Daniel's Story: 16-year old confronter of Muslim "Lions' Den" condemners of Israel, reveals insights into the nature of the global conflict
Garnering 3/4 of a million views in its first 2-weeks, the "Daniel in the Lions' Den" viral video phenomenon has been shown on Israeli TV and shared by viewers all around the world.
What motivates this brave 16-year old boy to singlehandedly stand against a mob of anti-Zionist protestors? What does he think about the Flotilla incident as a metaphor for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that others would be interested in knowing?
JooTube takes an in-depth look into what makes this young hero tick. In an exclusive video interview, Daniel Pereg reveals what was going through his mind as the confrontation unfolded, his spiritual make-up, and his perception of the motivations and issues of what he sees as the mis-guided antagonists to Israel and America.
Palestinian peace-proponents seeking to embarrass Israel for having to shoot its way out of an Islamist lynch-mob ship on Sunday were showed-up by a single, brave Jew on Monday in Los Angeles. One courageous, Israeli-born, American high-school student stood-up for his right to publicly support Israel - and a rally of hundreds of Muslim and far-leftist, pro-Palestine demonstrators nearly turned-into the lynch-mob that they sought to downplay.
Outside of the Israeli Consulate to L.A. on Memorial Day, Daniel a Jewish high-school student defiantly waved the Israeli flag through a crowd of Israel-haters - to defend what he perceives as the Israeli Marines' justified handling of the Flotilla blockade when they came under attack.
The L.A.P.D. had to establish a human wall to intervene to protect Daniel (and afterwards, a couple of other Israel supporters) who stood-up in opposition to the mob mentality of the Gaza protestors, with their version of the facts of the case and rights of expression.
When a Muslim protestor cries, "Allahu akhbar" to incite the crowd against the Jewish boy - the opposition to Israel's politics become subordinated to the perception of "Holy War" as a driving force of the Muslim side of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
An American-born, young woman of Palestinian heritage rallying to "Free Palestine," reveals that it means more than just drawing-down Israel's presence in the West Bank. When she saw the Israeli-American demonstrator, she shrieked, "I'll kill him! You killed my family! Take that flag down! You killed my people!" In DemoCast's original video, she confesses that the objective of their movement is not for Palestinian autonomy to co-exist with Israel, but to destroy Israel and conquer it for Palestinians to rule.
Our story has been re-cast by Israel National News as "Lone Jewish High School Student Faces Down Arab Mob in LA" (omitting video credit and back-link to DemoCast or Joo-Tube):
A loud and angry mob of pro-Arab demonstrators outside the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles on Tuesday became even more enraged when one, lone Jewish high school student with a yarmulke and a large Israeli flag marched fearlessly alongside them.
The young man seemed to be unmoved by the angry curses hurled at him by the American-Arab crowd. Though protected by a line of policemen, it appeared he could be attacked at any moment.
Reporters asked him afterwards about his unusual presence, and he explained, “I came out because I want to defend Israel… They [the soldiers attempting to divert the flotilla ships - ed.] were attacked, and they had the right to defend [themselves]. These people [on the boats] were not humanitarians; their ship was armed with knives, batons, and all kinds of things to attack the Israelis with. There is a naval blockade on Gaza, and they [the soldiers] were just doing their job of enforcing it… Hamas is a terrorist organization trying to kill Israelis.”
Asked if he is affiliated with any group, he said, “Just Judaism and Israel, that’s it.”
Asked how he knows that the ship was filled with arms, he said, “I know from the news; I’m an informed person.”
This contrasted with the Arab-Americans who appear at the end of the video. One girl said that a Palestinian state alongside Israel would not satisfy her, as “there should not be an Israeli state! The Israeli state does not even exist!”
Another Arab-speaking American explained, “The only reason Israel is doing this is because they got kicked out from, uh, the German whatever, whatever happened to them. So they’re trying to take out their anger on someone else.” Asked about the Bible and the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel since the times of King Solomon, he lowered his voice and said, “I don’t know about that.”