Don’t think that everyone is afraid to walk in Jerusalem these days. Just ask Tommy Walker a retired farmer from Nashville Tennessee with a flowing gingi beard more fitting for the streets of Meah Shearim than the Rechavia neighborhood near the prime minister’s residence where he’d joined a security protest. Walker isn’t Jewish. In fact he had never met a religious Jew until he set foot in Jerusalem for the first time 11 years ago. He arrived again last week with a group of 150 volunteers from HaYovel an organization that brings Americans to Judea and Samaria (Yesha) to lend farmers a hand and study the situation up-close so they can go home and become effective brand ambassadors for Jewish settlement in this beleaguered and hotly disputed region. “None of us is afraid ” Walker says as he hangs out leisurely in front of one of the protest tents set up by Yesha just a few meters from the security guard who controls entry to the street where Binyamin Netanyahu lives. “We’re obviously taking precautions but our guys are very motivated to take care of the Jewish People and see them prosper.” Walker and his group may have Israel’s back but most Israelis are watching their backs and looking over their shoulders in public places since a spate of stabbings in Jerusalem and elsewhere erupted around Rosh Hashanah time.
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