Israeli Surfer Who Cheated Death in Tel Aviv Strike Calls Out Kelly Slater collaborater Dan Tomson Over Bombing Joke

"There’s going to be another round and another round. We know that. The extreme Islamists present survival as victory."

It won’t be a surprise to anyone if I say that I’ve got a few pals in Israel, a few I met on a couple of trips there, others who used to live in Australia but moved back to the Holy Land for whatever reasons.

Good people to a man, and to a gal. Unreligious, left-leaning of opinion, kind, progressive, but also realists.

And, one of the surfers whose company I always enjoy is Arthur Rashkovan, a pro surfer and surf shop owner from Tel Aviv. He used to do the Surfing4Peace thing, giving boards and wetsuits to Palestinian surfers, taking the show on the road through Europe, joining Arab and Jew under the banner, Surfer.

It wasn’t always a roaring success, of course.

I mean, how does a young Arab man, who’s grown up under “Jewish occupation”, and who’s been indoctrinated about the evils of Jews since he was born, wipe that off?

Arthur tried, though, and he cut through little by little. And then came October 7 and all bets, as they say, were off.

Read Arthur’s story, “Israeli surfer who organised surfboards for Gazans warns pro-Hamas West, ‘How will you react when evil breaks down your door?'”

On the balance of my reading and observations, and with no Jewish heritage to colour my opinion, the nation of Israel, the most progressive in that haunted region of dictators and thugs and religious psychosis (compare Israel to Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran for example), ain’t such a bad place. Maybe we should cut it a little slack.

Now, a few days back footage of Iranian missiles hitting the lineup in Tel Aviv went all over the place.

In the comments of The Lago Podcast, an Australian surf-centric show, there was revealing back and forth between surfers and Kelly Slater collaborator Dan Tomson after the noted shaper and surfer joked about the attack.

“They have no issues with Snaking everyone at Lennox – story checks out.”

The comment, although not anti-semitic, and Israeli surfers sure can be feisty in the water, although no more than, say, Hawaiians or, worst of all, Balinese, drew sharp criticism from heartbroken Israeli surfers who love his double-ended boards in their weak Mediterranean waves, with my old buddy Arthur writing:

“u better focus on building boards. Less talking, looks it doesnt work for u so many Israelis ride your boards, so sad to see how u react to this!”

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I figured I’d give Arthur a call after the near miss in Tel Aviv but, time diff, and Arthur having to sprint to bomb shelters holding two of his three kids under his arm, a few times every night, made connecting difficult.

We ended up exchanging voice messages on Instagram, Arthur deep, and mostly safe, beneath the streets and me, sitting on the grass, as it happened, where Jews were gunned down a few months back.

When I ask him about the missiles strikes in the lineup he says he was with his nephew checking which bank to surf when the bomb alarms sounded.

“The booms above us were insane, it was the crazy sound of little cluster bombs. The moment the bombs stopped, I went out and met one guy who didn’t leave the water. He was in complete shock. He said it was thirty metres away from him.”

What’s the feeling among you and your pals about the war with Iran?

“The feeling is, on the one hand it’s really not easy you know, to run to shelter during the night with your kids, having your daily routine disrupted, kids are not at school, three kids now, it’s impossible. Business is completely flat, dead. But on the other hand, I’m telling you honestly, every time I go to shelter I feel I’m supporting the people of Iran, that’s what I feel like. We know this is not going to end, but the head of the snake must be cut off and if not cut off, at least push him back a few years. There’s going to be another round and another round. We know that. The extreme Islamists present survival as victory.Same as Hamas. Survival meant victory. So, that’s our life, you know. Ha! Live and die by the sword.”

How do you respond to those in the West who say Israel is a genocidal state, the evil coloniser, cracking the heads of innocent Palestinian children?

“I have to say, this new wave of anti-semitism, in the beginning it was something very hard for me to comprehend where it was coming from. But it took me a very short time to understand it has always been there, dormant, and the world was just waiting for another excuse to start hating on us.

“That is one thing.

“If you ask me how do I respond to this, I tell them: go check facts. Go back to school. Go study history. Not from TikTok or any fake media outlets. Study the facts, see what they are. And when people talk about genocide and baby killing, go look up what genocide means in the dictionary. Once a person like Tomo says what he says, it just shows to me: a great shaper needs to have a great intellect I always used to think. I guess not. On the other hand, there are amazing people such as Maurice Cole that knows history and knows the truth from lies. Unlike you, say, Maurice was never in Israel but still knows facts and knows what really goes on.”

Message from Arthur: Just woke up, third time tonight, morning, running to shelter with my kids.

You got a message for surfers who aren’t Israeli and who cheer on your enemies?

“You know a missile strike just hit the heart of Tel Aviv right now, this moment, seven different sites, crazy destruction, watching it on the news right now. People don’t understand that this will come to them when extreme Islam takes over. The idea of the Sharia and the one kingdom, one Muslim kingdom across the world, for them is something real and they have all the patience in the world. And us, the Jews, the Israelis, the Zionist, the idea of Zionism is living in Zion, we want to keep living peacefully in this land with our neighbours.

“If they don’t let us live peacefully, we have to live by the sword.”