Israel
Overwhelming gesture of generosity brings Manitoba Aboriginal man to Israel
By BERNIE BELLAN
Solly Dreman is an individual about whom we’ve written many times in this newspaper.
A former Winnipeger, Solly made Aliyah in 1964 and has lived in Israel ever since – although he did spend time in the United States when he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco in 1977-78. Now retired from his long-held post as a full professor of psychology at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Solly now works and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Orly.
Since his retirement, Solly has actively engaged in extensive volunteer work with the elderly, with ultra orthodox youth who have become secular and are at high risk for mental disorders and suicide, has served on a mental health hot line (Eran), and has been helping youth with severe learning disorders (ADD and ADHD).
In September 2016 Solly returned to Winnipeg where he gave a lecture on “Immigrants, Refugees and Terrorism: Is There Hope?”, sponsored by the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Friends of Israel, the Canadian Associates of Ben Gurion University and this newspaper. At that time he and Orly also hosted 60 friends and family members at a reunion luncheon. Don Barnard, a professional photographer and individual of Aboriginal background was recommended by Yolanda Papini-Pollock, executive director of the grass roots organization, “Winnipeg Friends of Israel”, to video both his lecture and the reunion.
Don explains that he met Yolanda “while working with her and Rogers Ofime (international award winning director and producer from Nigeria, Africa) on the film ‘Never again a broken promise’, a documentary on genocides.” He adds that he is “still working with Yolanda on a series of videos on the Holocaust.”
Though Don is multi-talented – being a videographer, filmmaker and actor, he has not had an easy time of it during his 49 years. He is on the autistic spectrum, affected by Asperger Syndrome, which has caused him considerable hardship during his lifetime. Also contributing to his plight was the fact that he was born into a Métis family; his father was a residential school survivor who has experienced considerable discrimination over his lifetime. Coming from a disadvantaged background, Don, at the age of 12, was placed in foster care, where he was exposed to considerable physical and psychological abuse. On top of that he was held back in his schooling, even though he had an IQ at the genius level of 157 – which was only recognized in his later youth when he was subsequently advanced several grades.
With difficulty finding steady employment, he has been living in a Manitoba Housing Unit in Fannystelle, which is a 45-minute drive southwest of Winnipeg. As well, his not owning a car made accessing employment for professional and personal purposes very difficult . For example, while he was relying on a charitable food bank located in the city for subsistence purposes, he had to hitchhike to the city in order to save money to purchase a camera.
But, here’s another very interesting aspect of Don’s life: He’s a staunch supporter of Israel.
“I used to go online and post in favour of Israel,” he notes. “I came to my own conclusions about that country” – ones , he is quick to admit, that are often at odds with the prevailing views in the Aboriginal community. Don says that he views the Jewish people in Israel as an indigenous, displaced people – much as he perceives himself as a member of a displaced first nation. As you will see, his recent trip to Israel has had a profound effect upon his views of that country.
As for Solly Dreman – and why he came forth with such a generous offer to someone he barely knew – well – he’s always been a very kind and outgoing individual. (Those are my words, by the way – not Solly’s. I’ve had the good fortune to meet him several times and you’re not going to find a warmer person.)
By the way Solly told me that his Masters and Doctoral theses were on the subject of “Altruism” – which only makes sense given his own penchant for giving.
When Solly heard Don’s sad story at the time of his lecture and reunion in September 2016 he told me, “My heart went out to him”. What Solly also learned about Don – and that was one of the keys to what transpired after that September meeting, is that he was a staunch supporter of Israel.
On the spot, Solly told Don he planned to invite him to come to Israel, all expenses paid. This year the offer came to fruition with Don’s trip to Israel . “The prospect of seeing that part of the world was a pipe dream for me’” Don says. “I was disadvantaged – and needed someone to give me some hope. Solly did that for me.”
And, so it came to be, with Don flying to Israel last month. Solly and Orly hosted Don in their Jerusalem home for one week and along with their son (Solly’s stepson), Oren Cytto, a licensed tour guide, travelled extensively in Israel. Don is planning to make a documentary movie about his trip which, he says, he will share with the Aboriginal community as well as the Winnipeg community at large.
“My take on Israel,” says Don during a video interview he shot with Solly at the tail end of his trip, “is that it is the most beautiful place I’ve seen in my life. It’s multicultural, but it’s uniquely Jewish. It’s multiple distinct societies pushed together…I can’t think of another place in the world where in such a short distance you’re walking from one world into another.”
As for the kindness and hospitality that were shown to Don by Solly and Orly, here’s what he had to say in the video interview with Solly: “What I find about you, Solly, is that you have a wonderful mix of charm and personality – absent mindedness too, but a fire within you that makes for an absolutely enjoyable experience. But, when it comes to the planning, Orly is the brains and backbone of this entire operation.”
There was one more magnanimous gesture toward the very end of the trip that really floored Don. “The other bombshell that happened in Israel is that Solly bought me a professional level video camera!” he says. Not only that, but upon Don’s return to Canada in February, Solly contacted Larry Vickar and other prominent members of the Winnipeg Jewish community to try and obtain some more help for Don. Don tells me that Larry arranged for him to get a car on very reasonable terms, including the provision of photographic services to Larry’s car dealership enterprise.
Don now says that, with his new car and camera, “I am also working on several other projects currently and looking to build my business and my life.”
But, is there anything expected of Don in return? Not anything more than perhaps helping to spread the message about Israel as he has already been doing for years prior to his trip. “I’d like to counter the message that Aboriginal youth are getting in the prisons and the mixed martial arts clubs” where they typically hear a completely slanted pro-Palestinian point of view, Don explains. “If the opportunity ever came for me to speak with Aboriginal youth or to the community at large I would gladly share my message with them about Israel,” he adds.
For one man, at least, a gesture of supreme generosity – and a totally unexpected one at that, just might make all the difference in the world in turning his life around. For Don Barnard, having someone like Solly Dreman enter his life is something he would never have dreamed possible. It will be interesting to see where life now takes him.
Israel
It’s Not Over Until It’s Over
By ORLY DREMAN (Jerusalem, Nov. 16, 2025) When the live hostages were returned a stone was lifted from our hearts. It was like going from Memorial Day to Independence Day. It is a relief after two years of sadness and worry about the hostages being tortured. With the ceasefire it feels good not to think every ambulance alarm is a siren and that we must run to the shelter. I would like to take things out of the shelter- like mattresses, chairs, water, first aid kit, a generator, flash light, batteries, games and canned food and put back the stuff that was there before when it was just a storage room, but it is not over. I do not see tranquility in the horizon. The children used to ask the grownups to take money to the shelter in case the house is destroyed and they will have nothing left. They also ask if they will have to be soldiers when they grow up and if they might die. We want a better future for our children. My two nieces, one from Tel Aviv and one from the center, plus several good friends whose houses were hit, can now return home.
In days of turmoil it is important to build hope and strength. The whole country was one big family due to our Jewishness, comradeship, the connection of each one of us to each family in Israel. We missed the days of quiet and freedom. Now you see more people shopping at the malls and going out to restaurants without feeling guilty; we would like to be bored.
We are living with uncertainty. It is not a question if Iran attacks, but when. Our people have gone through so much and lost so much. Living in existential stress, we are now going back to routine tension; however, now we already have chronic sleep disturbances. The reservists got out of the war, but the war will never leave them – what they saw and experienced – the trauma and the thoughts that never leave. Therefore, many soldiers, as well as survivors of Oct 7th, have committed suicide. The reservists are also those who paid the highest prices, not just on the battle fields, but also when they returned to civilian life. Because they served in the army during such a long war, they were fired from their jobs or lost their businesses and they are in debt.
Early in the morning we wake up to hear the news. There is no good news – only the names of those who were killed (even during the cease fire). We check if any dead hostages were returned. These are the values we were raised on; we do not leave anyone behind. Hamas is returning them slowly, one every few days. The relatives of the fallen who are still in Gaza are going through a storm of emotions. We cannot heal until everybody is back home. Then come the funerals – which are heart breaking, but it is a closure for those bereaved families. Hearing about Jews being attacked somewhere in the world is already considered normal. I recommend reading a book by Eli Sharabi called “Hostage.” After being tortured in captivity he returned to find out that his wife, his two daughters, and his brother were murdered. He tells about the starvation, the darkness, the loneliness, the physical and mental pain. He is a very brave, strong, optimistic man who chose life.
In the last few weeks there have been many reports about Iran, which is rushing to develop missiles for which they are getting the components from China and North Korea. Hamas and Hezbollah we cannot believe; they are already rearming. For every terrorist that is killed hundreds of new ones arise. We believed them in the past and then came Oct. 7th.
The ceasefire is not significant to Hamas. Only this week they returned an Israeli hostage who was taken into captivity eleven years ago during a ceasefire. If they do not return all the bodies then we feel in our hearts that it is not over. They suck hatred from birth. They are incited at the mosques and at school. Killing Jews is the most grand thing for them. They say out loud that there will never be reconciliation. Peace talk for them is a weakness because if you have talk then you cannot attack and they want to attack. Whatever we offer them – they want more and more. They know how important the holiness of life is to us, so they use it to demand more all the time. Maybe Hamas did not defeat us militarily, but they did beat us politically. The situation of Israel in the world is the worst it has ever been. We are isolated economically and socially. We feel like a child who is excommunicated by bullies.
Once again we still have hope that the words of the prophet Isaiah will happen: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore”.
Israel
Israeli Parliament Advances Death Penalty Bill for Convicted Terrorists
The Israeli parliament has advanced a bill that would mandate the death penalty for Palestinian terrorists convicted of killing Israeli citizens, with some lawmakers believing it would prevent future prisoner-release deals.
In a vote held late on Monday – the first of four needed for the measure to become law – the bill passed with 39 in favor and 16 against, out of 120 lawmakers.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben–Gvir had called on all political factions to back the bill, which he has said was aimed at creating deterrence against “Arab terrorism.”
“This is how we fight terror; this is how we create deterrence,” he said in a statement after the initial vote. “Once the law is finally passed — terrorists will be released only to hell.”
SOME PARTIES BOYCOTTED MONDAY’S VOTE
The bill will now move to a parliamentary committee for further debate before a second and third vote. It is not guaranteed that it will become law, with several key political parties having boycotted Monday’s initial vote.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid was quoted by Israeli media as saying that he would not vote in favor of the bill.
The PLO, the Palestinian national umbrella political group, condemned the vote, with Palestinian National Council Speaker Rawhi Fattouh calling the draft law “a political, legal, and humanitarian crime”. The vote was also criticized by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Israel abolished the death penalty for murder in 1954, and the only person ever executed in Israel after a civilian trial was Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Nazi Holocaust, in 1962.
Ben–Gvir has argued that imposing the death penalty would deter anyone considering an attack similar to the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and resulted in 251 hostages being taken to Gaza.
Israel stopped its ensuing military campaign against Hamas last month, when a tenuous ceasefire was agreed that included the release of 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza, plus the remains of deceased ones in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
PRISONER RELEASE DEALS
Israel has released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees since October 2023 in exchange for the release of the hostages that were being held by Palestinian terrorists.
Most of the hostages have been released except for the remains of three deceased Israelis and one foreigner.
Tzvika Foghel, a member of Ben–Gvir‘s Jewish Power party and chair of the parliamentary national security committee, where the bill will now be debated, said imposing the death penalty would mean no more prisoner deals.
Palestinians who have been released have included many convicted of serious crimes, including murder.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was released in 2011 as part of an exchange of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier held in Gaza. Some Israeli politicians such as Ben–Gvir have, during the war in Gaza, opposed the release of Palestinians who were involved in the killings of Israelis.
Ben–Gvir handed out sweets to fellow lawmakers after the initial vote passed. Critics noted that, in Gaza, some Palestinian militants had handed out sweets to the public after the October 2023 attack.
Israel
Israel report by former Winnipegger Bruce Brown
10 minutes
(Posted Dec. 24, 2024)
02:11 AM: Sound asleep.
2.11.01 AM: Wide awake. Awoken by a blaring missile alarm. Incoming. Took me no time to react. Ivan Pavlov would be proud. I quickly scooped up my dog. Grabbed my glasses. An inhaler. My phone and power cord. And sprinted to the safe room. Right across the hall. My wife overseas on vacation. So did this one alone. Er with my dog. We have 90 seconds to reach safety so no real panic, relatively speaking.
2.11.09 AM: In my safe room. Slid shut the heavy steel slabs across the window. You can hear this happening throughout the building. Kinda like a horror movie. Screech. Slam. Screech. Slam. Screech. Slam. Then mine. Screech. Slam. Next I jumped across the room and slammed shut the heavy, reinforced, steel door. It also makes a slamming sound, a really loud one. Then slumped down on the couch with my dog. With some level of relief. Where is this missile coming from. Can’t be from Gaza, they don’t have the capability anymore…I hope. Nor Lebanon, living too far south…I hope. Yemen? Possible. Those dang Houthis?
2. 14 AM: Oh oh. Need to pee. Like really bad. Once in the safe room, you should stay there for ten minutes. Unless there is another siren. Each siren requires a ten minute respite. Respite? Odd choice of words as you are not really resting. Way too tense. Especially as you can occasionally hear the booms of intercepted missiles up above. Kind of unnerving. Back to my need to pee. Its quite dangerous leaving the room during this period. Should your place be hit by the missile or falling debris from the sky. You don’t want to be caught with your pants down, literally, hovering over your toilet. And condos have been hit in Rehovot with some death and much destruction. Hmmm. To pee or not to pee. That is the question. Whether tis better to suffer the pangs of having to pee or the missiles of outrageous fortune. You get the point.
2.14.10 AM: Peeing in the bathroom.
2.14.40 AM: Back in the safe room. With my dog. Sitting on the couch. Fiddling with the remote control. I work in hi tech. The semiconductor world which can be pretty complex. But I simply have not mastered the remote. Really want to see what’s going on. Where is the missile from. Are there more attacks elsewhere in the country. Pushing this button and that button But the TV still off. Okay. Will check my cell. Although the connection sometimes comes and goes when shuttered in the heavily reinforced concrete and steel safe room. Works! Ya! Showing three bars. Sometimes four. Checking my feeds. But no news yet.
2.17 AM: Seriously. I need to pee again. Like really bad. Dang prostate! To pee or not to pee. That is the question…. You get the point. I chose to pee. This time I don’t actually slam shut the heavy, reinforced, steel door. And my dog follows me out. This could get complicated. But first things first.
2.17.10 AM: Peeing in the bathroom.
2.17.40 AM: Chasing after my dog around the condo. Poncho!!! There he is. In the living room. Like master. Like pet. He too is relieving himself. Probably the tension. Dogs can sense these things. “Faster Poncho!. Faster!” I encourage him.
2,18.02 AM: We’re back in the safe room. The heavy, reinforced, steel door slammed shut. And then I start worrying. What if I have to pee again. Its really dangerous out there. Idea! I’ll bring a cleaning pail in here. And if worse comes to worse. Well, I am alone. Sans my dog.
2.18.22 AM: I dart for the cleaning cabinet in the bathroom to grab the pail. Making sure the heavy, reinforced, steel door is shut less my dog run out again. Wait! As it dawns on me at 02.18.22 AM. This is not the smartest thing to do. At least I could have combined grabbing the pail with actually having to pee again. Like maybe I could hold out for the next three minutes or so in the safe room. No urgent need for the pail. But I am already there….
2.18.25 AM: Grab the red cleaning pail
2.18.28 AM: Back in the safe room. The heavy, reinforced, steel door slammed shut again. Siting on the couch with my dog again. Red pail glaring at me from the side of the room…daring me. But my bladder is relaxed. I try the remote again. I feel like my 85 year old mother who often complains about getting her remote to work. I console myself thinking that it must be the batteries. Hmmm. Maybe a mad rush for the utility room to get some new batteries. But that would be mad. I’ll take care of it in the morning. Only a few more minutes and I can safely leave the safe room and go back to bed.
2.19.45 AM: I pour myself a glass of mineral water. This I store in the safe room per Homefront commands. Fresh batteries not, hrmph. As I down the water I realize this is probably not the best idea. Less it creates the urge to pee…. Alas no. Start surfing my feed again. The intercontinental missile was fired by those crazy, dang Houthis from Yemen. All of central Israel sent to their safe rooms. Dang Houthis! The next couple minutes go by pretty smoothly. Although seems like an eternity.
2.21 AM: Back in bed. Albeit sleep comes slowly as my adrenaline starts to reside.
As it were. Israel bombed the dang Houthis that night. For the third time since the outbreak of the war. In retaliation for them firing over 200 ballistic missiles and 170 drones at Israel, which fortunately had not resulted in much damage. We struck them with over 60 bombs in two air raid sorties. Destroying mainly military targets as well as ports and energy infrastructure. Maybe that will teach them for waking me -and a million other Israelis- in the middle of the night.
As it were. Falling debris from the dang Houthi attack landed on a school in central Israel, forcing its collapse. Fortunately and thank G-d it was the middle of the night. Sometime between 2:11 AM and 2.21 AM. So no casualties. Can’t even imagine the tragedy had this strike occurred mid-day.
As it were. I changed the batteries in the remote. It works just fine now. And I left the red cleaning pail in the safe room….just in case. But I hope the dang Houthis finally learned their lesson. Although probably not.
As it were. Two nights later. Another 2:00AM missile from the dang Houthis. . They just wont let me sleep….
As it is. Please continue donating to the Israeli war and revival efforts. You may have given earlier. But give again. The financial costs to Israel are and will be billions. Billions! Sderot and Metulla and Tel Avi and Haifa are Israel’s front lines. Israel is the diaspora’s front line.
Bruce Brown. A Canadian. And an Israeli. Bruce made Aliyah…a long time ago. He works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. Bruce is the winner of the 2019 American Jewish Press Association Simon Rockower Award for excellence in writing. And wrote the 1998 satire, An Israeli is…. Bruce’s reflects on life in Israel – political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight