Local News
The accidental killing of hostage Alon Shamriz resonated with me in an unexpected way
By BERNIE BELLAN As we near year’s end we are still living through what is arguably the most difficult period in Israel’s history since the War of Independence in 1948. Israelis are caught in between two competing – and probably incompatible goals: to free the remaining hostages held by Hamas and to eliminate Hamas permanently as a threat.
The mistaken killing of three Israeli hostages by the IDF brought home the incredibly difficult task the IDF faces in trying to wage war while at the same time finding and rescuing the remaining hostages.
When I heard the names of the three hostages who were mistakenly tragically shot by a member of the IDF this past week, one of the names immediately caught my attention: Alon Shamriz. Just a week prior, on December 7, I had received a phone call from David Horowitz, editor of the Times of Israel, about Shamriz.
What Horowitz told me was that our website, jewishpostandnews.ca, had posted a story about Alon Shamriz which, Horowitz said, had to come down immediately. I should explain that our website receives news stories from a number of other websites, which offer news feeds that are aggregated into our own site on a continuing basis – without me actually screening those stories beforehand.
The story about Shamriz, Horowitz explained, had to be removed because it posed a danger to Shamriz, should his Hamas captors happen to see it. The story was headlined: “Taken captive, Along Shamriz eliminated a terrorist before capture.” Shamriz’s family was rightly concerned that, if Hamas were to see that story they would exact revenge upon Shamriz – and kill him.
To be honest, I hadn’t noticed that story in our news feed and it wasn’t on our home page but, as Horowitz further explained, if anyone were to do a Google search for Alon Shamriz that story would appear in the Google search results.
Naturally, I acceded to Horowitz’s request immediately, but I noticed, when I did my own search for Alon Shamriz, that the same story appeared on a number of other websites. (I suppose Horowitz spent some time that day trying to contact every other website that also had the story on their site.) In addition, the next morning I received an email from Horowitz thanking me for removing the story from our site, but also asking me whether I could “scrub” it from Google. His email explained that even though the story was gone, if one did a Google search, the headline for the story would still show up in the search results. So, I set out “scrubbing” the story from Google. (Needless to say, I had to educate myself on that process.)
What all this did is bring home for me in a way that I never expected how intertwined we all are as a result of the internet. To think: A terrorist in Gaza might see something on the jewishpostandnews.ca website and want to kill a hostage as a result. That was quite unnerving. No matter how inadvertent and unlikely the possibility of that happening might have been, I acted as quickly as I could – and kept my mouth shut about what had happened. And then – word emerged that Alon Shamriz, whose name had just been brought to my attention, was dead – not at the hands of Hamas, which is what I feared might happen as a result of that story, but through the gross negligence of an Israeli soldier who completely disregarded the IDF’s rules of engagement.
Which brings me to the issue of the hostages – and what Israel can – and should do, to free them.
In our October 25 issue I wrote that “revenge is not a good military strategy.” As much as Netanyahu and his war cabinet still seem bent on “eradicating” Hamas, the closest scenario that bears some resemblance to what the IDF is attempting to accomplish in Gaza occurred in Mosul, Iraq, from November 2016 to July 2017 when a number of different forces made up primarily of Iraqis, but also a large number of Kurds, engaged in urban warfare with members of ISIS similar to what is now happening with the IDF and Hamas.
Of course, the Iraqi forces were nothing like what the IDF has. Many of them were poorly trained and overall, they were lacking coordination. The Iraqis and their Kurdish allies took over 10,000 casualties – and here’s something else that’s of tremendous significance: There were over 10,000 civilian casualties in Mosul, as ISIS used civilians as human shields – just as Hamas has always done and is doing as I write this.
And yet, with the war in Gaza now in its third month, and with Israel’s Defense Minister Yosi Gallant saying the war will continue until at least until February, one has to ask: At what cost?
Israel’s image in the world, as a result of thousands of Palestinian casualties, has been tarnished to the point where it has lost support from governments that had previously jumped to Israel’s defense, including our own Canadian government.
But, even worse, what of the ongoing psychological – and physical toll, that this prolonged war, is having on Israelis themselves? As psychologist Orly Dreman writes so eloquently – and passionately, in a piece in this issue, the trauma inflicted on Israelis, which is continuing every day, is immense. As Orly writes: “People are getting chest pain, stomach aches, headaches, back pains all stemming from stress. They obsessively check ten times that the door is locked and sleep with the lights on. We all have a sense of existential threat and that we feel powerless. The whole country was exposed to what happened either directly or indirectly. We are traumatized but being partners to the same fate we desperately cling together for support.”
But, with a failed Prime Minister at the helm who seems to be concerned more with his own political survival than anything else, and who, for weeks on end, avoided meeting with the families of hostages, Israel is faced with an intractable situation: Either continue a war, but with one hand tied behind its back as American pressure to reduce civilian casualties means that the IDF is bound to start taking more casualties of its own, or accept calls for at least a long-lasting truce that could lead to the eventual freeing of all the hostages.
In the meantime, we here in the diaspora are continuing to see the fallout from the displacement and deaths of so many Palestinian civilians. The metaphorical battleground here has been primarily on university campuses and, as we’ve noted in many articles within these pages over the past two and a half months, the hypocrisy of both students and professors in assailing Israel while completely ignoring the barbarity of Hamas is unconscionable.
We were recently sent a link to a Youtube video of comedian – and social commentator, Bill Maher’s most recent “New rules” segment of his weekly show (which aired December 15). In the segment (which we have elsewhere on this website at https://jewishpostandnews.ca/uncategorized/bill-maher-tells-it-like-it-is-when-it-comes-to-what-the-river-to-the-sea-really-means/, Maher offers devastatingly wittingly commentary on the abject ignorance of left wing critics of Israel. Maher is fearless in cutting through the phoniness of dogma, whether it’s coming from the right or, as we’ve seen so continually lately, the left, when it comes to heaping scorn on Israel. In this particular segment, which is about eight minutes long, one by one, Maher points out the intellectual weaknesses of the usual arguments being trotted out to justify condemnation of Israel on the world stage. In one particular clip he hones in on the phrase “from the river to the sea” and asks just where are the Jews in Israel supposed to go? (His suggested answer is quite hilarious, but I’ll leave it to you to watch the entire segment. Just go to Youtube and enter: “Bill Maher: From the River to the Sea.”)
One final note: As I note in another story on this site about the Jewish Federation’s recently held Annual General Meeting (https://jewishpostandnews.ca/faqs/rokmicronews-fp-1/jewish-federation-of-winnipeg-reports-a-surplus-for-the-2022-23-fiscal-year/), this past month saw the completion of Gustavo Zentner’s term as Federation President. Our community has been most fortunate to have had Gustavo in that position, not only for the tremendous contribution he has made to streamlining so much of the Federation’s operations and putting it on a very stable path going forward, but in particular, for his having stepped forward to lead this community these past two months in what has been a most difficult period. Gustavo’s eloquence, which has often been put to the test at a series of rallies called to bring us together since October 7, has been inspirational. When events called for a leader, Gustavo Zentner stepped up and we are all in his debt. Thank you Gustavo.
Local News
Nakba exhbit at CMHR to open June 27 – Here’s a preview:
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted June 26)The following press release was sent to me early Friday morning June 26 (Photos supplied by Annie Kierans, CMHR) Nothing that follows has been edited. I leave it to you to form your own opinion:
Winnipeg, MB — June 26, 2026 — The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) will open a new exhibit tomorrow that explores human rights violations related to the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinian Canadians.
Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present will be on display in the Rights Today gallery on Level 5 until 2028. Featuring personal stories told through artifacts and video testimonies, the exhibit presents Palestinian Canadians reflecting on their ongoing struggle for human rights. The small exhibit reveals enduring patterns of loss and resilience, helping visitors understand more about this contemporary human rights story.
Palestinian Canadian stories are now included alongside many other stories of forced displacement and human rights violations featured in the Museum’s galleries. Each of these stories contribute to our visitors understanding of human rights and help the Museum fulfill its mandate to foster reflection and dialogue.
Exhibition highlights
Personal stories and artifacts: Experience firsthand accounts from Palestinian Canadians sharing their journeys of displacement and memory through a series of five artifacts. Cases display artifacts like property deeds, house keys, and a traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, accompanied by short videos that deepen understanding of the impacts of displacement.
Powerful artworks: In her painting Bound Together in Gaza, Malak Mattar, a Gazan artist, captures the struggles and resilience of her generation shaped by conflict. Her work pays homage to Guernica, Picasso’s powerful masterpiece depicting civilian suffering during war.
Curfews and Closures, by Rajie Cook, bears witness to life under military occupation during the 2000–2005 Palestinian uprising, when curfews and closures were expanded and further limited basic rights and freedoms.
Cultural heritage: Discover traditional Palestinian embroidery called tatreez. Tatreez motifs and colours are tied to place, family history and regional identity. Patterns are associated with particular towns, villages or areas of Palestine. In this way, tatreez is a form of storytelling: a way of preserving memory, sustaining identity and expressing resilience across displacement and exile.
Poetry and reflection: Engage with Mahmoud Darwish’s evocative verses, inspiring personal reflection on exile, voice, and responsibility. Visitors can take a card containing Darwish’s poem and add a personal note, fostering ongoing dialogue beyond the exhibit.
Contemporary context: Witness striking images of current events in Gaza and the West Bank, connecting past displacement to ongoing struggles.
Quotes:
“No force can silence the truth we carry. Growing up in Canada, my children lived the Nakba through our stories. And now we watch it happen again, live, on our phones. When I see the images coming out of Gaza, I am not watching the news. I am watching my history repeat itself.” -Fouad Sahyoun, a Palestinian Canadian featured in the exhibit
“We developed this exhibit with a clear awareness that Palestinian Canadian voices have too often been marginalized, silenced or spoken over — and that anti-Palestinian racism affects whose stories are heard and whose suffering is recognized. That is why we intentionally centred Palestinian Canadian voices throughout the exhibit.” -Isabelle Masson, Curator of Palestine Uprooted
“Human rights matter precisely when they are inconvenient, when the question of who deserves the dignity of having their rights recognized is genuinely contested. These are the moments where having a national museum for human rights is most important.
There are people who believe this exhibit should not exist in its current form. There are people who believe it should have existed sooner. There are people who will visit this exhibit and feel that it does not say enough, and others who will feel it says too much.
We have listened to every one of these voices. We have reflected. And we have renewed our resolve to continue the difficult, sometimes contested, and often controversial work of building understanding about human rights. We are a museum grounded in Canada’s human rights framework, whose mandate requires us to bear witness to the full complexity of the human story. We are proud to open this exhibit because the story it tells will help achieve that mandate, and because this story belongs in the collective memory of Canadians.”
- – Isha Khan, CEO
Local News
Nakba exhibit at human rights museum set to open despite mounting criticism
By NOAH STRAUSS (posted June 25) The Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Nakba exhibit is scheduled to open this Saturday, June 27, despite growing criticism and calls for it to be delayed or revised. The exhibit has sparked public debate in Winnipeg and beyond regarding how it presents the history surrounding the creation of the State of Israel.
Earlier this week, Mark Berlin resigned from the museum’s board. In his resignation letter, he expressed concern that the exhibit presents a one-sided narrative and does not adequately address the experiences of Jewish communities affected by the events surrounding Israel’s independence.
The Nakba, an Arabic word meaning “catastrophe,” refers to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1947–1949 conflict that followed the creation of the State of Israel. Critics of the exhibit argue that it focuses primarily on Palestinian displacement without sufficiently acknowledging the broader regional consequences of the period.
Some Jewish advocacy groups also point to the experiences of Jews who left or were expelled from several Arab and Muslim-majority countries in the decades surrounding Israel’s creation. Estimates suggest that between 850,000 and 950,000 Jews left or were displaced from countries including Iraq, Egypt, and Yemen, under a range of circumstances including persecution, expulsion, and confiscation of property.
In his resignation letter, Berlin, a faculty member at McGill University specializing in human rights law, wrote, “Telling the story with a one-sided perspective chosen by the museum serves to deepen division and contributes to further hostility toward Jews in Canada.”
Following his resignation, CIJA President Noah Shack released a statement saying, “The resignation of the museum’s only Jewish board member is a clear indictment of the museum’s handling of the controversial ‘Nakba’ exhibit.”
The exhibit’s VIP opening is expected to include invitations to representatives from all three levels of government. Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham had initially been invited but later declined following discussions with representatives from the Jewish community, including CIJA Manitoba Vice President Gustavo Zentner and Jeff Lieberman, President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.
Members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community are also planning a peaceful rally outside the museum on Friday at 5 p.m., according to organizers.
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is expected to release a formal statement ahead of the exhibit’s opening.
(added June 26) To see interviews that Bernie Bellan conducted with Isabelle Masson, curator of the “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present” exhibition at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg and Isha Khan, CEO, CMHR about the exhibit go to curator of exhibit and CEO interviewed
Local News
Jewish Child and Family Service helped over 1800 families in 2025
By BERNIE BELLAN Jewish Child and Family Service will be entering the 75th year of its existence in 2027.
With a budget over $4,300,000, JCFS is also the largest beneficiary of funding from the Jewish Federation of the 12 Winnipeg Jewish community agencies that are beneficiaries of the Federation. (To see a list of the 12 agencies go to Funding for Beneficiary Agencies.)
Its impact has grown over the years as JCFS has expanded its horizon, continually adding to the many services it provides. During the JCFS’s Annual General Meeting, held in the Seniors’ Lounge of the Asper Campus on Tuesday evening, June 23, the important role that JCFS plays in the lives of so many members of the Jewish community – also a significant number of non-Jews as well, various speakers cited the many ways in which JCFS has continued to have such a huge impact.
With total revenues of $4,325,160 in fiscal year 2025 (which ended March 31, 2026), but slightly fewer expenses, JCFS not only delivered a wide gamut of services, it managed to deliver those services without incurring a deficit in 2025, despite some significant financial challenges.
As outgoing Board Chair Elana Grinshteyn observed, JCFS had to navigate some major reductions in funding, including a cut in funding from the federal government to the tune of $100,000, plus the loss of funding from the Claims Conference, which had provided support for Holocaust survivors.
Yet, despite those setbacks in funding, Grinshtein reported, “Together, we insured that services remained intact.
“We increased access to interest free loans,” she noted, “doubling” the amount that had been allocated in 2024.
And, amidst the ever-increasing demand for services, “JCFS has continued to navigate space limitations,” Grinshteyn noted. (I should note that as far back as 2019 I reported in an interview I had conducted with JCFS CEO Al Benarroch about the JCFS’s dire need for more space. Here is an excerpt from what Benarroch had to say about the JCFS’s need for more room back in 2019: “…we’ve been looking for roughly 3,000 more square feet of space. We have a footprint right now of roughly 5,000 square feet for over 40 staff. We’ve given up a board room here. It’s been taken over by older adult service staff. We have a conference room which is adjacent to the board room; we’ve moved two staff in there.
“Yesterday I gave up my office for the entire morning so that staff could interview clients.
“We need to relieve the pressure we’re facing right now – yet alone plan for expanding and growing.
“Whatever space we’d be looking at would be temporary. It’s now 22 years that we’ve been in this facility. The campus has taken over squash courts, it’s taken over a museum – internally, to accommodate the growth in services. Maybe it’s time now to look at growing outside this building…”
As the saying goes: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” (That’s me, trying to impress.)
While I tried to take notes during Al Benarroch’s CEO report, I realized following his remarks that there was so much important information conveyed, also a slew of statistics, that it might be more helpful to reprint a good portion of what he said verbatim, so I asked Al to send me a copy of his remarks. (That’s one of the nice things about writing on a website. There’s an infinite amount of room to print the kind of stuff that nerds like me pretend to read.)
During his CEO’s report, Benarroch enumerated the many challenges JCFS encountered in 2025.
Among those challenges, Benarroch noted, were:
• The rising and high cost of living
• Food insecurity
• Housing issues
• Our aging population demographics
• The complex needs of our newcomer families
• The increasingly complex needs in mental health & youth mental health
Yet, despite all those challenges, Benarroch said, “As always… we rose to meet those head on, and with the support of our community.”
In particular, Benarroch cited the support of the Jewish Federation, which contributed $948,800 to JCFS in 2025. (The largest portion of JCFS funding, by the way came from the Province: over $1,100,000.)
Fundraising also played a significant role in contributing to JCFS revenues, with almost $700,000 raised through that route, including direct donations of over $320,000 and bequests over $40,000.
As Benarroch noted, “Every year, we look forward with hope that it will be a quiet year.
“Well, if that’s the case, we are in the wrong business.
“We happen to be in the reflect, respond and pivot business.
“This is the nature of the human existence.”
Benarroch went on to add some more statistics about how JCFS played such a pivotal role in the lives of so many people. In 2025 JCFS:
• Served 1,800 client households – impacting almost 5,000 people.
• Assisted 15 foster children.
• Served 70 families in Child Welfare….
“But what is even more important is that we assisted 90 children that remained at home with their families,” Benarroch said.
The year 2025 also saw the inauguration of what is known as the “Asper Empowerment Program”, through which:
• 311 clients were assisted (including Passover Assistance)
• $80,000 was disbursed in financial assistance
• Over $20,000 was given out in interest-free loans.
• 6,500 kg of food were disbursed
In the area of mental health and counselling services, Benarroch noted that JCFS:
• Supported over 50 adults with mental health challenges
• Our Friday Mental Health Wellness Group participants took part in 22 group activities or outings
• We support some 20 individuals and families impacted by addictions through individual and group services.
• We delivered almost 1,100 counselling sessions, over half of which were subsidized on our sliding scale.
• We continued to support individuals, families, and partner Jewish organizations with the ongoing emotional impacts of the war in Israel and high levels of global antisemitism.
In the area of support for older adults, JCFS served over 250 seniors including:
• 70 newcomer seniors
• 50 seniors living with mental health differences
• 65 Holocaust Survivors (including celebrating “25 years of our Holocaust Survivor Drop-in Group, a partnership with the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre.”)
In the area of settlement services, JCFS:
• Welcomed almost 80 new families
• Almost 50 families from Israel, seeking reprieve from the ongoing stresses and pressures of the war.
Benarroch noted that “These families are dealing with the deep trauma of displacement, having lived under constant stress, fear and the ensuing post-traumatic impact, family and parenting challenges as a result, emotional exhaustion, financial strain, and more.
“Thanks to the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, we hired a trained specialized support worker, with a background in therapy, to help these families cope, adjust, and receive much needed emotional supports.”
Benarroch went on to describe many more initiatives in which JCFS was engaged in 2025, but I want to return to the retirement of Elena Grinshteyn from the Board of JCFS after nine years serving on the Board, including the last two as Chair. Grinshteyn will be succeed by Bradley Abells, who has been on the Board since 2021. In his remarks, Abells noted that he is an actuary at Canada Life and that he first joined the Board when his particular expertise as an actuary proved extremely helpful in helping to solve a problem that had arisen, and he found the experience so rewarding he decided to remain on the Board ever since .
Also on the Board is Michael Schacter, who is returning as Treasurer and who looks the way you’d expect a finance guy to look.
