I recently sat down with Ezra Lipp for an episode of his podcast, The Thin Veil.
Ezra hosts an important space for examining what happens when inherited narratives start to collapse, looking closely at what we do when our understanding of the world shifts. His work brings an honest, grounded inquiry to complex questions surrounding Palestine, Israel, and Zionism, and I highly recommend checking out his show.
In this episode, we unpack my experience growing up inside a religious-Zionist settlement in the West Bank, my time as a tank commander in the Israeli military, and the psychological process of unlearning that followed.
What We Cover
Growing up inside a religious Zionist settlement in the West Bank
How ideological conditioning begins long before military service
The role of fear, trauma, and identity in constructing “the other”
Serving in the IDF and the onset of disillusionment
Facing the reality of the occupation on the ground
The structural limits of liberal Zionism
Accountability, justice, and the psychological cost of leaving an ideology
Reconnecting to basic human safety after stepping away from a system of control
Amazing interview. Your commitment to the heart, to care, to being human, and your ability to see through the layers of indoctrination, and to articulate them so clearly, is truly inspiring.
The oligarchs' algorithms are working against us and trying to prevent people from waking up, but i believe that Truth and Love/God will find a way through.
You are doing God's work on earth. A deep bow of appreciation and gratitude 🙏
I've had the privilege/pleasure of reading/hearing you a number of times and this was for me one of the most impactful and insightful of disclosures/descriptions/attestations/examinations concerning a first-hand experience and implications of the very real machinations that are at work in societies, and in the one from which you've transitioned (and are transitioning) away from. And I don't believe it is an anomaly -- that is there are spiritual, societal, political, sociological, etc., facets and integrated interplay imposed into most every situation of hostage taking and the intentional re-engineering of minds and hearts and thinking processes where humans can be manipulated and herded for the benefit of others (and their own personal detriment). The deliberate, insidious, incrementalized perpetuation of this kind of human degradation and exploitation for the purposes of the nefarious & exploitative agenda of others who remain largely unseen but whose influence and applied strategies/tactics affect us all to one degree or another are none the less damaging and even lethal when assessed and results appraised. That you have awakened and have shared some of your perspectives and experiences -- of beginning to see the "others" and yourself in a different way, is helpful to all on this journey -- most especially we who have become so accustomed of institutionalized ideologies and attitudes -- of imposed "norms" and of how we govern self and view the oversight and demand of the "social contract (both spiritual and societal) to which we are apparently unwitting participants.
In my case, as a believer in /receiver of Jesus and the 50+ years of my sojourn with Him, I see more and more the intentional division and pitting of us against one another - of the invention of absolutes where there are none and the blatant disregard and disdain for those that are non-negotiable reality being intentionally dismissed and devalued in favor of "my truth" which has no place in community if cohesion and cooperation and concurrence on shared aspirations and goals are sought.
Thank you for the work you've undertaken personally and for the wherewithal to share the progression of your thinking and experience as one who has seen the door and had the courage to walk through it, at no doubt significant cost and emotional hardship -- your candor and journey can inspire others to reexamine their principles and assumptions and the "things we've been handed down" that may or may not have real veracity in the scheme of eternity and our destiny within it.