Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was a legendary American pioneer, leading America’s way into the wilderness and often taking his life into his own hands.
Boone was one of 11 children born to Quaker parents escaping persecution in England. His first long hunting trip, of several months’ duration, was in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. He then began making trips to Kentucky. In 1760 he continued making a living hunting in the wilderness, going as far as the Holston and Clinch rivers and winning renown for his skill.
In 1765, Boone and others went on an expedition to the uncharted swamps of Florida. Since game was scarce, they almost starved to death. In 1769 Boone and five others explored Virginia’s Kentucky wilderness, spending two years hunting and trapping there. Boone returned again later, leading a group of pioneers seeking to settle there, in 1773; Indians attacked them and killed one of Boone’s 10 children.
In 1775, Boone was commissioned to blaze a 200-mile trail from present-day Tennessee to vast tracts of fertile land (now Kentucky) lying just over the Appalachian Mountains, a formidable obstacle. As a result, tens of thousands of pioneers, some recruited and led by Daniel Boone personally, were able to go west in the late 18th and early 19th century. One such pioneer was Abraham Lincoln’s grandfather. The trail Boone carved out of the forest became known as the Wilderness Road.
By 1799, Kentucky had achieved statehood and Boone, in his mid-60s, moved his family to “Upper Louisiana" (now Missouri) which was purchased by the U.S. (“the Louisiana Purchase") in 1821. Missouri became a state a year after Boone’s death.
Daniel Boone’s unusual courage emboldened him to operate in untamed land, regardless of the danger. In 1774, during Dunmore’s War, Boone served as a captain. When the American Revolution began in 1775, Daniel Boone joined the Virginia militia, became a captain and fought numerous battles. In 1776, Indians carried away his daughter and Boone tracked them for three days and eventually rescued her.
In 1778 while hunting he was captured by Shawnee warriors, escaping on foot a few months later under hot pursuit by his captors for a full 160 miles. He and a band of pioneers were then outnumbered and besieged for nine days and nights. In 1781 when the British army marched up the James River, Boone was taken prisoner. He fought in the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782, when Kentucky militiamen were outnumbered by British supporters and Indians. When almost 80 years of age, he tried to enlist for the War of 1812. In his eighties, Daniel also continued to hunt and trap. He was a legend even during his lifetime, renowned throughout America and Europe.
It is not surprising that when President Trump signed an executive order to create a park to honor 30 American heroes - “the greatest Americans who have ever lived" - the list included Daniel Boone. “For the sake of our honor, our children, our union, we must preserve our heritage and our great heroes," Trump rightly said.
A contrasting, much less impressive example of Trumpian policy, erected precariously by Trump confidants Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pertains to the barbaric wilderness of Gaza. These two men insist their “Peace Council" and "Founding Executive Committee" will miraculously uplift ruthless, violence-ridden Gaza, and that their “Palestinian technocratic government" and “international stabilization force" will mythically disarm this cruel region. In fact, no technocrats will ever disarm Gaza, and any rebuilding effort which insists on being Jew-free (Judenrein) will be as devastating a failure as the 2005 “uplifting" Disengagement from Gaza was.
Gaza needs a Daniel Boone - not a Kushner or a Witkoff. Fortunately, Daniel Boone is, indeed, alive and well -- and living in Israel.
It’s just that Israel’s modern Daniel Boone is a she not a he, her name is Daniella not Daniel, and she’s Jewish, not Quaker.
Introducing modern Israel’s fearless pioneer leader, Daniella Weiss. Daniella knows instinctively what to do for hellish Gaza, just as Daniel Boone knew exactly what to do about the American Wild West. Daniella Weiss is calling for the rebuilding of Gaza to start from restoration of the historic Jewish communities of Gaza. She, not any medley of “technocrats" (terrorists in suits i.e.), has the key to braving the Gaza wilderness today, just as Daniel Boone was the key to braving America’s wilderness two centuries years ago.
Born to two Lehi fighters in the grim British Mandate period that followed the Holocaust, Daniella has led Israel’s pioneering movements - first Gush-Emunim and later Nahala - for almost 50 years. She inspired tens of thousands to join her path. She was also one of Israel’s few female mayors (2 energetic terms as mayor of Kedumim, at that time a frontier location, from 1996 - 2007) and established two entirely new locales - Evyatar (in Shomron) and Ramat Arbel (in the Galilee). Daniella famously drove everywhere throughout Judea-Samaria, utterly disregarding terrorist dangers and her own personal safety.
In 2002, her son-in-law and his parents were killed by Palestinian Arab terrorists who attacked their home. Her young daughter and baby grand-daughter only survived by hiding under a table.
When almost 80 years of age, Daniella personally travelled to the Gaza Strip and entered the region, under IDF auspices, to survey potential re-settlement sites. This was while non-octogenarian Israelis, were hugging their bomb shelters. Daniella also led the Israeli right to electoral victory by urging “one state for one people" - her version of the inoperable “two states for two alleged peoples" plan.
Mattot Arim, the NGO which I head, has started an initiative that urges PM Netanyahu to present Daniella Weiss, Israel’s Daniel Boone, to President Trump. Her path is the right one, the righteous one, and the wise one - the only path which will enable Trump to coax freedom and prosperity from the brutal Gaza Strip. After all, why not be courageous and introduce President Trump to Israel’s modern-day female Daniel Boone? Why not replace those infamous images of Clinton, Rabin and Arafat at a meaningless Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, by inspiring images of Trump, Netanyahu and Daniella, smiling together at a well-earned Nobel Peace Prize ceremony after the Jews return to the Gaza Strip?
If you will this, it will be no dream. Trump may sometimes seem arbitrary. But he has shown awareness that preserving history is paramount. It will be easy to point out to him that making history -- shaping history -- is the next step along the past to genuine posterity. Daniella - the Israeli Daniel Boone - holds the lantern that will take us down the path of making history, by turning Gaza the Nightmare into Gaza the Great. After all, “Gaza" means "bold" in Hebrew.
And no, Daniella is not ignoring the murderous terrorists lurking everywhere in the Gaza Strip, she is just mindful of the biblical verse that says “Little by little I will send them away before you". She is ooking forward to the first Shabbat back in the Gaza Strip, promised irrevocably to the Jews under Article 80 of the UN charter. We need to be there, if we are serious about wanting to send murderous fanatics away and replacing them with a benevolent Jewish presence, a future which will be good for everybody.
Susie Dym is the spokesperson for Mattot Arim, an Israeli NGO working toward peace-for-peace since 1992