of your politicians and Members of the Knesset.
Don’t be scared to support a One State Solution
Am I wrong about her, as well? Is she wrong? Is she also as ignorant as I? Tell me, or am I simply not worth your time to dialogue with?
Victor
Paul replied to Gershon:
Gershon,
I’m one of those who received your correspondence with Victor Hafichuk. You dismissed his letter out of hand as being full of ignorant arguments, slogans, and propaganda. I for one would like to hear some facts, because I’m not convinced by your assertions alone. Are we supposed to simply take your word for something, because you say it is so?
You presume to be an authority based on experience, but this claim was debunked in Victor’s letter. You’ve misinterpreted your experience because you’ve been duped and propagandized as a willing victim of Islamic deception (a.k.a. taqiyya), due to wishful thinking and your desire to be a hero.
Muslims are born and raised to deceive, obscuring their agenda, when necessary, behind friendly faces and lulling their victims to sleep with “religion of peace” rhetoric, misdirection, and the disingenuous signing of treaties. This is the way of their founder and father, Muhammad, so why should it be any surprise that his children take after him?
Wafa Sultan, a Muslim and medical doctor who spent the first thirty years of her life in Syria before immigrating to the US, describes this phenomenon very well in her book, The God Who Hates, a book you apparently haven’t red or taken to heart.
Everything Victor has reported about Islam is easily verified from many sources, beginning with the Koran (which you claim to have red, though the evidence declares otherwise) and backed by an extensive documented history of Islamic offenses to this day, capped by the personal testimonies of brave souls like Wafa Sultan, Walid Shoebat, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (an atheist, by the way), Nonie Darwish, Ali Sina, and Amir Tsarfati (an Israeli Christian), all former Muslims, even former terrorists (Walid) or children of them (Nonie).
The truth about the nature of Islam is also confirmed daily in the news. Exactly which facts about Islam and its adherents are you disputing as “slogans” or “propaganda,” Gershon?
Are you disputing, for example, what one of your associates is reported to have said in a recent article?
Hamas Lawmaker: Koran Says We Must Massacre Jews
Do you know more about Islam than the one who is zealous for his religion and takes seriously the teachings of his mentor? Not only did Muhammad dictate the massacre of Jews, but he did it himself and documented his crimes in the Koran.
(It’s readily apparent to the unbiased reader of the Koran that Muhammad’s motivation for “rape, pillage, and murder” was nothing other than sinful covetousness and greed.)
Why should anyone expect differently from Muhammad’s followers, who confirm his spirit and deeds on a daily basis? Why should we believe your convictions that fly in the face of the facts? What chutzpah you have, asking Israel to trust those who never keep their word and won’t give up their enmity until all have been made subject to them and their diabolical religion!
Whom shall we believe – you or our “lying eyes”?
Should people believe you because you have a Ph.D. and call yourself “Dr.”? Many ignorant and naïve souls are impressed, buying your Islamic propaganda because it allows them to continue living undisturbed lives in the peaceful fantasies of their own minds. They’re unwilling to pay the price of disruption, which comes by acknowledging the truth and standing against the lies and treachery of Islam along with its “useful idiots,” like you.
And what’s the source of your authoritative title, “Dr.”? The British education system? This is the country Shimon Peres (no hard-core anti-Arab warmonger) said was “deeply pro-Arab … and anti-Israeli,” adding: “They always worked against us.” Do you think Peres’ experience and interpretation of it is invalid? He also described things this way: “There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary.”
So what’s your Ph.D. about? Your expertise is plainly in propaganda and slogans, which you’ve adopted as a self-hating Jew who has been schooled by anti-Israelis (Muslims and their promoters). Being in all arrogance of self-delusion (giving you the benefit of a doubt that you aren’t a double agent), you mislead Jews who are blind because they care about nothing but their own comfort and find your confidence compelling. They readily follow you over the cliff, not realizing you have no idea what you’re talking about. You have much knowledge, but no wisdom or understanding.
So how do we know what we’re talking about? By the grace of the God of Israel (Who is Jesus Christ, not Allah), the Light of all Men Who gives understanding. While the plain facts are out in the open for whoever cares to avail himself of them, we have God’s witness of the truth that is without prejudice or corruption. We know and believe the One you disallow and Whose counsel you scoff at.
“Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses. But one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. And you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. But he shall surely be put to death” (Numbers 35:30-31 MKJV).
But you proudly bill yourself as “The Negotiator” and know better than God, right? You say you’ve studied the Bible. Have you seen how Abraham recovered Lot, without negotiations or craven concessions? Abraham had wisdom, faith, and favor from God, Whose ways are not men’s ways. “For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15 MKJV).
So is it a good thing that many applaud you, if you and your work are coming to complete ruin? Nevertheless, despite your best efforts to counteract Him, God will have mercy on Israel and will yet save them, demonstrating before all that trusting in man has been sheer folly and wickedness. The God of Israel will be glorified, and you will be ashamed.
It’s you who isn’t in touch with reality, Gershon. How can you be, when you’re “The Negator” of the God of Israel, His Law and Testimony?
Gershon never replied or tried to substantiate his outrageous claims. A year later, Victor supplied him with facts that have come to light about the “success” of Gershon’s peace program:
Claim to Fame or Infamy?
Well, Gershon, I recall your claiming in U of Lethbridge, AB that no terrorists released re-offended against Israel. Here’s just one example of the sham (and shame) of your unfounded, naïve claims:
Terrorist Who Murdered Israeli Hiker – Paid by the PA
Israeli security forces have arrested the terrorist behind the cold-blooded murder of Israeli hiker Danny Gonen last month, along with several suspected accomplices.
The attack in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem, which also left a fellow hiker seriously wounded, is believed to be one of a series carried out by an organized terrorist cell operating in the area. Gonen’s murder was noted for its particularly cold-blooded nature; his killer lured the unsuspecting hikers over by asking for water, and then gunned them down at point-blank range.
It has also been revealed that the murderer and apparent mastermind of the terror cell is on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, one of the cell members was among more than 1,000 terrorists released in the 2011 Shalit Deal with Hamas.
The suspects also admitted to having carried out several shooting attacks against IDF soldiers stationed at the Kalandia checkpoint near Jerusalem prior to the murder. They also said they spent time immediately before the attack scoping out the natural spring where Gonen and his companion were eventually murdered, with the express intention of finding Israelis to kill. …
Victor Hafichuk
Gershon replied a day later:
First of all the murder was done by one person, who was not in the shalit deal. Secondly he was caught in a car with 2 other people – one report said that they were part of the same cell (because they were together in a car) – not on the same day that the murder took place. One report said that 1 of the people caught was a former prisoner released in the shalit deal – it was not reported by any other report. 3- when the deal was done, with a majority of the west bank prisoners not being released in the west bank, the head of the shin bet said that they could ensure that none would return to terror and if they did they would be stopped. One of the shalit prisoners did kill an Israeli 2 years ago and that was a fuck up of the shin bet. Gilad Scahlit is alive which he wouldn’t be today if he was not released when he was. So take your claims and stuff them
Victor wrote back with more facts:
Gershon!
“One person”? “Not in the Shalit deal”? How about the next one, Gershon? How about this now?
Another Terrorist Released in Shalit Deal Kills Again
Israeli security cleared for publication the identities of the terrorists involved in last month’s shooting attack, in which Malachi Rosenfeld was murdered, and once again a terrorist released in the Shalit deal was involved.
The terrorist cell that carried out the attack was headed by Ahmad Najar, a Hamas operative. He currently resides in Jordan and carries out his terrorist activities, planning, organizing and funding terror attacks, from there.
Najar had been imprisoned in Israel various times in the past. The most recent from December 2003 until his release in October 2011. He was released in the Shalit deal and banished to Gaza having had Israeli blood on his hands having been involved in the murders of six Israelis. He subsequently made his way to Jordan where he now lives.
Two of the terrorists involved in the attack, near Shvut Rachel junction, were arrested by the Palestinian Authority and are being held by them. These include the leader of the cell in the West Bank and actual shooter in the attack, Mu’ad Hamed. He is also a Hamas operative and has also spent time in Israeli prisons for past terrorists activities.
Recently the Palestinian Authority has conducted a large wave of arrests of Hamas members, approximately 170 having been arrested, across the West Bank. A Palestinian security official recently said that there was a direct link between the spate of recent shooting attacks in the West Bank and the wave of arrests.
And how about this?
Palestinians Freed in Shalit Deal Killed 6 Israelis since 2014
Arrest of Hamas operatives behind deadly West Bank terror attack last month highlights the cost of prisoner exchanges…
So, Gershon, Gilad lives and how many take his place with your wisdom and heroics? Blame it on Hamas, Abbas, Shin Bet, right-wingers, Likud, Caroline Glick, anybody but the glory-seeking narcissist Gershon Baskin? Are you not a murderer of Jews in your foolish ambition to be a something or somebody?
Victor Hafichuk
Gershon, summoning all his negotiating skills and consummate love and desire for peace, responds:
Fuck off.
The reason we publish this is because many people buy into Gershon’s insanity and wicked thinking, spreading evil like butter on hot toast. The Israeli government, with some dissension, has by and large followed Gershon’s approach, pressured by the United States and most of the rest of the world to continuously cave and kowtow to Islamic expansionism. It is time to look to the God of Israel and not man for the answer.
In December 2015, Victor posted an update in our forum about more of the consequences of the Shalit deal:
https://www.thepathoftruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=621
Another forum update in Feb. 2017, regarding one of the released prisoners and the ongoing travesty of Gershon’s “peace” initiative.
https://thepathoftruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=621&p=7130#p7130
Recommended Reading:
The Answer to Islam
Knowing Four Arabic Words May Save Our Civilization from Islamic Takeover