Ehud argues that permanent control over the West Bank will mean Israel either ceases to be a Jewish state or is no longer a democracy.But the immediate threat to democracy, he is clear, comes from the Netanyahu government. And he served later as defense minister in a Netanyahu-led coalition government.The two men differ profoundly on many issues, including the need for a negotiated peace with the Palestinians. Netanyahu under his special forces command a half-century ago. But I helped him write a remarkable 2018 memoir – appropriately called “My Country, My Life” because he has lived through, and helped shape, the entire history of Israel.He’s also well placed to know what makes the current prime minister tick. It took in what Israelis call the matzav – the situation – back home.There, unprecedentedly large protests were forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition to postpone plans to gut the independent oversight role of the Supreme Court.I didn’t cover Ehud Barak when I reported from the Middle East. So “catching up” covered more than just life, work, and family. And this week was like no other in Israel’s history. Ehud is the country’s most decorated soldier and a former prime minister. So when Ehud and Nili Barak visited London from Israel this week, it was a welcome opportunity to catch up at a little restaurant beside the Thames.But Ehud and Nili aren’t just any Israelis. As a guide on the Underground Railroad, she travelled back to the United States 19 times, risking her own freedom to aid others in their escape to Canada.Like so many long-distance relationships, this one had grown sporadic and virtual during the pandemic. Born in 1820, Tubman escaped slavery as a young woman and moved to St. Once safely established in Canada, many people risked their lives to return to the United States and help their fellow brothers and sisters reach freedom in Canada. Despite being denied formal education, freedom seekers were able to develop an elaborate code of communication that included messages and instructions in spiritual songs and secret passwords and signals to guide over 30,000 people to safety in Canada. Because of the great risk involved in their journey, they often travelled at night, hiding in swamps and woods during the day to avoid being captured. Freedom seekers travelled by coach, train, water and often for hundreds of miles on foot – with little food. The journey to freedom was not an easy one. The system largely succeeded because of the cooperation and trust among various religious and ethnic groups who moved freedom seekers towards Canada through a highly secretive network. One of its most intriguing features was its lack of formal organization. It was a loosely constructed network of escape routes that originated in the southern United States, wound its way to the less restricted North and eventually stretched to Canada. The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad. By the middle of the 19th century, the Underground Railroad had been developed by abolitionists and Quaker sympathizers to facilitate the escape of enslaved Blacks from the southern United States to Canada. Abolitionists in Upper Canada were also involved in a more covert resistance to slavery within North America called the Underground Railroad.
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