Yoram Hamizrachi- East, the former Israeli commander in South Lebanon, took me under his wing in 1983 and taught me about Middle Eastern geo-political affairs, community and multicultural activism, journalism, the art of radio, and how to burst the balloons of the rich and entitled class in society, among many other things.
That he had moved to Winnipeg, and come into my life, was a miracle. He passed away today after a lengthy illness at the age of 68.
I met Yoram when he was standing at a bus stop on McGregor Street near the family home on Matheson in June of 1983, and my then-wife and I recognized him from his interview that morning on CTV news about the Israeli war in Lebanon against the PLO. We pulled a U-Turn and my high-school Hebrew surprisingly sufficed to persuade him to accept a lift to the Garden City Shopping Centre, as he wedged his bulky frame beside my year-old daughter in her car seat. He and his wife Beate readily accepted my young family into their home and I became a primary babysitter for their children.
In early 1985 he assumed duties at the International Centre and hired me as his 'boy Friday' -- liason, typing documents, researching, translating for him from Hebrew to English, and introducing him to the players in Winnipeg's media scene.
In the era of the Charter of Rights and rising tensions within newly-immigrated Asian and African communities struggling to survive in Winnipeg, they found in Yoram a man who understood a variety of cultures from his military career in Israel, and who would champion their needs for housing and real jobs, and not "Folkloramas and wine and cheese parties".
The discovery of forged signatures on application documents for the funding for his position as Multicultural Co-ordinator led to a bitter dispute with the Citizenship Council of Manitoba, famously including the distribution of fliers critical of then-chairwoman Olga Fuga, a former city councillor with aspirations of a political appointment to the Citizenship Court bench.
Olig-archy = Government by the few;
Olga-garchy = Government by the Fuga
Yoram refused to continue with the job and be paid based a fraudulent application; his stance won him many admirers but caused his family great hardship. The scandal effectively ended the political careers of Fuga and the federal Minister responsible for the funding program, Mulroney-appointee Jack Murta.
He was an integral part of the first 'truce talks' that led to an uneasy peace brokered by Yoram and Manitoba Human Rights chair Claudia Wright between rival ethnic gangs in the city in the hot summer of 1985. Elected officials actively sought out Yoram's wise counsel and I was fortunate to be a part of those meetings and discussions. He allowed me to take a lead role in presentations to city hall about the Equal Employment Opportunity program and proposed police hiring standards - a fight over the use of polygraphy as a pre-employment screening device which we won with the support of Coun. William Neville.
Thus began a friendship that lasted over 27 years, and meeting Yoram brought many other fascinating characters into my life including Henry Carvalho, Wade Williams, Monica Feist, Sally Macdonald, Nick Ternette, and the late Kuldip Singh. He made a number of appearances on our program, mostly to address terrorism and anti-Zionist issues. His final interview was to eulogize his good friend Harold Buchwald.
He and his children, Tahl, Ron and Dan, have been champions of The Great Canadian Talk Show since day 1 and without their support and advice our radio broadcasts would not exist today. Yoram's pride in their accomplishments, those of his grandson Ari, and of our radio show, were spoken of by him in his last days.
Yoram was a visionary and leader, a consummate story-teller, an excellent cook, and even enjoyed going to AWA Wrestling to watch Baron Von Raschke at the Winnipeg Arena back in the day.
I cannot express my sense of loss this day. Baruch dayan emet.
