My Hostel Manager is a Pedophile

OCTOBER 24, 2009
Jerusalem, Israel

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Article from Ynetnews (October 21, 2009)
US pedophile arrested in Jerusalem after escaping 110 year sentence(http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3792974,00.html)

“An employee in a Jerusalem hostel turned out to be a fugitive American pedophile. Donald Nelson, 59, who was sentenced to 110 years in prison for pedophilia, was arrested Tuesday in Jerusalem by the Police's Lahav Unit. He will be brought to court to extend his remand on Wednesday and then the extradition process will commence.

A few days ago, the Interpol desk of Israel Police's operational intelligence unit received a request from US authorities to help locate the criminal. Following complex intelligence operations, Nelson was found in the Jaffa Gate Hostel in Jerusalem. " -Reporter for Ynet, Eli Senyor

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Hostel managers are like the colors of the rainbow: they come in a variety of types. Some are fun-loving and soccer-obsessed. Some see themselves as Loonette from “The Big Comfy Couch,” constantly cleaning and inspiring children to be productive. Some prefer to keep to themselves.
Usually, this latter inclination is indicative of independence and self-sustainability. But sometimes it's not. Sometimes, it’s a sign that your hostel manger is a pedophile fugitive from America, with a pending 110-year prison sentence for 52 counts of sexual misconduct with minors.

This particular hostel manager was named Donald Nelson. Convicted by a California court in early 2009, Nelson fled U.S. authorities and hid out in Israel – where he remained from February until October of last year. That's when, according to Ynetnews (one of Israel’s top news outlets), “following complex intelligence operations, Nelson was found in the Jaffa Gate Hostel in Jerusalem.”

While working at the hostel – where he received a free room in exchange for part-time management and cleaning duties – Nelson spent much of his time engaging guests in conversation on the gated outdoor patio. There were certain people that he took to. I happened to be one of them.

My first impression of Nelson – or “Ryan Fields” as I knew him – was quite positive. He was incredibly helpful when I checked in, he smiled a lot, and he absolutely radiated friendliness. The only odd thing was his hygiene: with crooked yellow teeth, greasy brown hair that fell slightly above his shoulders, and a bristly beard fit only for the Philadelphia homeless, a brief glimpse at Ryan might easily scare a small child (although his criminal convictions suggest that this may not always have been the case).

On my third night in Jerusalem, I was pounding away on my laptop as I sat on a cushioned bench in a side-lobby of the hostel. Suddenly, my concentration was broken by a voice: “I always see you in that same spot! What are you working on so diligently?” I looked up to see Ryan leaning on a broomstick. “Oh, just research,” I said as I flipped the screen from Facebook to Microsoft Word.
“That’s so interesting! What are you researching?” He took a seat across the table, and settled in for what would evolve into a four hour conversation.

In perfect accordance with Dale Carnegie’s principles of How to Make Friends and Influence People, he started by inquiring about me: who I am, what interests me, what I study, what I want to do with my life. Clearly, Ryan was very practiced in the art of making and maintaining conversation. His voice rung with warmth. It suggested maturity, intelligence, and genuine interest. His laugh, though, left something to be desired. I’d put it somewhere between Killjoy and Chucky Returns. That was the first alarm.

Eventually, I steered the conversation away from myself. Ryan seemed pleased – once he got started, he didn’t stop talking about himself until 3 a.m. He seemed proud of his accomplishments and was eager to describe his life – in vivid detail – to a virtual stranger.

“Where did you go to school?” I asked him. “I actually went to school in Los Angeles. I was an Environmental Studies major at UCLA and later got my masters in Anthropology. It was really quite interesting. I liked it so much I even worked as a professor at various universities over the years.” “That’s awesome!” I exclaimed. “Which universities?” He looked thoughtful. “Oh, just...various universities.” Second alarm.

“So how did you end up in Jerusalem?” I asked, now genuinely curious.

“Yeah, I’ve just been traveling around a lot. I never stay in one place for long. A few years in South Carolina, a few years in New York, a few years in California...and now I’ve been in Jerusalem since January! I like to explore, to learn about new cultures, to experience new people. Ever since I got to Jerusalem I feel like I’ve really connected with my Jewish heritage. Did I tell you that I spent six years as a monk in a Buddhist monastery?”

We discussed the position of Arabs in Israeli society, the water crisis in the Palestinian territories, and the large Orthodox representation in the Knesset.

“You know, I ran for Congress once. South Carolina. I did a lot of that campaign stuff, you know, talked to a lot people, and tried to get my voice heard. I ended up losing, but I feel like it was still worth it. I’m just glad we have a few people in Congress who are still honest and will try to keep our government in check.”

Suddenly, he started giggling uncontrollably. I sat there smiling. “What’s up?”

“You know, you’re not going to believe this – I don’t talk about it a lot. Back when I was young – this would have been the early sixties – I signed up for the military reserves. When Vietnam rolled around, I received this letter saying, “You’ve been drafted.” Of course, by that time, I had become a pacifist. So I went to the base and tried to opt out on moral grounds. And they rejected my application! That’s when I went to the courts. I kept appealing and eventually my case made it to the Supreme Court for review. It was a big scandal, but Justice Scalia wrote me a nice letter, saying I was right and deserved to win.”

Knowing full well that Scalia was a Reagan appointee, I smiled and nodded.

“When my son, Alejandro (he’s half Latino – I adopted him when he was eight), told me he wanted to go into the military, I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew they’d do a background check on me and find out all of my history, which could disqualify him or affect his application.” He went on. “Alejandro was a really nice boy. I was also adopted, and I’d always wanted to adopt. He was a smart kid. He started out getting average grades in school, but managed to get a good enough GPA later to get a $180,000 scholarship to the Naval Academy. Now he is an officer – a lieutenant – stationed somewhere in Spain.”

“Do you two talk a lot?”

He looked sad and distant for a moment. “We talk every now and then.”

Almost every night that I stayed at the Jaffa Gate Hostel, Ryan would find me in my usual “research corner” and we’d talk for several hours before he would go to bed.

I loaned him my book, Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, which he found quite amusing. He would regularly recommend books about religion and the Middle East. He'd write his recommendations down on yellow legal paper.

Anyone familiar with handwriting analysis? This is a list of book recommendations he gave me:

(You'll notice that the book entitled The Ragamuffin Gospel has been written three times. The author's name, Brennan Manning, has been rewritten twice, for no apparent reason. There doesn't appear to be a legability issue, and there were no changes in spelling. Any handwriting experts want to venture a guess?)

Three nights before his arrest, we met by chance in front of the Tower of David. “Hey Laura!” he called. “Where’ve you been? You left so suddenly!” I told him that I had moved to the Citadel Youth Hostel. “I still have your book! I loved reading it. It was hilarious!” he beamed.

“Thank you so much for letting me borrow it!”And that was the last I saw of “Ryan Fields.”

Thoughts of an Extremist Jew

OCTOBER 7, 2009
Jerusalem, Israel
Ramallah, West Bank
Hebron, West Bank

Israelis that support the settlement of the entire historical Palestine on religious pretenses represent a very small minority of the Israeli population. Many of them do not actually live in Israel and instead spend their lives in settlements or outposts in West Bank. Or so I thought.

Then I met Yezekiel.

I had agreed to meet Evan in the Jewish Quarter before our trip to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum), and upon turning the corner to the place at which we were supposed to rendezvous, I saw Evan engrossed in conversation. The other end? A burly old white-bearded man who reminded me a bit of an angry, animated version of Santa Claus. Evan and I exchanged a knowing look. “I see you’ve made a friend!” I said, cheerfully. I introduced myself. “Hey, I’m Laura!”

Yezekiel stopped for a moment to respond. “Oh….*ahem*… hi. Uh, what was I saying? Oh yes, that’s right…and THAT is the reason why Ahmedinajad is the son of Satan.”

Curiously, I asked, “So do you think Iran might attack Israel?” It had only been a few days since Iran revealed its secret nuclear site, sparking intense speculation regarding its nuclear ambitions. His oversized nostrils flared, and he glared at me like a Spanish bull ready to charge at any moment. “MIGHT?!?!?!” he howled. “Of course they will!! Any day now! You’d better find cover!” Yezekiel proceeded to explain how all Muslims are the spawn of Satan and their ultimate goal is to lead the “chosen people” astray. There were lots of Torah quotes involved, of course, none of them particularly convincing.

'Hashem (G-d) said that Jerusalem must not be bartered. That is exactly what Ariel Sharon did- he was going to barter Jerusalem to the Palestinians! Do you remember the Gaza disengagement plan in 2004? And look what happened to Sharon! That's right- he had that crippling stroke! *proceeds to act it out* And you know what else? That was Hashem’s way of saying "Hey Ariel, you really f*cked this one up”'

Yezekiel proceeded to explain how G-d likes to smite soft-hearted politicians who make concessions to the Palestinians, or in one way or another, have prevented the annexation of the Occupied Terrorities. Ehud Olmert, for example, joined Mahmoud Abbas (President of the Palestinian Authority) in the “prostate cancer club” after destroying a promising career of broken treaties and airstrikes with his corruption indictment last year. So I guess the real question is this: how did Barak get off so easily? Poor Tzipi might have been next if it hadn’t been for her latest public bashing of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)! (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255694851574&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull)

However:

Muslims, according to Yezekiel, are not the ONLY sons of Satan. Satan has lots of sons: Christians, for example. Cleverly, Yezekiel pointed out the five-pointed star’s history as a “symbol of Satan’s son, Kain,” and its presence on the flag of almost every predominately Christian nation. Same goes for Muslim nations. Not that there are many other countries in the world, other than Israel, that are predominately anything else? Everyone is the son of Satan! Except the Jews. And the United States, now that’s a double-whammy…. FIFTY stars! And for bonus points: We have John McCain (Mc=Son of, according to Irish tradition), John son of Kain! Thank G-d he lost the last election- not that Obama, a secret Muslim, is much better.

Now of course, McDonalds, the son of G-d (Don=G-d), is a blessing to us all. G-d can't have a real flesh son, but he can have a representative food chain. Obviously, G-d wants us to be fat and have high cholesterol. No, really though. This is serious business! McDonalds represents the son of God, because it competes with all of the evil fast food chains that represent Satan. Jack in a Box, for example. Boxes, you see, are automatically evil because the Pharoah that enslaved the Jews in Egypt back in the day wore a square-shaped diadem. Oh and let's not forget Hardies: the gigantic five-pointed star with the misleading, manevolent and oh-so-enticing smile.

As G-d always prevails, so doth His son. McDonalds. Except for when Pontius Pilate/Michael Moore condemned it to death (an obvious parallel to the crucifixion) in his historical film "Supersize Me."

“Are you Jewish?!” demanded Yezekiel. “No.” I said. “So then, what are you…. Christian?” I nodded. “By heritage.” He looked like he was about to vomit.

Yes, I think it is safe to say that Yezekiel has a very unique perspective on things. As creative as his theories are, they unfortunately not conducive to any sort of solution to the ongoing violence.

Right-wing political party, Gush Emunim, advocates on behalf of settlers in West Bank and formerly, Gaza. Based heavily on the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Kook and his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook. The Kook family taught that secular Zionists, through their conquests of Eretz Israel, had unwittingly brought about the beginning of the “messianic age”, which would end with the coming of the Jewish messiah. Supporters believe that the coming of the messiah can be hastened through Jewish settlement on land that they believe God has allotted to the Jewish people as outlined in the Hebrew Bible. Created out of the National Religious Party (NRP) in the 70's, Gush Emunim now has close ties to the Tehiya party and the Herut wing of Likud. Likud currently holds twenty-seven seats in the Knesset and leads the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While religious extremism may be the most difficult obstacle to overcome as it would require the parties involved to rethink their entire life ideology, extremists also represent only a tiny minority of the Israeli population. Most Israelis (some 66%, according to CBS Israel) are content to accept the pre-1967 borders, so long as they don’t have to worry about whether or not a Qassam rocket is going to wreck their house that day. Security is a legitimate concern.

There is also a point where one is forced to wonder whether all past Israeli military actions have genuinely been in the interest of “national security.” Many dispute whether Operation Cast Lead was in Israel's best interest. I’ll elaborate on that in a future blog.

Balancing Jewish and Democratic

SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
Jerusalem, Israel

I woke up with a start at 4 PM. The owner of my hostel, Ryan, had walked into the dorm and was showing it off to two new tenants. A young and very attractive couple, who I would later discover were from Spain, were to occupy the beds next to mine.

Still exhausted from the night before, I took a long hot shower, and went on a walk. I had made it a little ways down Salah al-Din Street in East Jerusalem when I met my first friend. His name was Osama.

Osama, a teenage Palestinian boy who had grown up in Jerusalem, spoke a marginal amount of English and fluent Arabic. He could not read or write in Hebrew, nor did he have any desire to learn. “Learning Hebrew (would be) useless.” I asked him to elaborate. “I am Palestinian. There is no job.”

He went on to explain, in so many words, that it is difficult to get a job in Israel unless one holds citizenship. So why learn Hebrew? Even though Osama was born in Jerusalem, he is not recognized as an Israeli citizen because neither one of his parents are Israeli. This is a common problem in Arab East Jerusalem (where many Arabs are non-citizens), as lack of citizenship translates into lack of employment, which further translates into poverty.

Osama threw a fit when I tried to buy him coffee, as characteristic of most Arab men, and we sat down in a little café in East Jerusalem, a few blocks away from Damascus Gate. “Where is your family from originally?” I inquired. “(We are) from (a) little town outside of Ramallah.” His uncle, I discovered, owns a used book store which has been used to support his entire extended family. Judging by Osama’s tattered clothing and scrawny physique, the money hadn’t gone very far.

“The Jews do not like Muslims. They starve us and kill our people.” I asked him to elaborate. “We try to defend our land and they kill us.”

I noticed his usage of “Jews" instead of "Israelis." It would have been the same in Egypt.
“Do you think the root of the conflict is a clash of religions? Or is it more about land?” He didn’t understand. I tried to simplify. “You think Israelis hate Muslims? Why?” He thought for a moment. “Israelis do not like Muslims because Israel wants to be a Jewish state.”

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Muslim population in Israel has a growth rate of 3.8%, which is significantly higher than any other demographic. The growth rate for the Jewish population in Israel is a mere 1.6%. CBS studies have concluded that at the current growth rate, Muslims will make up almost 60% of the total population of Israel by 2040. Israel would no longer be a Jewish state.

This is perhaps the leading reason for why Israel is reluctant to grant the "right of return" to Palestinians- the Muslim population residing within Israeli borders actually poses the greatest threat to Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish state. Ninety-eight percent of Arab Israeli’s (Arabs represent approximately twenty percent of Israel's total population) are Muslim.

If Israel wants to remain a Jewish state, it must find a way to, 1) increase the growth rate for Jewish Israelis, or, 2) reduce the growth rate for Arab Israelis. Efforts to increase the number of Jews in Israel have been in effect since the creation of Israel in 1948. Campaigns to reach out to Jewish youth abroad as well as other "recruitment" efforts have been semi-effective, but have not had a dramatic impact on the growth rate in recent years.

The growth rate for Arab Israelis, however, has been stifled in various subtle ways over the past few years. The denial of citizenship to all children born in Israel to non-citizens (non-citizens residing in Israel are usually Arab Muslim, since all Jews are citizens of Israel under the “Law of Return”), as in Osama’s situation, is a good example of a policy that cleverly targets Arab Israelis. Other government policies aimed to motivate or force Arab Israelis to leave Israel have also been effective.

The “Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law,” passed on July 31, 2003, was a one year amendment to Israel's Citizenship Law denying citizenship and Israeli residence to Palestinians who reside in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and who marry Israelis. This means if you are an Israeli, and you marry a Palestinian, your spouse will not enjoy the benefits of Israeli citizenship. The law, publicly proclaimed as a method to preserve the “Jewish character” of the State of Israel, applies in theory to all Israelis. However, in practice, it usually only affected the Arab population since an Israeli Arab, statistically, is much more likely to marry a Palestinian than an Israeli Jew.

If this was an issue of state security, intended to prevent Israelis from bringing high risk liabilities into the country, other important factors such as the person’s moral character, family background, and education, would have been taken into consideration as potentially redeeming qualities. However, it seems that the only relevant factor stated in Israel’s Citizenship Law is nationality.

According to U.S. State Departments Report on Human Rights Practices (2004):

"Approximately 93 percent of land in the country was public domain, including that owned by the state and some 12.5 percent owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). All public land by law may only be leased, not sold. The JNF's statutes prohibit the sale or lease of land to non-Jews. In October, civil rights groups petitioned the High Court of Justice claiming that a bid announcement by the Israel Land Administration (ILA) involving JNF land was discriminatory in that it banned Arabs from bidding."

"Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab sector, and claimed that the Government was more restrictive in issuing building permits in Arab communities than in Jewish communities, thereby not accommodating natural growth."

"In June, the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social and economic plans is discriminatory. This judgment builds on previous assessments of disadvantages suffered by Arab Israelis."

'Israeli-Arab organizations have challenged as discriminatory the 1996 "Master Plan for the Northern Areas of Israel," which listed as priority goals increasing the Galilee's Jewish population and blocking the territorial contiguity of Arab towns.'

"Israeli Arabs were not required to perform mandatory military service and, in practice, only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs served in the military. Those who did not serve in the army had less access than other citizens to social and economic benefits for which military service was a prerequisite or an advantage, such as housing, new-household subsidies, and employment, especially government or security-related industrial employment. The Ivri Committee on National Service has issued official recommendations to the Government that Israel Arabs not be compelled to perform national or "civic" service, but be afforded an opportunity to perform such service".

"According to a 2003 Haifa University study, a tendency existed to impose heavier prison terms to Arab citizens than to Jewish citizens. Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail."

"The Orr Commission of Inquiry's report [...] stated that the 'Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,' that the Government 'did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action to allocate state resources in an equal manner.' As a result, 'serious distress prevailed in the Arab sector in various areas. Evidence of distress included poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in the education system, and substantially defective infrastructure.'"


The challenge: can Israel remain a Jewish state without controlling the population of its religious minorities?

Orthodox Ritual of "Kapparot:" Transfer Sins to Live Chicken

SEPTEMBER 26, 2009
Jerusalem, Israel

I spent my afternoon in a state of constant and indescribable confusion. Rewind a few hours:

I am walking beside the Tower of David, just outside of Jaffa Gate. Suddenly, I am accosted by a group of young ultra-Orthodox Jewish boys, one of which is clasping a live chicken to his chest. He thrusts the chicken at me. “NO Hebrew!” I exclaim, hoping to deter them. Still, they seem intent on having me hold their chicken. "LO Lavrit!" ("NO Hebrew!" in Hebrew) I do not know what to do, and our verbal communication is limited to very basic vocabulary. His "English" and my "Hebrew."

The boy shoves the poor chicken, reluctant but compliant, into my arms. I stand there in a perplexed daze with the chicken. I must have looked very confused, because the boy took it upon himself to elaborate: “Chicken,” he states, pointing to the mysterious unknown creature I have cradled in my arms. He then points up. “...Head.” His face lights up with a satisfied smile. A little alarmed and not knowing whether I should be offended, I hand the chicken back. “Mish faHma!” (“I don’t understand" in Egyptian Arabic) I have a vague hope that he might understand Arabic. No such luck.

I walk the perimeter of the Armenian quarter, round the corner toward Zion Gate, and find myself surrounded by booths. Each booth is complete with a pair of orthodox Jews, a donation box, and a live chicken. As I continue toward the “Kotel” (Hebrew name for the “Western Wall”), the booths begin to multiply in number. I observe one particular booth at which a lady had made a donation. She stands with her head bowed as one of the booth attendant’s takes a live chicken out of a box. He raises it over her head and mutters what appears to be a quick prayer. Donor walks away.









I found an old article entitled “Orthodox Call on Sinners to Give Chickens a Fairer Shake” in the Jewish Daily Forward that sums it up pretty well: “the ritual in question is kapparot, a practice generally performed during the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in which a live chicken is swung over one’s head in a gesture of transferring one’s sins of the past year onto the animal.”

This practice is one of violent controversy and has been denounced by PETA as a "gross violation of animal rights."

“At the August 6 meeting in the synagogue of the Novominsker rebbe, more than a dozen religious heavyweights — including Rabbi Aryeh Kotler and Rabbi David Zwiebel — considered evidence that the chickens may have been mistreated in past ceremonies and acknowledged that the problem rose to a level that could violate rabbinic law.”

“The move was particularly notable because it came in response to complaints from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In recent years, the animal rights group has come to be viewed as an adversary to the Orthodox community, with PETA run-ins leading more often to the butting of heads than to conciliatory gestures.”

The latest commentary on the PETA vs. “Kapparot” controversy: “In general, I don’t think that PETA is taken very seriously in the Orthodox community, or in any civilized society,” said Rabbi Avi Shafran, spokesman for the ultra-Orthodox Agudath Israel of America. “But that doesn’t mean that they won’t on occasion bring up something that is worth being brought up.”

One PETA advocate went so far as to describe the Jewish practice of Kapparot as a genocide, calling it a “shoah.” The word “shoah” (“catastrophe” in Hebrew) is usually used in reference to the Holocaust.

As the night progressed, I make my way back over to the Kotel for the annual prayer that takes place on the last midnight before Yom Kippur. The crowd is unbelievable, and security is very tight. A little past midnight, a man on a loudspeaker sings Jewish prayer. The crowd follows. It is a very moving experience, and I am fortunate enough to have gotten it on video.

The entire Jewish quarter is a lively party, crowded beyond belief, and pulsates to the beat of House techno music.

I stay until around 3:30 AM, celebrate with a Bacardi Breezer, and call it a night.