You may not be familiar with this organization – but you should. Boomerang, founded in 2016, produces and distributes hard-hitting videos with detailed terror reports from Israel, focusing especially on events in Judea and Samaria.
The founder of the organization – Ezri Tubi, 49 – also produces and narrates the videos. He is literally a one-man show who puts Israel’s Foreign Ministry to shame for his blunt style and undeniable effectiveness.
The Jewish Press recently spoke with him to learn the secret of his success.
The Jewish Press: How did a nice secular kid from Netanya turn into an earnest, angry-faced “spokesman for the settlers”?
Tubi: During my very secular and apolitical high-school days, I couldn’t tell you where the West Bank was on a map. After my IDF service, I traveled the Far East, experimenting with foreign lifestyles and cultures. Back in Israel, a friend asked if I wanted to spend a mind-blowing Shabbat on a mountaintop settlement in Samaria.
I figured, ‘Why not?’ If I could hang out in ashrams in India, experiencing Hindu culture, why not check out a Shabbat in Israel?
The place turned out to be an isolated hilltop with four young families. I was given my own caravan. In the evening, I volunteered to do guard duty since there were hostile Arab villages not far away. With mixed feelings of fear and overwhelming wonder, I had a religious epiphany. Looking up at the same stars that Avraham Avinu had stared at thousands of years before, I was overcome with an unexplainable recognition that this is where I had to live.
So after connecting with the Torah and getting married, my wife and I moved to a hilltop settlement and raised goats and chickens. Eventually we moved to the larger yishuv of Yitzhar. It was there that I started to get involved with political activism and the media.
How did Boomerang begin?
I started Boomerang three years ago after a period of great frustration, when I discovered how the secular media in Israel and abroad twisted its reporting about the settlers of Yesha and blatantly lied about events taking place in Israel. Against this avalanche of fake news, no one was hitting back with the truth.
One day, I borrowed a simple video camera and started to talk. Gradually, I taught myself how to photograph, set up lighting, record clean sound, edit, and the like. After studying the Internet and learning about social networking, I established Boomerang. Today, we have a professional video studio in Ariel with our own equipment, and we do our own on-the-scene reports, broadcasting the real story.
Why did you choose the name Boomerang for the organization?
One reason is that “boomerang” is used both in English and Hebrew. The full name of the organization is “Boomerang – Fighting for Israel,” and a boomerang is a powerful weapon when used in a skillful manner.
Some people advised me not to choose such a belligerent name, but Medinat Yisrael, and Yesha in particular, are fighting for their survival.
Lastly, we want to create a boomerang effect, whereby the lies of the world boomerang in its face when confronted with the truth. In the same manner, when our enemies lay down their arms, we will lay down our weapons as well.
The government of Israel has official public relations departments and propaganda agencies to deal with Israel’s image in the world. Why is Boomerang needed?
To do the job properly, you have to be on location, where the events are happening. The government agencies are too cumbersome, too bureaucratic, and too undecided and confused about the message they seek to communicate.
They are not effective in reacting with the speed demanded by the dynamics of social networking. I can put out an on-the-scene report in a tenth of the time at a hundredth of the cost.
If that’s the case, I imagine that the Israeli government is happy to support your efforts.
Unfortunately, we don’t receive a shekel from any government source. The resources we have, I have to raise by myself. In addition to developing media skills, I had to learn how to become a fundraiser.
Why does Boomerang focus on Judea and Samaria when Arab terror strikes everywhere?
Because no one else wants to deal with such a hot potato. Even politicians supportive of the cause hesitate to take an outspoken stand in favor of settlers and the right of settlements to expand, knowing the battering they will receive from the liberal media.
The settlements are so far out of the consensus that any effort to legitimize them is immediately termed fascism and racism. That’s why Israel is always bending over backwards to paint itself as an enlightened, liberal democracy, just like other Western nations.
Few people who work in the media are prepared to hold up the banner of our Biblical and historical connection to Judea and Samaria, to extol the idealism and nobility of the settlers, and to clarify the great economic gain the Arabs receive from their proximity to Jewish settlements.
