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Makua, Doc and Slater. | Photo: Surfing 4 Peace

Kelly Slater and Jewish-Hawaiian big-wave champ Makua Rothman recall historic peacekeeping trip to Gaza

“If god and the devil were on the beach and the waves were going off 10-to-12-feet and barreling, I'm pretty sure they'd surf together."

The Hawaii-born surfer Makua Rothman, along with Kelly Slater, who is of Syrian descent, have shared details of their peacekeeping mission to Israel, for which Rothman wrote the song “Together People”. 

The pair joined the great Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, who introduced surfing to Israel in 1956, for a five-day trip to raise awareness about Palestinian surfers in Gaza, culminating in the delivery of boards to Gaza’s surfers and a Surfing 4 Peace concert in front of three thousand people in Tel Aviv. 

“In 2007 I had the opportunity to go with Kelly Slater and experience first hand for myself what was going on in the conflict zone between Israel and Palestine,” Rorhman wrote. “Our mission was to bring together through surfing the people of these two warring nations and let the ocean be the medium. What I witnessed was mind blowing, When we showed up it was very clear that there were 2 different groups of people, but as soon as we got them in the ocean everything changed dramatically. It was like there was no problem between these people at all. I for a very long time wondered why? I eventually came to the conclusion, that when there is a common uncertainty or there is something that demands your full attention where both parties are faced with the same unknown humans seem to work together and the problems they once had no longer exist, at least at that moment in time. Mahalo to Dorian “DOC” Paskowitz for the vision.” 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Makua Rothman (@makuarothman)

In a piece to camera Rothman says, “If god and the devil were on the beach and the waves were going off 10-to-12-feet and barreling, I’m pretty sure they’d surf together.

Ten years earlier, Slater was detained by cops in Tel Aviv after a little roughhousing with pap photographers trying to get shots of him and Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli, although this failed to dampen his ardor for the region.

Responding to Rothman, Slater writes:

“Devastating to see what is happening. Immersed in war is no way to experience life. I feel fortunate we experienced Israel with Doc. It was his dying wish for this project to live on and for people to experience peace through surfing.”

 

 

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Dog Hed

FCK Israedl and the murderous, foul Eastern European Jws that live there. The ones here in the US doing the same thing, too.

JohnHolmes13

They had admitted that was a lie and the idf has one child under three listed as officially murdered by the hamas attack… About 12 children have died altogether from that attack and 30 were injured. There is no 400 B headed babies. You would know it was a lie if you did a little investigation. It would be easy to find..The Be heading statement is a hundred percent false and has been proven to be a lie.. all major media stations have admitted it. Go watch al jazeera if you want some real news about the middle east

JohnHolmes13

This is an illegal occupied nation where the palestinian people’s lives and chances of surfing have been destroyed for seventy five years… Is early as kindergarten and before the jewish children are taught to want to kill the arabs to burn their mosque And destroy them.. You can see it on YouTube yourself. Where they are asking they can regardless what they should do about the arabs… And if they could be friends with an arab. The kids flatly stake no, we must kill them all their bad end evil, and we cannot be there. Friends and we should burn their mosque.. Clearly they’re parents having doctor native them before kindergarten age. In this makes any form of peace for generations in the future next to possible. Because the indoctrination continues .. They have been bombing civilians in terrorizing. Children raping women for 75 years. So, this latest series of events is not the beginning of a war, but a continued.
Striking out and hope of being heard and Getting their land back… Israel funded homos because they did not want to stay peaceful solution. They have given them billions of dollars and now they want to call them animals… Call terrorist and it makes it o k to continue to dominate them

tim_nelsen
Rich Marx

Surfing is having its “where’s jah?” moment.

HaoleBoy

Watch Brett Weinstein podcast for an pretty nuanced discussion of the situation in Isreal/Palestine.

HaoleBoy

Kelly has Syrian roots? Explains an Irishman’s ability to tan.

justiceminister

I remember reading an article years ago in some surf publication about the Gaza Strip surf club. Amongst the rubble and ruin there was stoke. Anyone surfing there in 2023 would be dodging the big bombs like that surf scene in Apocalypse Now.

Sellme fitzgobbins

KS and Makua direct from the Palestinian Ghetto

Hippy

The appeal of being conservative must mean ease…. You’re told wbat to think and when to get angry and the burden of information evaporates.

Maybe, enclosing an entire populatIon under control has bad consequences? Without opportunity or freedom, subsequent generations exposed to both freedom and opportunity by their phones decide their benevolent “warden” is not the future they can embrace.

We’ve seen how recent attempts at occupation have proven too difficult by the “winning” nation and the collateral damage is burning hot just below the surface of civility.

Occupation is much more difficult than war. See George Bush and Vlad P.

This has been brewing for decades. No one should be surprised.

In the words of the GREAT Perry Farrell, “It’s not shocking”

ptsdsurfer

Exactly, if the “no killings, no wall” logic is a valid one as Derek puts it then we have to consider the “no oppression, no killings” logic too.

Otto

If Palestine is an open air prison, it’s important to note that it is Hamas who are the prison guards, not Israel.

ptsdsurfer

Hamas is just a pawn on this chessboard. And when a player pushes a pawn knowing his opponent is going to capture it, it’s because he knows the next 5, 8 moves of the line he is working with.

ptsdsurfer

There’s a much more interesting war going on for over a year now and total BG silence. Always wondered what’s up with that. I assumed war was a forbidden topic here, but now I see it’s not. BG do talk about wars, it just cherry picks them. Fascinating.

AI (for ever) .

It’s just evil.

Pure fuckkkk up nazi type evil.

JohnHolmes13

What is evil? Is this killing of twenty thousand palestinian children and women for doing nothing more than defending their land… You know how many babies is real as killed since nineteen forty eight of the palestinians? Tens of thousands daily weekly monthly since nineteen forty eight and no one said shit..
Did you know that there’s a video of a palestinian child, 6 years old who had his balls blown off by an Israeli sniper from a half mile away ,as his buddys laugh. They have admitted they are creating a genocide

AI (for ever) .

I was wondering how long it would take before Kelly made it all about him

Baz

Makua Rabin and Kelly Arafat

Gil Gunderson

Bet Kelly wishes he never stopped wearing the hex hat.

Hippy

3 more titles

Gil Gunderson

Easily

Jordy's pout

Bone broth!

Mike

And then Hamas came in on jet skis and paragliding behind cigarette boats slaughtering everyone at the Surfabout; destroying all the pacifists fantasies.

tim_nelsen

geek

tim_nelsen

haight & ashbury needs mentors…”say no to terrorists playing false jazz.”

Chief Hot stuff

When we were kids and someone wlnt share their hot chips, hed be a fuken jew.
I was the only catholic so id say
fuken jew cunt.

tim_nelsen

doritos is the new KFC~
at taco bell!

Low wide stinkbug stance

Catholic and a pom?

Chief Hot stuff

Born in Darlinghurst
me old china

Low wide stinkbug stance

Pom passport though:) hope you don’t think of running for parliament, you might get called a foreign agent!

Chief Hot stuff

Aussie passpot and UK.!!
Come on now, youre anglo too.

janeausten

I didn’t really find that phrase too hurtful at the time, in your defence. I would’ve called you a Mick cunt and we’d have been square. Then we would have swapped boong jokes.

Chief Hot stuff

Who woulda thought wed be having this racist referendum so many years later. Imagine, only a specific race can be part of a certain government institution.
Yikes!!!
I honestly wldnt have known what a mick cunt was, back then.


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