(photo by M. Vandermaas)
I'm a conservative rule of law activist who eventually became a Christian Israel advocate. I go into synagogues and churches to teach Zionists (mostly) about Israel's land rights.
(photo by R. Walker)
I like to say that I train Zionist freedom fighters on how to liberate Israel from the 'occupation' narrative. More here.
I first became interested in Israel and her history after serving as a UN peacekeeper in Egypt where I got to swim in the Sea of Galilea, explore Har Megidon (Armageddon) and climb Mount Sinai on Easter Sunday, 1978:
(photo: M. Vandermaas)
What's a 'rule of law' activist??? Never heard of it! (neither had we)
I'm also an experienced 'rule of law' activist with 6 years and 5 arrests under my belt during the Caledonia (Ontario, Canada) crisis that began in 2006. We were the first group in Canada to consistently apply Dr. King's methods during a major rule of law crisis. For the uninitiated, a 'rule of law crisis' is one where the police refuse to enforce the law against a favoured identity group and/or deliberately target those who speak out against that injustice. In the case of Caledonia, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) did both. In this case, it was radical native militants who terrorized an entire town over bogus land claims (yes, really) while the police watched (pictures!) and actively tried to demonize and arrest the victims and those of us who protested on their behalf.
Eventually, the Ontario government shelled out $20M to the residents to settle a class action lawsuit that threatened to expose all their disgusting shenanigans. Some of us still have outstanding lawsuits for what the OPP did to us.
My first arrest was for wanting to put a Canadian flag on a hydro pole. My last was for being the victim of an assault by a native militant who was upset with me walking down a public road with a sign that said, 'HEALING BEGINS WITH APOLOGIES.' The police arrested me and let the perp go back to drinking his coffee:
(photo by C. McHale)
Even after years of police appeasement of violent native terrorists, you can see the disbelief on my face at the sheer injustice of being arrested for...being the victim of an assault. This pic pretty much tells the story about the racial policing that tore the town of Caledonia apart. Two books were written about what happened there (I'm in both): National Post reporter Christie Blatchford's bestseller 'HELPLESS: CALEDONIA'S NIGHTMARE OF FEAR AND ANARCHY, AND HOW THE LAW FAILED ALL OF US and my ally Gary McHale's book, 'VICTORY IN THE NO-GO ZONE: WINNING THE FIGHT AGAINST TWO TIER POLICING.'
(photo by G. McHale)
(photo by G. McHale)
People would ask me, "Nice to meet you, Mark. What do YOU do?" "Uh, I'm trying to end racist policing and keep the them from destroying the rule of law in our damn country by appeasing violent thugs so we don't sink into total anarchy or civil war, and I'm bankrupting myself in the process. Why don't you get off your ass and help stand the watch?"
That seemed a trifle long, and contrary to Dale Carnegie's instructions on winning friends and influencing people, so very quickly I learned to say, "I'm a rule of law activist.' Worked nearly every time: "Uh...OK, well nice to meet you." Seriously, though, some people wanted to know and some of them helped and even went to jail with us. We had as many as 11 people line up at once to volunteer to be arrested in Caledonia's no-go zone (a public road!). We sang 'We Shall Overcome' in the paddy wagon; drove the lefties crazy. :)
(photo by D. Vandermaas)
Following in @Cernovich's footsteps
After Mike @Cernovich, Laura Loomer and Jack Posobiec were all deplatformed from Medium where I had begun some serious posting, I realized that sooner or later someone would decide that defending Israel and the rule of law were somehow 'hate speech,' so I followed Mike here. If I could only follow one non-Israel-specific account, it'd be his: he's well read, he shares what he learns, and has superb tactical and strategic insight into mounting effective counter-propaganda against those who would take our freedom from us. He's also very humble. Just kidding. He's far from modest, but he's got the creds to back it up. The truth is that he's a very generous guy who has a lot to teach. The more you watch him (http://www.twitter.com/cernovich) the more you realize that. Can't figure out why Trump/GOP hasn't hired him to manage their messaging. I hope to meet him one day.
No...not a real Nazi, I promise!
I'm what you might call a 'classic liberal.' I believe in archaic things like equality, justice (w/no 'social' in front of it), free speech, free enterprise and individual rights. I guess that makes me a Nazi now if the Alt-Left/Communist/Antifa crowd is to be believed. My non-Jewish parents lived under real Nazis in WWII and saw Jews taken away to be murdered. My father escaped from a German work camp. I grew up learning about the Holocaust and its causes, the effect of which is that I can't keep my mouth shut at injustice.
I was deeply affected by Pastor Martin Niemoller's poem, 'There Was No One Left To Speak For Me' in my teens, but I didn't become an activist until much later in life: Dec 16/2006 precisely.
(photo by unknown)
I had just been arrested for the first time in Caledonia and my head was resting on the jail door bars, when my frustrating life of various careers suddenly--in an instant--made complete sense. I became a Christian because of the example of Gary McHale, combined with Lee Strobel's stunning works such as The Case For A Creator (all the scientific evidence for God) and The Case For Christ (evidence that Christ was real, was the Son of God and was resurrected). Today, I know that God 'communicated' with me in that jail cell. Didn't speak to me. I didn't hear voices. I just knew...that I was supposed to be there that day, supposed to be in that jail cell. Weirdest experience of my then non-Christian life.
I went back home, told my boss (I was a licenced real estate agent) that I had something more important to do...and that's how I became a full time rule of law activist. We applied Dr. King's methods and we used the courts to issue criminal charges against police commissioners, front line officers and militant natives who were untouchable by police. My friend Gary McHale made legal history in Canada via private prosecutions, and his case R. v. McHale is cited on our Justice ministry's 'Private Prosecutions' webpage (see footnote #13).
If you want more info about Caledonia, click here .
Should Jews be able to trust the world's promises?
In 2012, some Jewish students at the University of Western Ontario (now Western U) were intimidated while campus police watched. I organized my first Israel Truth Week conference within a few short weeks. My enemies call me 'Damn Zionist' and my friends in Canadians for Israel's Legal Rights (CILR.org) call me 'Honorary Jew.' I'm proud of both.
My unique contribution to Israel advocacy is not to merely recount history of Israel's land title deed from the world, the League of Nations Mandate For Palestine, but to show Israel defenders how to use it to make a devastating moral argument against the 'occupation' propaganda that has so damaged Israel's image. My training manual can be downloaded for free: http://www.israeltruthweek.org/#deed.
Whether it's police refusing to uphold the law in Caledonia, or the UN demonizing Israel, or even Communists/Antifa attacking people on the steps of London, Ontario's City Hall...that's where I'll be. I prefer to meet the enemies of freedom in the streets while I leave my 'betters' to lobby politicians.
It scares me to see the rising tide of Jew-hate at the exact time when governments and Alt-Leftists are trying to suppress free speech when we need it most. I swore when I was young that I would never be silent if Jews were under attack again; never thought it would happen in my lifetime. It is.
How our cats get named
I miss owning/riding a motorcycle. When I got married the first time I took my bride sidesaddle in her wedding dress through Toronto (Scarborough, actually) on my Honda CB750 while my best man took the maid of honour on his Yamaha RD350. (You 'experienced' biker types will be able to guess how old I am!). Both of us were wearing our Canadian Forces uniforms. We were both Army mechanics at CFB Petawawa. Last bike was a BMW R80GS which I loved; always felt safe on it even in the rain. Sold it to buy my first house in Toronto for $53,000 (+/-), so now you'll really know how close I am to a Canadian pension.
I haven't had a bike in a while, but we instituted a policy of naming our cats after motorcycles to keep the memory alive. So far, we've had Harley, Beemer and now...Royal Enfield (what a purring machine! True to his namesake). Here he is with a captured mouse:
(photo by M. Vandermaas)
I don't want to move again!
Glad to be here at Steemit. I was seriously considering going back to Wordpress when 
Thanks for reading! Hope I did this intro post right. This is all new stuff.
Mark
CONTACT: mark@israeltruthweek.org
Medium: medium.com/@MarkVandermaas
Times Of Israel: blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/mark-vandermaas/
Twitter: twitter.com/Israeltruthweek
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markvandermaas1/