Over the wall and gone, a Jewish-American in the Palestinian West Bank: Joshua Davis at TEDxMuskegon

In February of 2012, Joshua joined the non-profit organization On the Ground for the Run Across Palestine - a 5 day, 129 mile ultra marathon to raise funds and awareness in support of fair-trade olive farming communities in the Palestinian West Bank. He was trusted with the honor of carrying some of Michigan - in song and story - to Palestine, and in return, to soak up some of the art and culture there to share with my community. The fear and courage he witnessed there, on both sides of the wall, and also within himself, were profound. He returned much less resolved and far more inspired than he could have imagined.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@ninasaligman4762]

A new generation of American Jews is rising who thinks critically about Israel. Too many of us are fed education which blatantly dehumanizes Palestinians from a disturbingly young age. A movement is rising in which beautiful members of our community put in the work to change that, and I chose to believe that it's working. That my future Jewish children will not grow up on the hate and ignorance that I did. If you're Jewish and you feel isolated or wrong for resenting (or even QUESTIONING) what you've grown up hearing about Israel, you're not alone. Never stop questioning, and stay strong against propaganda which does not challenge you to think critically!

[@oliviahazin5264]

Thank you for your honesty, Nina. Love, a Palestinian American whose family was forced out of Ein Karem in 1948.

[@jesusRamirez-xv7xp]

I agree with you we have to fall back to our ancestry and roots. We have to help our cousins and integrate them and not allow the dehumanization of them. I cry when I know what Israel and the right wing extreme nationalists think about them and do to them.

[@jesusRamirez-xv7xp]

They are also semites and are closely related to us. We should embrace them and create a powerful beautiful nation together without racism xenophobia and any form of discrimination

[@loisbecker2687]

Joshua is a very special man, not only talented but well spoken and compassionate.

[@ChelseaBond]

Love. Pure love.

[@dingdingdingding2871]

There is no place for apartheid in this world.

[@xplosivelilly]

peace doesn't come without justice. there's no 2 sides of this story. there's the oppressed and the oppressor. I would not say nazis had 'their' side of the story. What they did was beyond cruel.

[@cloudsurfingchaddy4964]

lol, do your research buddy. the Jews of Germany stabbed ALL GERMANS in the back pre ww1 with the Palestine agreement with Britain... RESEARCH

[@seancapsHP]

what

[@hatasakuta8012]

@@cloudsurfingchaddy4964 that's right and they only claim to be the victim while hiding the truth behind that. Exactly, what rothschild family and their zionists did were just too horrible even until now

[@JesseMason]

Well done, Josh. L'chaim!

[@chaimargolis2789]

Jesse Mason do u even know what that means?! Coz what ur supposed to say is ישר כח yishar koah or חזק ואמץ hazak vemats

[@dingdingdingding2871]

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 no AskaNAZI terrorists in middle east.

[@TamerAlsultanJournalist]

القدس عاصمة فلسطين

[@Astrostevo]

I don't suppose you could put that in English please? I have no idea what that says.

[@PK-fg7ns]

@@Astrostevo it says jerusalem is the capital of palestine.

[@Astrostevo]

@@PK-fg7ns Okay thanks. It is't, well not yet & almost certainly only the eastern part if it ever happens.

[@standfair9602]

Peace is the answer Peace for all.

[@Rambo-du6pu]

9 million subscribers 12k views in 4 years, something is not right.

[@moneersalem2258]

7 years now and only 20k smh

[@josiahdavidward6691]

I very much enjoyed this song at the end.

[@kevinkeller1046]

Beautiful

[@dingdingdingding2871]

Death to apartheid

[@jmer9126]

Please correct the captions. Instead of Shook, the Arab market, the captions say “shoot the Arab” market. Please fix it. Thank you.

[@matok5711]

they're auto generated captions. They're not very acurate they're generated through ai

[@darkswim8686]

Robert, im sorry you missed the wisdom in what he said. I am also sorry you misunderstand him.

[@ramzichouk4080]

there is no wisdom in what he said ! did he talk about himself not belonging to Palestine ? he called the place Israel while we all know it's Palestine ! did he talk about the stolen land of Palestine as a stolen land ? NO ! so he's just following what his masters told him to say ! did he talk about all the people who were killed ? did he talk about khazarian jews ? NO !

[@ramiamellal6853]

Peace sound's tempting but we all know the bad truth

[@da7me22]

what is the bad truth

[@karenarvizu5337]

Dahom yasser Israel is a terrorist State, palestinian people are their victims. That's the bad truth.

[@Astrostevo]

Is it? What you say there is bad but is it really truthful or just your biased subjective opinion? Maybe show some more curiosity, try to understand more complexities and see that Israel and Palestine are both multi-faceted, made of individuals and not just their governments and leaders. Neither group are all angelic or demonic, both are human, both are hurting and traumatised and have hurt and traumatised the other. How do they make peace and learn to get along. I don't have the answers, doubt any one person does but I'm pretty sure that just blaming and attacking any one collection of individuals and cultures here is the way to go.

[@spacemanwithraygun3933]

Like those people that went to the middle east to be human shields. I laughed for about 14 seconds.

[@robertroyce4788]

When did Ted talks become weak propaganda. When did he say anything insightful? He just wants to be famous and make money...look at him now on the voice... too bad for Ted that he abused this platform.

[@jjstafford6564]

The TED conference mission statement is: "We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other." How did this presentation not address this criteria?

[@robertroyce4788]

He is a curious soul that's all. Not inspired thinker, no original stories shared, no profound thought. Just saying this is a disappointment fron TED for me. I also feel like the whole time he is pitching himself.

[@lemonlime4495]

Robert Royce, I'm sad for you that you don't know him. If you did, you would know that he is a humble man who wishes for peace across all boundaries. Someone else sent in a tape to The Voice, not him. Did you not hear that he was afraid for his life? Did you not hear that he broke boundaries with music? There will always be those who will judge others, but Josh is not one. I believe that he is a man who could create questions and change within many facets of our culture. Not picking sides is showing respect for all human life.

[@merriman53]

Heather Paris "Not picking sides is showing respect for all human life." With respect, this isn't necessarily the case. When there is a clear choice between justice and injustice, "not picking sides" is an insult to the victims of injustice.

[@Historian212]

Heather Paris I think his honesty and openness in this talk is amazing. Naysayers need to recognize that he was trying to explain the conflict he felt between how he'd been raised, and what he saw when he went to Israel/Palestine. I'm sorry that some people can't understand that he's describing a personal journey, that he was brave to question what he'd been taught, didn't settle for easy platitudes, and actually went to the West Bank to learn for himself. It's easy to say, "Just change what you've been raised to believe -- right now!" Not so easy when it's your own family, your own history. People need to put their knee-jerk, anti-Israel/anti-Jewish attitudes aside and see how this guy's journey is both inner and outer. His inner conflict remains very real, but he isn't hiding from it, or shrugging it off. He's accepting that he doesn't know how to deal with the conflict, but having met real Palestinians and seen their suffering, he finally understands that he and others *must* deal with it. He's living with the uncertainty instead of going for the easy answers. There are no easy answers. If there were, they would have been realized by now. This is how change really happens: step by step, person by person. I wish him well and thank him for sharing this very personal experience with the world.

[@RachelDerGolem]

What we need is one democratic state, like SYRIA!!!!!