"With Perfect Faith" An Interview with Paul Schnek David Isaac May 24, 1996 marks a full ten months that Paul Schnek has been standing opposite the Israeli consulate in a solitary vigil against the Peres government. Paul calls the stretch of sidewalk allotted to him "my office," and with his typical humor, observes: "My office is open Monday through Friday, 12:00-2:00, and for special events, such as visits from Israeli foreign dignitaries." Paul holds up placards that read, "Peres's polices are national suicide," and that call for the release of opponents of the Oslo accords, jailed without charge. He responds to each new outrage with a poster. When Peres told Ruth Matar, a vocal opponent of his policies who had lived in Israel almost thirty years, "Go back where you came from," Paul held up a placard "Peres go back to Poland" and on the other side "Colette, go back to "I will picket as long as it takes for a change of government." Romania." Paul explains that the reason he feels obligated to protest the delusionary "peace process" goes back to the Holocaust. As a young Hungarian boy of thirteen, he and his entire family had been packed in a train and sent to Auschwitz. "The train stopped on the tracks and started to go into reverse." It later turned out this was an accident. There was a mix-up with a trainload of laborers, which was to be sent to Austria. The laborers ended up in Auschwitz and Paul's train went to Austria. He spent the rest of the war working in various labor camps. Paul describes his feelings upon returning to Hungary. "Approximately 54 kids were in my class. Only seven of us came back and I was ashamed of myself that I came back, that I was alive. I was ashamed to be a Jew because of what happened to us. Some considered this Kiddush Hashem, sanctifying God's name. I considered it the contrary --Hillul HaShem, desecrating the name of God. I felt very bad about it." Paul says that his best friend had been killed by the Nazis, and whenever he saw his best friend's brother on the street, he would hide. "I was afraid he would ask me where his brother was." For Paul, the turning point was during a Chizuk mission to Israel in February 1994, and an intense emotional experience at the Cave of the Patriarchs. "Being in Hebron, being at the Cave of the Patriarchs, I came to the conclusion that God for some reason allowed me to survive, and that I had a mission to do what I could to make sure nothing like the Holocaust could happen again." Paul is amused by the reaction of Consul-General Colette Avital and Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gad Yaacobi to his vigil. He explained that at first, Colette Avital would ostentatiously blow kisses when she saw

him, but after a while he rarely saw her. Finally, Rabbi Bruce Rudolph, who runs the Chizuk mission to Israel, called him up, "I have good news for you, Paul. My son was up in the consulate and he saw Colette Avital look out the window and say, 'Paul & Company are here again. Let's use the side exit.'" Paul notes: "I was wondering why I didn't see them so often. What they do is get out of the car on 43rd street. Apparently, they hate the sight of me. They make conspicuous efforts not to see me. When they do come out of the main entrance, they immediately turn their heads to the side." Paul recounts how Ambassador Yaacobi was nearly run over as a result of his determination to avoid seeing him. After the indictment of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman in the World Trade Center bombing, concrete barriers were placed in front of the consulate to prevent car bombs. Yaacobi's car was double-parked, so he was forced to come onto the street. "When he saw me, he immediately put his head down as he stepped into the road. A car missed Yaacobi by about two inches. He almost got it because he wanted to show that he didn't see me. I'm sure his heart was beating faster than normal." Paul says that the behavior of the lower level bureaucrats and the consulate guards is mixed. "Some are friendly but most are hostile. God forbid I should fall into their hands, because I am pretty sure they would skin me alive. The hate that they have -- it is hard to understand. But that's the way they are. Once, an Israeli guard walked up to me and said, 'We admire your persistence very much. But we also want you to know that we hate you very much.' It's too bad. I don't hate them. I just feel bad that they are on the wrong side. I don't hate Israelis. I love Israelis." 'When Shimon Peres visited the U.S. recently, Israeli security told Paul to go away. "They said, 'Shimon Peres is coming and we don't want him to be embarrassed.' I told them that's my purpose. So they put a moving van in front of me. As I moved forward, the truck moved forward. As I moved back, the truck moved back. The guards said, 'If you're such a big shot, why don't you go to Israel?' When I explained to them I had been to Israel and been beaten up, they said I was lying. I said it was also common knowledge that certain people were locked up without charge, including rabbis. One guard replied, 'Oh, those rabbis. I would love to kill them all. And we hope that after the election we will get rid of them.'" The worst experience for Paul was after the assassination. People attending the vigils for Rabin would spit on Paul and ask him who he was going to kill next. Paul also experiences many positive reactions, including from Israelis visiting New York, Bible-believing Christians, bus drivers, limousine drivers, and, in one case, a Pakistani Muslim. "The Pakistani is a highly-educated professor of mathematics. Once a month he stops by and talks. He realizes that Israel has a right to exist. During one discussion, an Israeli from the consulate came over. The Pakistani asked, 'Who are you?' So this man says, 'I'm an Israeli.' I ask him, 'As an Israeli, do you believe in the Bible?' He says, 'No, I do not.' So the Muslim from Pakistan says angrily, 'Take a walk! You are (Continued on p.10)

Outpost               - 8 -               May 1996