ISRAELI FURNITURE MOVERS
John Q. Pridger
Pearl Harbor Day (December 7, 1941) — the very day Pridger was conceived — a day which lives on in infamy. Though it continues to be remembered as a day of infamy, it has since been upstaged by the 9/11/2001 attacks. The latter date has gone down in the books as a day of infamy too, etched into our minds in graphic detail.
Shortly after 9/11, it came to public attention that a suspicious group of men had been observed viewing the burning and collapsing World Trade Center towers with what appeared to be great jubilation. They were questioned and, I believe, taken into custody for questioning, and then released. At first thought to be of Arab descent, it was discovered that they were merely a group of "furniture movers," and they happened to be Israelis.
This was great grist for the anti-Zionist, anti-Israeli rumor mill, and conspiracy theorists in general. Not long afterwards there were more "Israeli furniture movers" in the news. At least one group was discovered to have been operating in close approximation to the Arab pilot trainees in Florida. Quite a few groups of Israeli furniture movers seemed to be mysteriously surfacing in connection with 9/11. Not much is known about them, except that most seem to have been former members of the Israeli army. To many, that indicated that they might be working for Israeli intelligence. It did seem rather strange, these suspicious groups popping up here and there.
Of course, word went out among the conspiracy establishment that they were probably Mossad agents, and either had a role in, or prior knowledge of, the events of 9/11. On the other hand, the establishment media, and the authorities, played down any such possible connections, and in each case the public focus was quickly diverted, or herded, to other matters.
Pridger, naturally, made notice of those news accounts and filed the information away pending future developments.
Then, quite by chance, Pridger happened to meet a real live Israeli furniture mover. But he was also a part-time merchant mariner, and that's how he and Pridger came to be shipmates. Pridger got to know him rather well on a three month voyage to China. I'll call him John.
John's parents had immigrated from Poland to Israel shortly after the Jewish state declared its independence in 1948. He was born and raised on a large farm and had lived in a house which had once belonged to a wealthy Palestinian family. He left the farm to join the Israeli navy, and after his hitch was up, joined the Israeli army and became a paratrooper. He is a veteran of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. After being discharged from the army, he found employment as a seaman working for ZIM, the Israeli state-owned shipping company.
He had finally decided to leave Israel, he said, because the quality of life there had deteriorated tremendously in recent years, due to the continually worsening Palestinian troubles. And an interesting opportunity had presented itself to pave his way to immigrate to the United States.
During the many long mid-watches John and I spent together, we had much time to discuss a wide variety of subject matter. He was rather well read, quite knowledgeable on many subjects, including history and politics, and downright interesting to talk to. Pridger was eager to get his perspective on Israeli-American relations and other geopolitical issues. We made a rather incongruous team — the Israeli Jew, veteran ex-paratrooper, and "dual loyalist"; and Pridger, American constitutionalist, nationalist, and conspiracy buff — but we developed a pretty good friendship during the course of the voyage.
Naturally, 9/11 came up in our conversations, and I asked him what he thought of the mysterious "Israeli furniture movers" that seemed to keep popping up in the news.
"Well," he said, "I'm a furniture mover." This was interesting, I thought. Here was a furniture mover who also happened to be a former member of the Israeli army — the very profile of the mysterious individuals who have been "connected" to various circumstances surrounding the 9/11 highjackers.
Then he explained that he owned a furniture store near Hollywood. He also explained the reason there seem to be so many Israeli furniture movers around the United States. Simply stated, it's because there are many Jews in the in the furniture business in the United States — and they naturally tend to favor providing jobs for fellow Jews whenever possible.
Furthermore, he explained that there is an agency, or agencies, actually recruiting in Israel on behalf of Jewish-American furniture companies. That recruitment is primarily targeted toward Israeli ex-military men who are finding it increasingly difficult to find employment in Israel. This apparently well oiled machinery recruits in Israel and paves the way for recruits to immigrate to the United States with assured employment upon arrival.
Presto! The enigma of the numerous mysterious Israeli furniture movers was solved.
It is not surprising that there are a lot of Israeli citizens anxious to depart the Promised Land in Palestine for the Promised Land in the United States these days. Nobody could seriously wonder why this increasing exodus is taking place. As John told me, life in Israel isn't what it used to be. Times are getting tough, and the quality of life deteriorating.
John had been recruited to come to the United States in the manner he described, and when he first came to the U.S., he had worked for a Jewish owned furniture company, moving furniture. But he was also a seaman, and eventually found higher paying work in the American merchant marine.
Eventually, with the money he earned, now as an "American" merchant mariner, and his experience in the furniture business, he had been able to set himself up the furniture business. While he is at sea, his wife oversees their business, and they employ Israeli furniture movers themselves from time to time.
Since Pridger is a country bumpkin from the American heartland, John was the first Jew that he had ever had the opportunity to befriend on more than just a superficial and passing basis. The relationship was a fruitful one — and, hopefully, mutually so. It was a great opportunity for Pridger to get a first-hand feel for the "Jewish perspective" on geopolitical issues, and for John to perhaps gain a better understanding of the perspective of the American "right-wing," which is generally very critical of America's Middle East foreign policy and our special relationship with Israel.
John was an ideal subject for Pridger to consider. Not that he was any sort of "stereotypical" Jewish "type." In fact John didn't fit any of the superficial images that the average Gentile American would likely have of a "typical Jew." He was, in fact, obviously atypical. Yet he was not only "high energy" and very intelligent, which are considered pretty standard Jewish traits, he was the product of Israel itself, and very proud of his Jewish identity and his Israeli nationality. He holds dual citizenship, and carries two passports. John is a proud of his new American citizenship as he is of his Israeli citizenship and, like most American Jews holds dual loyalties.
Like many other Jewish people, John is not a practicing Jew (in the religious context), but is nonetheless proudly Jewish. In spite of his lack of religious fervor, he spends a considerable amount of time reading his Hebrew language Bible while aboard ship, and is actively engaged with the local Jewish community when at home.
One might say that John is the same kind of Jew as Pridger is a Christian — though John is probably much more involved with co-religionists than Pridger. John actually calls himself an atheist, while Pridger used to call himself an agnostic (before "seeing the light" and becoming the founder, and lone member, of his own "Jeffersonian" Deist "Christian" cult -- i.e., the Church of the Universal Living Truth [C.U.L.T.]).
Before long, our friendship revealed to me some important reasons why Jews generally tend to succeed, and why the Gentile civilization of Western Christendom is generally tending to fail. Like John, most Jews tend to remain proudly and staunchly Jewish even after abandoning their religious faith. The average non-religious Jew proudly remains Jewish, and usually takes jealous pride in that essentially "religious identity," despite their secular orientation. They tend to work with and for the betterment of Jewish community as a whole, and that community spirit always grows in strength and influence. And, because of their creative and intellectual energy, not to mention business acumen, that influence spreads far and wide beyond the Jewish Community.
When Christian Gentiles abandon the religion of their fathers, they tend to become hostile to the very term "Christian," and anything identified as Christian. The secular Gentile often joins with secular Jews in condemning Christianity and "Christian culture." And by doing this, they lend themselves to the disintegration of their own brand of civilization, their traditional culture, and even their political institutions.
It's easy to see why there is a wide-spread believe, especially among the so-called radical right, that there is a long ongoing, and very successful, Jewish conspiracy afoot to undermine the United States, and the whole civilization of Western Christendom, and deliver global political and economic power into the hands of Jews. The radical right believes that ZOG (a Zionist Occupational Government), is very much alive, here, and breathing down our necks.
But, if there is, or ever has been such a conspiracy (and Pridger isn't saying there isn't), the Jews (always a tiny minority), have had a lot of help. All else being equal (as our egalitarian society is supposed to facilitate), the Gentile, increasingly bereft of his religion and cultural moorings, is a self-destructive force unto himself and his own society. Not only is he literally putty in the hands of more sophisticated manipulators, little manipulation is required. The profit motive does it all.
No conspiracy against the Gentile is required. Nature, itself, runs it own course — and, by his own hand, nature (and the hand of God he has abandoned), is set against him, for he has betrayed his kindred and even joined the opposition in large numbers. His greatest successes have become exercises in his own cultural destruction and national suicide.
John and I both expressed serious doubts and concerns about the future of our respective nations. Sadly, though he loves his native land, Pridger was surprised to learn that John doesn't feel that Israel has much of a long-term future. John proudly remembered a time when it seemed Israel was simply too tough and determined to die. But things have changed radically, and time and numbers are simply against it, in spite of its best and most heroic efforts. Too much Israeli and Palestinian blood has been spilt in Palestine, and neither peoples are noted for their propensity to "forgive and forget." In fact, as I reminded him, "Never forgive! Never forget!" is an international Jewish motto and rallying cry.
Emigrating Jews no longer flock to Israel as their Promised Land. They increasingly flock elsewhere. Israel is no longer the destination of choice for Jews leaving Russia and other Eastern nations. Additionally, they are leaving Israel for more promising shores in increasing numbers, as John himself had done. Industry, business, and tourism, are down in Israel, and poverty and joblessness are on the rise with no relief in sight. And, in spite of the ghastly price that Palestinians have been paying in their attempt to regain control over at least a sizable chunk of their former lands, their birth rate puts the Israeli birth rate to shame.
Israel will overcome and persevere in the short term, of course, but, without a miracle, the long term looks very bleak and discouraging. Ultimately, not even the United States can save it. In the fullness of time, it will be all the United States can do to salvage itself from its own self-destructive behavior.
John agreed that our adventure in Iraq, while at least partly undertaken on behalf Israel's future security, was a ghastly mistake unlikely to bring about a desirable outcome. He predicted that if we "stayed the course" as we promise to do, America will nonetheless finally become discouraged and cut an run by the time American casualties reach the five thousand mark.
I shared my opinion that Israel itself had become America's new, and very big, "Jewish problem." Indeed, it has become the world's problem — much bigger than the original "Jewish question" that Zionism, and its establishment of the Jewish homeland in Palestine, was supposed to solve for all time. This both exceedingly sad, and no less ironic, circumstance is an excellent example of what unintended consequences can result from the good intentions of good men.
In the end, the highly motivated visionaries who sought to resolve the international "Jewish question" were too short-sighted in their view. Their efforts have resulted in a much bigger problem. Unfortunately, they discounted the potential problems that could arise from the largely ignorant and backward, though small, Arab population that had occupied Palestine from time immemorial. The Promised Land the Zionists intended to settle was already occupied, as it was in Biblical times.
The Children of Israel, in the Old Testament, of course, had failed to take possession of the Promised Land according to the strict instructions and mandate handed them by the Grantor. In short, they had failed to slaughter every man, woman, and child, and every beast of the field — and for that failure God punished them (according to the scriptures). Palestine reverted to Arab dominance, and the Children of Israel scattered among the nations of others.
The return of the Jews to Palestine in the twentieth century has proven even more problematical than in Biblical times. The modern world is much more complicated. In all probability Palestine will, in the long term, once again become an Arab land and the Diaspora will resume. Indeed, the Diaspora has never come close to disappearing as the result of the creation of the Jewish State.
John and I spoke of all of this, and neither of us was able to come up with a solution to the ongoing dilemma. Strife will continue in Palestine for the foreseeable future and beyond.
John Q. Pridger