Hebron Articles - June-July 2004
Come On, Rape Me
Keep Your Spirits UP
Living What You Believe and Believing What you Live
If not totally justified, at least understood
The Saddamization of Israel
by David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
July 19, 2004
Shalom.
The week opened with all sorts of wonderful events. New coalition talks: meetings between Peres and Sharon; Labor-Likud negotiators squabbling over economics and cabinet positions; Shas huddling with the Likud demanding: Dump Shinui; Agudat Yisrael toying with an original idea: accepting a ministerial post in the government. Everyone is expected to get what he wants, especially Ariel Sharon: a majority government, permitting him to rule for another two years. And all for a sale price: Eretz Yisrael goes cheap!
And let’s not forget our favorite National Religious Party – in Hebrew, the “Mafdal” or NRP. What do they have to say? Of course the two ‘brave souls,’ Effie Eitam and Rabbi Yitzhak Levy have already taken the giant step, having resigned their ministerial posts and abandoned Sharon’s slimy ship. Yet others still remain, hanging on at all costs, stuck to their chairs. And what is really important to them? NRP minister Zevulun Or-Lev, battling Effie Eitam for leadership of the party, made headlines on Sunday morning. Why? What did he demand? Did he insist that all ‘disengagement’ talks from Gush Katif be stopped immediately, due to the massive ‘chaos’ in Gaza, as so described by the resigning PA Prime Minister Abu Ala? Did he blast Sharon for commencing talks with Peres and Co? Did he question Shinui’s continued membership in the government? No. None of these factors interest him. What he did request was that Shinui not receive another minister in the cabinet, replacing the disgraced Yosef Pariztky, fired for alleged criminal shenanigans. Or-Lev claimed that Paritzky’s, exclusion from the ranks of his party bring Shinui down from 15 mandates to 14, thereby reducing the number of ministers allowed from that party from five to four. That’s first on Or-Lev’s wish list this week. Really important, compared to everything else that’s happening in Israel. Impressive, for a guy who’s supposed to be smart and claims leadership of his party.
Why is Labor interested? That’s easy. Shimon has ants in his pants. He cannot sit by and watch his old buddy Arik get credit for emptying the Land of Israel of some of its extremist settlers, an event he’s wanted to accomplish for years. He too wants his name in the history books.
In addition, Peres still smells the Prime Minister’s office. He intends to campaign for Labor leadership, in order to run again for the premiership. He realizes that his chances will be much improved coming from a position of strength, i.e., a position of leadership, proving to his electorate that, without Shimon Peres, Israel would not be able to rid itself of Gaza.
What about Shas? What’s their excuse? That too is not difficult to solve. First of all, they must avenge the wounds inflicted by Shinui. After all, Tommy Lapid’s party is virulently anti-religious, almost anti-Jewish. They announced loud and clear: ‘we will not participate in a coalition with Shas or Agudat Yisrael.’ Shinui has done everything possible to take money from religious affairs, yeshivas, etc. Now, Shas smells blood. They want revenge. They want in, with Shinui out. At any cost. Even at the cost of Eretz Yisrael.
Of course, we cannot ignore money, power, and political struggles. Eli Yishai needs to prove himself, to prove that he too is a master political manipulator, that he too can squeeze money from the Likud, and that he deserves to continue on the throne of the Shas party. A leader can only accomplish such goals from within, not from the outside. So he wants in, even if that means that Gush Katif is out.
And what about Agudat Yisrael? They too have a sharpened sense of smell. Dollars, shekels, whatever currency you like, have a distinct odor. And money tends to attract. Need more be said?
But the real scoundrels are our friends with the knitted skullcaps on their heads, the National Religious Party. After all, they are keeping Sharon in the Prime Minister’s office. Without their votes, it might have been possible to bring Sharon down, evicting him from his office before he could complete his dirty deed. But no, they insist on providing much needed legitimacy to Arik’s abandonment from Gaza. How can they, or how can anyone else in the religious camp, complain about Shas or Agudat Yisrael, two other religious parties closing a deal with Sharon, when the “political symbol” of Eretz Yisrael is stubbornly insisting that they can ‘influence from inside.’ How can anyone demand that Shas and Agudat Yisrael keep out with the NRP in?
That’s one side of the coin. The other is, without a doubt, Arik himself. The question marks and exclamation points are so vivid, it’s difficult to comprehend his obstinacy. The past few days have witnessed total upheaval in Arab Gaza. Razi Jabali, head of Arafat-terrorist security, was kidnapped on Friday. Jabali, a known killer who has an outstanding arrest warrant hanging over his head in Israel, was grabbed by other Arab terrorist forces because of PA “corruption.” Arafat achieved his release by firing him from his position as PA security chief. When his replacement was announced, Yasir’s nephew, Mussa Arafat, Arabs took to the streets in Gaza, rejecting the appointment. Several others were kidnapped and released in Gaza, including western peace activists. There is no Palestinian Authority – this so-called framework, if it ever did exist, has totally disintegrated. And this is all before Arafat’s demise. When he goes, the remains of the PA are going to fireball, engulfing Gaza and much of the Arab-occupied cities and villages in Judea and Samaria. The ensuing power struggle will include not only kidnapping; it will involve killing, killing and more killing. After all, that’s how the Arabs get things done.
With all this, Arik is giving the green light – let’s get out as fast as possible, uproot the Jews, flee from Gaza, and let them worry about themselves. Without giving a thought to the repercussions of such a conflagration on Israel, on how many lives it will cost us!
Arik doesn’t want to go it alone. Somewhere, in the back of his head, is a little red light, blinking on and off, warning him. So he wants someone to hold his hand, someone who can share the blame when things get out of hand – like Shimon, Shas, Agudat Yisrael and the NRP the more the merrier.
Ariel Sharon reminds me of a woman who wants to be a prostitute, but is afraid to stand on the street corner and sell herself. So what does she do? She dresses in really skimply clothing, showing just about everything, and strolls around the wrong part of the city. In her actions, she is teasing and inviting, suggesting to the lucky guy, ‘come on, rape me.’ That’s what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is doing – he is prostituting Israel, begging the Arabs: Come on, rape me!
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by David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
July 12, 2004
During my Israel National Radio weekly show, “Blessings from Hebron,” (first broadcast every Monday at 5:00 PM Israel time – www.israelnationalradio.com), I interviewed Hebron resident Yifat Alkobi, who spoke about Shalhevet’s father and Uncle, Itzik Pass and Matti Shvu, both of whom are still in jail and are being denied the basic rights afforded to other prisoners. I again repeat, a new web site has been established, including an online petition calling for their release, and until then, demanding that they be allowed periodic vacations, as are permitted murderers, rapists and others. The web site address is: http://www.releasepass.com/ – please send this address to all your friends and ask them to sign the petition and send it on to their friends. The goal is to obtain at least 5,000 signatures, which will be presented to Israeli president Moshe Katzav, who has the power to pardon the two men.
In addition, the phone and fax numbers of Katzav, Internal Security minister Tzachi HaNegbi and Shabak (intelligence) chief, Avi Dichter, (via the Prime Minister’s office), are posted. Please call and fax these men – it is imperative to let them know that the public, in Israel and around the world, cares about the fate of Itzik Pass and Matti Shvu. Recently President Katzav, together with Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, decided to reduce the sentences of terrorists ‘with blood on their hands,’ i.e. murderers, including Shalhevet Pass’ killer. How is it possible that Israel shows mercy to these creatures, while torturing bereaved families? The continued incarceration of Pass and Shvu, and the denial of visits home, is clearly torture, both to the men, their wives and children and their parents. They have clearly suffered enough. It is time to let them go home.
Yifat also spoke about her own trial, brought about due to a protest, together with three other women, following the Uzeri home on Hill 26, almost two years ago. It should be remembered that Nati Uzeri was murdered in this home, just outside Kiryat Arba, in front of his wife and children. Only a few months later, in the dark of night, Israeli security forces illegally destroyed the house, evicting the widow and orphans, and pulling shack down upon all its belongings. Yifat and the other women, protesting this atrocity, were arrested for being present in a ‘closed military zone,’ as it was so declared, and for ‘abandoning their children,’ as a result of keeping their children with them during the protest.
Now I would like to add on a third episode, which Yifat did not speak about. About a month and a half ago the Hebron police arrested fifteen year old Akiva Lebovitch. He was charged with various ‘crimes’ in Hebron. During the interrogation, the police demanded that Akiva be fingerprinted and photographed, for police records. When he refused to submit to the police request, he was taken to court, where a hearing was held. The prosecutor told the judge that the police were willing to forgo the fingerprints, because no fingerprints were found at the site of the crime. The judge, hearing this, ruled that Akiva need not be fingerprinted.
Last week, the police called the Lebovitch home and asked that Akiva return to the station for a further, brief interrogation. Despite the fact that such telephone requests are not official and non-binding, Akiva’s parents decided to comply. When Akiva arrived at the police station, he was told that now he must supply fingerprints to the interrogators. Having already been subjected to this demand, and following the court ruling which denied the police Akiva’s fingerprints, the youth refused. Upon his refusal, the police handcuffed the fifteen year old, and again took him to court, demanding that he comply with the fingerprint demand. He was cuffed for several hours before the court session began. The demand, according to the police representative, was based upon ‘new evidence.’ When asked why a fifteen year old had been handcuffed for several hours, the police representative replies, ‘the handcuffing was justified because Akiva was
‘disrupting a police investigation.’
The judge ruled that the arrest was illegal. Akiva’s father is now suing the police for 30,000 shekels for false arrest.
It should be noted that Akiva’s brother Elazar, was murdered by terrorists almost two years ago, on the eve of his twenty-first birthday. Elazar was killed by the same terrorists who shot and killed three members of the Dickstein family from Psagot. In a couple of weeks, on the anniversary of the killings, the Dicksteins and the Lebovitch’s will sponsor a joint memorial march to the site of the murders, which will be followed by a special Torah class (Tish) conducted by Rabbi Moti Elon and a concert of ‘songs that Elazar loved.’
Following these three horror stories, you ask, ‘so, what’s the good news?”
You might expect that episodes such as those just described might paralyze people in Hebron. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Almost all the children and teenagers in Hebron are participating in this summer’s recreation/camp program, either as campers or as counselors. Tomorrow I’m one of the adult escorts for a children’s two-day venture to the upper Galil – hiking, canoeing, getting wet, and having fun. Hebron’s women are leaving on an annual ‘women’s vacation,’ enjoying a few days without husbands or kids, or anyone else to bother them, (yes, including the police!)
This summer, Hebron is full of people, literally. This past Shabbat afternoon, dozens of guests walked the streets, visiting friends and participating in a tour of the Kasba, led by Noam Arnon. I toured with a group of about 25 people, mostly from the Machon Meir Jewish Studies Center in Jerusalem. A middle-aged woman who joined the group told me that she only discovered her Judaism less than two years ago. As soon as she realized that she belonged to the people of Israel, she left the United States and made Aliyah. This Shabbat was her first trip to Hebron. Wow!
And Shabbat isn’t the only time people visit. We have busloads of people here every day of the week. Our director of tourism, Simcha Hochbaum (simcha@hebron.org.il), really has his hands full. We have Hebron-initiated tours from Jerusalem on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. And usually there are others on private tours the other days. Remember, last week I told you about the special Hebron Fund mission, from August 7th to 13th – Sunday to Friday. You can get more information by calling 718-677-6886.
So, despite it all, there are good things too. This summer promises to be a lot of fun for young and old alike, with, hopefully, much good news. So keep your spirits up, and together with us, have a good time.
With blessings from Hebron.
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Living What You Believe and Believing What you Live
by David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
July 4, 2004
Shalom.
Yesterday afternoon I was guiding two journalists around Hebron, showing them the sites, so to speak. One of them is the bureau chief of the New York Times, James Bennett, together with a columnist for the International Herald Tribune, Roger Cohen. A few interesting things happened during the couple of hours we spent talking and touring that I’d like to relate to you.
Perhaps the most impressive part of our wandering had nothing to do with any of us. Rather, it was a young, 23-year old we met, guarding at the entrance to Tel Rumeida. Hearing us talking, he asked in very fluent English where we were from. His accent was definitely not Israeli, but distinctly American. This fellow, I’ll call him P.K. for the sake of this article, is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He’s been in Israel for little over 18 months, is not yet a citizen, rather is here on a student visa, and here he is, serving in the IDF in Hebron. I told him that I don’t thing I’ve ever met a Jew from Milwaukee in Hebron before.
Every once in a while I bump into people like P.K.. He’s serving in through a program called Machal, which is a volunteer plan for ‘not yet’ Israeli citizens who want to serve their people. In his words, “I was studying philosophy and Jewish history in a United States university, watching buses blow up here. Kind of a bummer.”
So P.K., rather than continuing to watch buses blow up from afar, took action. He came to serve in the Israeli army. A real, honest-to-goodness soldier, just like everyone else. I won’t specify his job, but it carries real responsibility, and not a little danger.
Fortunately P.K. isn’t alone is his Zionistic idealism. A few years ago I wrote an article about a similar soldier named Ari, who too, hadn’t yet made official Aliyah. A couple of weeks ago I met Ari again, for the first time is several years. Today, a full-fledged Israeli, he is studying for a Masters at Bar-Ilan University. And he hasn’t lost his idealism either. When the army refused to take him into the reserves, he signed a form volunteering for IDF reserve duty for twenty years.
Just so that you understand, many Israelis will do anything they can to get out of reserve service. And here, Ari is doing exactly the opposite. Believe me, it’s people like P.K. and Ari that keep me going.
That brings me to my second point. I’m not sure exactly how to classify this – sad, unfortunate, I really don’t know.
Towards the end of my conversations with Mr. Roger Cohen, he remarked, ‘it’s difficult to find something good to write about people like you.’ This remark, not made nastily, was a reflection of much of our dialogue. Cohen obviously had great difficulty digesting the fact that Jews live in a city like Hebron. I was emotionally struck by his remarks while visiting the memorial room for the 1929 massacre victims at Beit Hadassah. He had a problem relating to the significance of the event itself, on several planes. First of all, he attempted to compare it to conflicts between other countries, or ethnic groups in Europe, saying that while once they were bitter enemies, today they belong to a common political and economic unit, and live together in harmony. The Hebron massacre was ‘small’ in scope, compared to other atrocities.
In addition, Mr. Cohen could not grasp the seemingly constant memories of such an event. He asked me why we must continue to look back as opposed to looking forward.
In truth, I had trouble comprehending Cohen’s statements, which seemed to question the necessity of memories. When dealing with correspondents I really try and keep my cool; in this case I almost lost it. Roger Cohen, obviously a very intelligent person, didn’t seem to make any sense.
I, of course, explained that without a past, there is no future, that we must learn from the past, acting upon that knowledge in the future. That way, we can continue to look forward. In addition, I tried to clarify the fact that our adversary had not changed in the slightest, that he is today just as primitive and barbaric as he was seventy five years ago. Perhaps the difference is that then, they could only kill one Jew at a time. Today, with one bomb, they kill and maim dozens in an instant.
(Only after Cohen left did I discover the real question behind his question, his own struggle with comprehending memories, in a fascinating lecture he delivered in 2001 – [http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/events/honors/morris/cohen-JAM-2001.html]).
However, the most disturbing element of our conversation was his remark that it’s difficult to find anything good to say about us. Again, he wasn’t being antagonistic, just truthful, from his perspective. He really doesn’t understand why a Jew should live in Hebron. This troubled me, having visited Tel Rumeida, seeing the excavations, thousands of years old, the tomb of Jessie and Ruth, the Avraham Avinu synagogue and its ancient Torah Scrolls, and, of course, Ma’arat HaMachpela – the Caves of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. What would it take to convince him?
By this time I had to keep my explanations short, time was running out. So I asked him, “why not?” “What is the problem with being a Jew in Hebron, living an ideal, living in my home, trying to living a normal life, in the first Jewish city in Israel? Why is that bad?” I don’t recall that he responded.
It is difficult for me to fathom correspondent Roger Cohen, or the other Roger Cohens of the world, probably as much as it is for them to fathom me. In my eyes they have lost touch with reality – genuine reality, as opposed to their perception of the way the world should be. For some reason they live an illusion, professing a concept of perfection which negates actuality, perhaps demanding a breakdown of humanity, humanity which is composed of different cultures and traditions, for a humanism which would delete us as individuals and nations.
My prayer is that the future lies not with them, but with the P.K.s and Aris of the world, the real idealists, who live what they believe and believe what they live.
With blessings from Hebron.
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If not totally justified, at least understood
By David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
June 27, 2004
Shalom.
“Stamp Out Islam!” – There, bet that got your attention. If I were to leave it at that, I would more than likely be arrested, indicted, and probably convicted of racism, incitement and other such palatable crimes. But the phrase that begins this commentary is not mine. I’m quoting someone else.
OK, you say to yourselves, he’s only repeating what his next door neighbor screamed, last night, or what one of the kids down the road chants five times daily. Right? Wrong.
I’m not citing either one of them. I’m only quoting a graffiti sign in a rural New Jersey, USA neighborhood. According to a CNN-Associated Press internet report [http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/26/beheading.backlash.ap/index.html]: In Lutz, Florida, “Kill the Arabs” was written on the walls of a mosque at the Islamic Community Center, whose windows were smashed. In Union City, New Jersey, liquor and beer bottles were hurled at a mosque. In Ballwin, Missouri a swastika with the word “Die” was painted on the wall of a mosque. Near Houston, Texas, dead fish were dumped at the entrance to a mosque. In Orland Park, near Chicago, community residents opposed a mosque’s building application.
Let’s take a look at some other figures. According to an AFP article, several weeks ago United States F.B.I. director Robert Mueller told a Congressional committee that there have been 532 attacks against Muslims, Sikhs, and Arabs in the US since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Some 200 people have been criminally charged. In the Hutchinson Report dated October, 2001, the author writes, “The see-no-evil approach of many police agencies to hate violence is also glaringly evident in the wildly erratic way that state and federal officials respond to hate violence,” referring to hate crimes against Muslims following the World Trade Center attacks.
The Muslim American Society, in an article called, “Hate Crimes Linger Long After September 11, it is written, “The largest number of complaints came from Maryland, Virginia, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Texas and California; home to some of the largest Muslim communities.”
Other articles easily accessible via internet searches quickly reveal deep suspicions about Islam and Arabs throughout the world: Australia, South Korea, and Africa, just to name a few. On Sunday morning a South Korean journalist contacted me, asking permission to film a feature about Hebron’s Jewish community, saying to me, “We too have been hit with terrorism,” relating, of course, to the barbaric beheading of a South Korean citizen by Islamic fanatics only a few days ago.
In other words, there are other places in the world besides Israel where anti-Arab, anti-Islam feelings run high.
What am I getting at?
Over the past few weeks, world media has been flooded with newspaper and internet articles dealing with a photo exhibition, showing in Tel Aviv. In the words of Ha’Aretz newspaper, from June 27, 2004, “During 14 months of service in Hebron, Yehuda Shaul could not bear the moral erosion he saw in himself and his comrades. Now the ultra-Orthodox 21 year-old has organized an exhibit of soldier’s photographs to bring the reality of the territories home.”
The CNN headline cries, “Soldiers’ photo exhibit strikes nerve,” and describes “Captured in the photos is a young Palestinian boy who was blindfolded and handcuffed for eight hours after he was caught throwing stones. Also pictured are Palestinian men left by the side of the road for hours at a time. And displayed on the wall are car keys confiscated from Palestinian drivers caught breaking curfew.”
Prominently mentioned in other articles, are graffiti comments, scrawled on Hebron shops and walls, “Arabs to the gas chambers” and “Arabs are sand niggers.”
Every once in a while a reporter remembers to call us and ask for a reaction.
A point should be made clear. The Hebron community, both the leadership and the residents, neither condone acts that should not be executed, nor words that should not be said or written. However, if examined closely, there is most always a reason behind the actions.
First, concerning alleged wrongdoings by Hebron children. I am frequently asked about graffiti appearing on Hebron shops and walls. Most of the drawings are Jewish stars, and remembrances of Shalhavet and others who have been murdered. So what? If you were a child who lived in a neighborhood where your next door neighbor had been shot, or stabbed, or your best friend’s father or another family member had been killed or wounded in a terrorist attack, what would you do? And how would you react when the terror continued and continued and continued, and the government did literally nothing to stop it. So it was in Hebron, where we were shot at day and night, for two years. Occasionally someone writes expressions that are uncalled for. My friend and colleague, Noam Arnon, was once arrested because he was spray-painting over such graffiti. He was suspected of writing it himself.
On the other hand, we know for a fact that certain provocative graffiti was written by outsiders, native English-speakers, whose goal was not to express their real feelings about Arabs, rather to muddy Hebron’s name. We have gone so far as to bring official complaints to the Israeli police about certain individuals whose identities were known to us. The police, to the best of my knowledge, ignored these complaints. None of the kids in Hebron know what a ‘sand nigger’ is, and I, who grew up in the United States, had never heard the phrase before.
Concerning the charges made by these soldiers against their friends: Such deeds should be considered as almost treasonous. Anyone with knowledge of illegal activities should turn to the proper authorities. To publicly advertise such actions calls the purposes of the photographers into question. Please note that the force behind this exhibit, Yehuda Shaul, says in the Ha’Aretz article, “I was right-wing, even far right…Something inside me started to crack…I discovered [Yeshayahu] Leibowitz and [Aviezer] Ravitzky.”
Leibowitz is considered by many orthodox Jews to be an apostate. Ravitzky is a leader of an Israeli left wing organization.
Concerning the pictures and actions themselves: remember, terrorists look just like everyone else – they have two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth. Usually they don’t wear a sign around their necks declaring: I am a terrorist. The soldiers in Hebron, most of who are not yet 21 years old, have a very difficult task: protecting Hebron’s Jews, watching out for their own safety and weeding out terrorists who plan attacks in such places as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
These soldiers also know that some of their comrades are no longer among the living because they were not suspicious enough. They know that 12, 14 and 15 year-old Arabs participate in terror attacks. Only two weeks ago a fourteen year-old was discovered attempting to talk a 12 year old into becoming a suicide bomber. Such a terrible reality sometimes demands drastic measures. And there is a very fine line between permissible drastic measures and unacceptable such actions. I wonder, for instance, what the people in Lutz, Florida, would say about Yehuda Shaul and his friends.
One other point of interest. I have, in my possession, a framed certificate of gratitude from Yehuda Shaul’s company which says, “To Anat Cohen and her family, we thank you for making our stay in Hebron more pleasurable, and we wish continuing living in Hebron, with delight and security.”
I have no doubt that the photo exhibition in Tel Aviv is nothing more that a left-wing ploy, aimed at convincing the general public that Israel has no place in Yesha. The soldiers who put it together don’t care about morals or ethics. If they did, they would not have publicly betrayed their friends in uniform. They are politicizing their army service, in order to further their own political beliefs. There is no excuse for such a betrayal.
Not to be misunderstood. There are acts which are not totally justifiable. However, most of them, under the circumstances, can and should, be understood.
With blessings from Hebron.
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We Will Not Be Sheep Led to Slaughter
by David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
June 20, 2004
Any time the word violence pops up, especially in the context of ‘right wing’ activists, ‘condemnation’ is an automatic byproduct. So it was late last week when Uri Elitzur, editor of the Israeli monthly magazine Nikuda, legitimized limited violence against anyone attempting to expel people from their homes in Yesha.
In an interview printed in Arutz 7’s weekly newspaper, B’Sheva, Elitzur said, “Uprooting a community is illegal and shocking, and therefore it is justified [for a soldier] to refuse orders to do so, and [for a resident to use] violence and any other means by which to defend his home from which he is being expelled for political reasons. I recommend refusing orders, since they are illegal; whoever fulfills these orders will be brought to trial... In my opinion, any use of force, except for live weapons, is legitimate in such a case. After the fact, even someone who injures those who come to expel him - I would accept his behavior with understanding.”
Elitzur is not your run-of-the-mill militant. He was Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s Chief of Staff for almost a year and a half, in essence, supporting Netanyahu following his abandonment of Hebron and during the Wye fiasco. He was, at that time, branded ‘traitor’ and other such pleasant invectives.
Following such explosive remarks, it comes as no surprise that the Israeli left demands Elitzur’s arrest, indictment and conviction for ‘inciting violence.’ President Moshe Katzav, a one-time rightist himself, also found it proper to condemn Elitzur’s comments. That too is no great shock. However, that fact that Yesha Council chairman Bentzi Lieberman also jumped on the bandwagon is a bit disconcerting, to say the least. Lieberman rejected appeals to soldiers to refuse obeying orders in the case of community expulsions and reiterated opposition to ‘any form of violence, physical or verbal, against soldiers’ evicting families from their homes.
Many people, in Israel and around the world, mistakenly believe that the Yesha Council ‘represents’ everyone in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. They do not! The Yesha Council is composed of mayors and heads of councils of Yesha communities. These people are elected by their respective constituent communities to provide services rendered by a town council or municipality. Such services include education, sanitation, limited security needs, road safety, and the like. They are not elected to represent political ideologies of their constituents, not individually, and certainly not as a whole. These people are dependent upon governmental funding to keep their communities fiscally alive. They need to cooperate with the offices of the various ministries, such as education, heath, welfare, etc. in order to received monies vital to their community’s wellbeing. Following the dismantling of the ministry of religious affairs, the person responsible for such services is none other than… the Prime Minister himself.
In other words, if these people, as good as they are, as sincere as they are, as idealistic as they are, too vehemently oppose government policies, they are effectively cutting off the branches on which they perch.
So it comes as no surprise that Bentzi Lieberman, mayor of the Shomron Regional Council, opposes ‘any violence’ and repudiates demands for soldiers to refuse to obey orders. Were he to agree to these ideas, even tacitly, he would ‘lose face’ with those ‘important people’ necessary to budget his constituent’s needs and even meet with him and his friends on a fairly regular basis, such as the defense minister and the prime minister himself.
It should also be noted that many of these council heads have long-established personal relationships with Israel’s top brass. For instance, a well-known, influential Yesha leader, known to be very close to Ariel Sharon, invited Sharon’s son Omri to join him this year at his Purim table. How could a top-ranking Yesha leader, who is supposed to be in the forefront of the battle to stop Ariel Sharon’s madness, drink wine and make merry with one of the people thought to be most responsible for Sharon’s betrayal of Eretz Yisrael?
In other words, the Yesha Council does not, under any circumstances, represent Yesha’s citizens. They were not elected to do so, and their statements do not necessarily characterize Yesha community resident’s opinions.
That must be understood.
Getting to the heart of the matter, none of us favor violence. None of us believe in randomly striking anyone, shooting anyone, etc. Such behavior is illegal, immoral and unethical. However, it is just as illegal, immoral and unethical to evict people from their homes and from their land. It is even more illegal, immoral and unethical to not only abandon that land, but to ‘transfer’ it to blood-sworn enemies, who have vowed to continue killing Jews until ‘the occupation is ended.’ ‘Occupation,’ in their lexicon, meaning not only Hebron and Beit El, but also Tel Aviv and Haifa.
It is also illegal, immoral and unethical for an elected leader to totally and unequivocally reverse essential positions which formed the basis of his election. It is also illegal, immoral and unethical for a leader to ignore and overlook a ‘binding referendum,’ which clearly rejected his stated, reversed policy.
However, it is legal, moral and ethical to defend one’s self, one’s family, one’s property, one's land. Anyone arriving to expel men, women and children from their homes must be willing to accept the consequences of their actions. People will not sit quietly by, as sheep being led to slaughter.
According to latest reports, Sharon and his team of gangsters are again bypassing supposedly ‘accepted decisions.’ It is now reported that the attempted forced expulsion from Gush Katif will be concluded by the end of 2004, and not in September, 2005 as first expected. Sharon is getting worried that the right, in conjunction with own Likud party, will find a way to prevent the catastrophe, so he’s planning on finishing it fast, before we can get too organized. Sharon is playing dirty, against the rules, while forcing us to ‘keep our hands clean.’
I repeat (if I don’t, I also will find myself in jail), nobody likes violence. Nobody wants violence. Especially against our own brethren. But it’s time to wake up. The reality is, if Sharon insists on trying to implement his ‘Jewish transfer’ from our homes and land, it’s going to happen. Like it or not. And afterwards, when the Committee of Inquiry sits in judgment, ready to point its finger at the ‘guilty party,’ let it be known now, well in advance, where the responsibility lies - just past the door to that office, in that big chair behind the big desk, directly with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
With blessings from Hebron.
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The Saddamization of Israel
By David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
June 10, 2004
Well, Noam’s back home. Finally, at last, after almost nine months of lockup, originally in the same wing with Shech Obaid and Mustepha Dirani. After a prolonged hunger strike that has left him underweight. After legal battles which climaxed when the State dropped all charges against him in the “Bat Ayin” case. Noam was suspected and indicted for masterminding a “Jewish terrorist gang,” accusations backed up by zilch evidence, as proven by the fact that the indictment was voided.
Municipal court judge David Heshin had little choice but to release Federman following a Supreme Court ruling paving the way for Noam’s release. Yet the Shabak – the “Jewish section” of the Israeli intelligence organization, is still not convinced. Judge Heshin annulled the 2nd six month administrative detention order which was to have kept Noam in prison until, at least Rosh HaShana – over three months from now. However, as Noam walked out the Ashkelon penitentiary early this morning, he was handed another administrative order, this too signed by Central Command General Moshe Kaplinsky, with the blessings of Defense Minister Shaul Mufaz. This time Noam won’t have to serve his time behind bars – at least he’s home. But free he’s not. He must now comply with the rules and regulations of his freshly bestowed administrative house arrest orders. He is restricted to the four walls of his apartment, in the Avraham Avinu Neighborhood in Hebron. He may leave to pray, once a day, every morning, at Ma’arat HaMachpela, with a police escort. He is also being allowed a one-week vacation in northern Israel, with daily visits to the nearest police station in the area.
Not good. One administrative order replacing another. But, at least he’s home, with his wife, family and friends. The simcha – the joy at his homecoming earlier today in Hebron, was tangible. Everyone joined in welcoming Noam back home, including singing, dancing, and, or course, media interviews. The reporters were ready and waiting, with microphones bared like swords, or perhaps better described as fish hooks, waiting to see what they might catch.
Nine months of incarceration have not dulled Noam Federman’s tongue or senses. In a radio interview he granted last night, he said, “prison hasn’t broken me. Not a day passed by when I stopped smiling.” This morning Federman expressed himself clearly. “My release isn’t the end of our struggle. There are others still in jail who we want to see back home, here in Hebron.” He was referring to Itzik Pass, father of slain infant Shalhevet, and his brother-in-law Matti Shvu, who were convicted of illegally acquiring and possessing explosives – 8 ‘explosive bricks,’ discovered in their car. They are presently serving a two year jail sentence in the Ramla prison.
Federman verbally attacked Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, calling him a dictator and comparing him to Saddam Hussein, saying that Sharon’s place, like Saddam’s is behind bars. He vowed to continue fighting the planned expulsion of Jews from Gaza. When asked whether he didn’t fear being returned to his now-empty jail cell, Federman laughed, saying, “jail doesn’t scare me – you see me here today, after being in jail, if they put me back then again, they will have to release me. I will not stop the struggle to keep Eretz Yisrael in our hands.”
Noam Federman is described by almost all media outlets as a ‘leader of the extreme Jewish right.’ In the past he was a compatriot of murdered Rabbi Meir Kahane, and spokesman of the now-outlawed Kach movement. Many times his views and expressions are minimized, as his, and his alone. I can agree with the first half of that statement, but not the second. Because today, Noam’s views are not his alone. The foundation of his opinion rests upon the pillars of Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael – the people, land and Torah of Israel. There may be disagreements concerning the “how,” how to accomplish our mission and reach our goal. But today, there are tens and hundreds of thousands of Israelis who too, must be maligned as belonging to the ‘extreme right,” because we are all worried about the same thing – and we really do have what to be worried about.
Let’s play true and false:
The Israeli cabinet didn’t really decide to uproot communities and expel their residents.
The expulsion will not begin until a second vote is taken, in another nine months.
What do you say? If you answer true, you’re mistaken, on both counts. This morning our beloved media reported, (truthfully it seems), that negotiators have already begun speaking with Gush Katif residents, promising them substantial compensation if they leave their homes of their own free will. According to reports prepared by the Israeli version of the National Security Council, the first exorcizing will commence, not next March, rather in two months, in August. At that time families will be able to ‘voluntarily’ leave Gush Katif, with promises of a big bank account, at some time in the future.
According Arutz 7, the 2nd stage of expulsion will continue from November 2004 thru July 2005. All the suckers convinced to abandon their houses and land ‘of their own free will’ will get paid on the spot. That’s what’s called instant gratification.
The final stage, when Jews are to be literally dragged from their homes, is due to start in September, 2005. Already by the middle of August all Gush Katif will be declared off-limits to anyone and everyone not living there. By the end of September Gush Katif is scheduled to be Judenrein. G-d forbid.
To reiterate, because I’ve said it before, and so have many others, wiser than me, we must realize, this is only the beginning. Many other communities throughout Judea and Samaria are on the chopping block. Gush Katif is only the appetizer. Earlier this week it was revealed that former Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, once THE champion of a united Jerusalem (now Sharon’s trumpet), announced intentions to transfer a number of ‘Arab cities’ in east Jerusalem to the PA. It’s really so simple: you begin with Kfar Darom and finish with Jerusalem. It’s a straightforward equation.
Ariel Sharon and his gang have plans, that if implemented, will result in a cataclysm impossible to conjure up, even in our wildest nightmares. Others, like Noam Federman, fearless, facing up to truth and acting accordingly, are needed, to try and stop this madness. I think that all the latter know the rules, are aware of the ‘red lines.’ The problem is that the former know no ‘red lines’ – everything is permissible. This week the Israeli press gave notification that snipers, with ‘live ammunition’ were stationed at the expulsion and destruction of Mitzpe Yitzhar. Their targets were not Arabs. Such snipers, we are promised, will continue to be activated at future evictions. Add that on to administrative detention, and other Sharon-planned goodies, and we really do begin to look like a watered-down version of Saddam’s kingdom.
With blessings from Hebron.
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By David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
June 2, 2004
Shalom.
Today there are two issues filling our agenda.
First of all, an update dealing with the only Jewish administrative detainee in Israel, Noam Federman. As you may recall, a few weeks ago the Israeli prosecutor’s office dropped all charges against Noam, dealing with the so-called “Bat Ayin terrorist gang.” It was almost two years ago that Noam was arrested, placed under house arrest, and later under administrative detention, suspected of masterminding a “massive terrorist plot” against the Arabs. Three men were convicted. Many others, arrested, were released without charges being filed. Yet others were tried and acquitted. Now, less than a month ago, the prosecution announced that they had no evidence incriminating Noam and that the indictment against him was dropped. However, in answer to the judge’s inquiry, “Now he can go home?” the prosecutor exclaimed, “Of course not, he’s an administrative detainee.”
Several days later the case again reached the Israeli Supreme Court. Justice Ayala Prokatchia, not known to be a “full-blooded extremist settler,” or even a close friend of theirs, asked the State why Noam Federman was still incarcerated, following the “Bat Ayin” acquittal. The State’s reply, based upon ‘secret intelligence information’ was not enough. The judge ordered the case back to the Jerusalem Municipal Court, demanding that the State show cause why Federman hasn’t yet been released.
That court hearing has been continuing now for several days, partly behind closed doors. Municipal court judge Heshin has already hinted that the State has no case, and following on Justice Prokatchia’s ruling, should be released. Noam Federman has, himself, testified for hours, explaining why he should be freed. Again, the “Jewish unit” of the Shabak, the Israeli intelligence organization, testified behind closed doors, presenting hush-hush data, supposedly incriminating Noam. Of course, these facts are so secret that not even Noam nor his attorney can be in attendance while they are presented to the judge. They are also not substantial enough to be the basis of a new indictment. But, so what – why should that make any difference?
However, according to Noam’s wife Elisheva, there is, for the first time in over eight months, a reason for subdued optimism. Noam might just be coming home in the near future. The extended hearing, which has now stretched over three days, is expected to conclude today, following Noam’s final testimony. The judge has announced that a decision will be rendered on Friday afternoon at three o’clock. Just in time for Noam Federman to spend his first Shabbat at home in Hebron, with his family and friends, for the first time in eight months. Let’s hope and pray.
Earlier today Ariel Sharon testified at the Knesset Committee for Foreign Affairs and Security. He pulled a few new rabbits out of his bottomless hat. First, he promised that his revised ‘disengagement plan’ would receive a cabinet majority at the next government meeting on Sunday. He dismissed any compromise, which would include annihilation of ‘only a few communities’ in Gaza. Rather, he proclaimed that ‘no more settlers will live in Gaza by the end of 2005.’ Ditto four communities in the northern Shomron. However, if that’s not enough, Sharon is planning to allow Egyptian security forces to assist Muhammad Dahlan’s attempts to prevent further terror in Gaza AND, (now get this), he’s involving JORDANIAN security forces, as some kind of a security force in the Shomron.
The Jordanians? Where did they come from? Who asked for them? Totally absurd.
Following Sharon’s appearance, MK Shaul Yahalom (NRP) declared, “Sharon’s mad, he feel on his head.” But much more importantly, MK Yechiel Hazan of the Likud responded by saying that if Sharon continues this way, he will no longer be Prime Minister by the end of 2005. “He will have to disengage himself from his chair.” Someone else was quoted as saying, “Sharon’s grandchildren will live in Netzarim.” Knesset speaker Rubi Rivlin said, “When I heard Sharon my heart skipped a beat.”
There are all sorts of rumors predicting Sharon’s next moves. Some say he’ll fire some of his ministers in order to ensure a majority. Others explain that he won’t fire anyone, rather he’ll just add two more ministers to the government, a process some of you might recall as ‘court-packing,’ but in this case, ‘cabinet-packing.’ The latest gem is a plan to pass a new law dissolving the Knesset and bringing about new elections.
The latter because: should Sharon resign, any other Likud Knesset member with 61 Knesset supporters would become Prime Minister. Netanyahu has the 61 votes. And even if Sharon were to create a cabinet victory, it is almost certain that the program would not receive the necessary majority in the Knesset. That, because well over half of the Likud’s 40 MKs reject Sharon’s plans to eradicate the Jewish communities in Gaza and in the northern Shomron. All of them, together with the religious parties, the NRP and that National Union, ensure Sharon’s failure.
We are facing an all-out war: Sharon, and ironically enough, the Israeli left, against Eretz Yisrael. They will stop at nothing – I repeat – N O T H I N G – to achieve success. Just a few days ago a group of reserve soldiers released a letter opposing continued Jewish presence in Netzarim in Gaza. They smeared the righteous, courageous people living there, attempting to prove why they must be evicted from their homes. The letter received major media coverage. Only later was it discovered that the letter was instigated by an aid to former MK Avrum Burg, one of the initiators of the Geneva Accords. It was then reported that the letter caused a major squabble within that particular IDF unit, being that many of its members vehemently disagree with their comrades, who were, it seems, very much a minority.
I have no doubt that Sharon has some more tricks up his sleeve. But there are some things that cannot be fantasized and there are those who cannot be duped. The great fairy tale that Eretz Yisrael must be chopped up and divided amongst our enemies is just that, a fairy tale, having nothing to do with reality. And Am Yisrael, as we saw a few short weeks ago, when 200,000 people rejected Sharon’s ‘disengagement’ from Gaza, will no longer be hoodwinked. Oslo was enough. The lesson has been learned. All of us, in Hebron, Kfar Darom, Shilo and Beit El, Homesh and Kedumim, we are here to stay. And don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.
With blessings from Hebron.
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