Give New Leadership a Chance

Give New Leadership a Chance
David Wilder
February 25, 2007


Many years ago, following the election of Rabin, when Oslo was still in pre-diapers, and people were looking at each other, in shock, with fear and huge question marks in their eyes, the most common question was: what do we do now.


I remember town meetings, clandestine gatherings, and more than anything else, words. Lots and lots of words. Talk is cheap, it relieves tension, and seems to be a good way to 'virtually' solve problems. If nothing else, talk is a good way to rid yourself of built-up frustrations.


But not everyone talked. I remember the first genuine activity against the Rabin-Peres plans to expel us from our land. What's the best answer to planned expulsion? Of course, expansion.


A new group had popped up out of nowhere called Zu Artzenu. I clearly remember a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem, where the talk wasn't theoretical. These guys were organized, had a specific agenda and weren't talking doubletalk. It was impressive.


Those guys, as I recall were two: Moshe Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett. I have no recollection of them, at that time, but their first national project, called "Mivtza Machpil" called for expanding all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Not kept a secret, the operation was looked upon by 'the authorities' as a test case: how would they react to organized groups opposing the expulsion policies of Rabin-Peres? I do recall, one cold night, telling my wife that I was going out for a little while to participate in the first Mivtza Machpil operation, in Kiryat Arba. It was a few days before I arrived back home, having later been arrested with a few dozen others, for daring to sit in an abandoned shack within the municipal boundary of Kiryat Arba, but outside the community fence.


I have no idea how many communities actually doubled themselves, but clearly, Mitvtza Machpil was an overwhelming success. Like a foghorn across a zero-visibility sea, the operation screamed out loud and clear: we will not sit back and do nothing as building is outlawed and our land is dismantled.


Zu Artzenu continued planning and implementing other national protests, including a sit-down strike which was to paralyze the state of Israel. For this magnificent show of civil disobedience, Feiglin and Sackett were tried and convicted for sedition. Anyone who still had any illusions of democracy – Rabin-Peres style, were in for a surprise.


Despite their newly labeled, dangerous criminal status, Feiglin and Sackett didn't despair. Such individuals are far from trivial emotions like hopelessness. Just as Zu Artzenu was uniquely impressive and creative, they decided to continue forward. In 1998 they founded Manigut Yehudit, which means "Jewish Leadership." Not the kind of leadership Israel had so long been faced with, but true Jewish leadership, pillared upon Torah and Eretz Yisrael, the fear of G-d, and appreciation and acknowledgement of the Divine sanctity of our homeland. Feiglin continued to surprise, this time, not by going the way of the world and forming a new political party. Rather he, together with Sackett, decided to become a faction within the already existing Likud, with the hope and expectation to 'capture' the party; to create a solid majority of normal, healthy Israelis who realized that peace was preconditioned on one firm fact: Eretz Yisrael belongs to Am Yisrael ­ the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people – period. As Manigut Yehudit affirms: 'the state of Jews must be transformed into a Jewish State.'


A few months ago I authored an article in which I stated that only one political figure in the Likud could possibly be trusted to be Prime Minister. I made a mistake. Because the man I named was not Moshe Feiglin. And it should have been.


Anyone with eyes in their head, taking a good look around at current events in Israel, cannot help but be blinded. Blinded by absurdity, stupidity, and disgust. The leaders of the Gush Katif expulsion are falling, one by one, like dominos standing in a row. The deteriorating security in southern Israel is clearly the result of the fall of Gush Katif. Yet the so-called Defense Minister has again declared that the answer to Israel's problems is continued expulsions – this time from - 'illegal hilltop settlements.' The Prime Minister refuses to look the Israeli population in the eye and admit the errors of his ways. Rather, his excuse for postponing the 'hitconsut' or expulsion plan number two, which plans on abandoning almost all of Judea and Samaria, is politically motivated. There is no realization that Eretz Yisrael has to remain in Jewish hands.


This morning the Israeli cabinet was to hear an intelligence briefing concerning the security outlook for the next year. What country in the world would allow the details of such an 'intelligence briefing' to be broadcast on public radio, and even before it was presented to the nation's ministers. Why should Israeli radio broadcast the intelligence briefing's conclusions that 'war in the north is not expected this year.' Why broadcast such analysis to our enemies, loud and clear. Total stupidity.


And of course, let's not forget the corruption investigations against so many of the Israeli top brass.


There is much more. Media, education, economics, but I think the message is clear. Israel is not in need of a new political party. It is in need of a new kind of leadership, and a new type of leader. At the current time, I have become convinced that the only person who represents such leadership is Moshe Feiglin.


Is he perfect? Probably not. But then again, nobody is. However the fundamentals upon which he bases, not only his beliefs, but also his actions, are authentic. He is the farthest thing alive from the original sin of almost all politicians: he cannot be bought. For if he could be bought, he would have either: formed a separate party, or would have joined forces with other breakaways, or, he would have found a way to accept a juicy deal with his primary rival for Likud leadership, Bibi Netanyahu.


We have already seen what Netanyahu can do – he caused irreparable harm to Hebron and to all the State of Israel: he met Arafat, he abandoned Hebron and he signed Wye. Why give this man, with his record, a second chance? What has he done to deserve any trust or faith? Nothing. Nothing at all.


A friend of mine has, for years, been trying to get me to register with the Likud thereby allowing me to vote for Moshe Feiglin for party leadership. B'ezrat HaShem, with G-d's help, that is what I am going to do. Let's give new, true leadership a chance.

German intelligence agents spying in Hebron

German intelligence agents spying in Hebron
February 16, 2007

A group of seven German intelligence agents, identifying themselves as 'anonymous diplomats' today began an information-gathering mission in Hebron, led by a member of the Breaking the Silence/Bnei Avraham pro-Arab, anti-Jewish/Israel left-wing extremist organizations.

The agents were approached by Hebron spokesmen Noam Arnon and David Wilder, in an attempt to provide them with an additional perspective of Jewish life in Hebron. However, they were told that the group had no time, their schedules were planned weeks ago, and 'maybe next time.' "When might that be," they were asked. "We don't know," they replied.

With the group standing in the road just outside the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, Wilder requested just five minutes in order to bring them to the Avraham Avinu Synagogue and explain the five hundred year old history of the site and the neighborhood. However, his request was not even considered. After distributing his business card to them, he requested their cards in return, in order to be able to contact them directly. However, all members of the group had 'forgotten' to bring their business cards with them.

Before departing, Wilder commented that a group such as this, especially coming from Germany, with that country's dark, Nazi past, should at least be willing to spend a few minutes with Jews living in the first Jewish city in Israel, trying to revive and renew the Jewish people's past in this city. However, the group refused to listen to him and continued their tour with a self-hating Jew, who spouts only hate for Hebron's Jews, representing only the 'poor Arabs' who are being oppressed by the Jewish Community of Hebron, the Israeli army, and the State of Israel.

It later became clear to Hebron leaders that members of the group are associated with the BND, the ANBw, and have ties to the CIA and MI5. Their primary mission in Hebron is to gather information for the European Quartet, in order to begin implementation of their plans to follow in the footsteps of their infamous predecessors, Nebuchadnezzar and Titus: to bring about a Judenrein Eretz Yisrael, starting in Judea and Samaria, and of course, in Hebron.

How ironic that people whose friends, relatives and fellow countrymen participated in the slaughter of between six to seven million Jews should arrive in the city of Abraham with a self-hating Jew, whose goal is the expulsion of Hebron's Jewish population, and should ignore those people trying to reestablish Hebron's glorious Jewish past.

Happy Apartheid Week

Happy Apartheid Week
David Wilder
February 15, 2007


This week has been declared "Apartheid week" on campuses throughout North America. Spurred on by Carter's book, Arabs and liberal leftists throughout the world are celebrating international recognition of South Africa in the Middle East.


Many op-ed pieces and articles are attacking the apartheid label. But I think they're wrong. In this case I'm in agreement with many who are 'on the other side.' Of course, though, we are viewing different realities, and seeing an entirely dissimilar picture. But they are correct. Israel practices apartheid, and another of their favorite phrases, 'ethnic cleansing.' So sad, but true it is.


Yesterday three prominent Israeli authors, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, and David Grossman, all outspoken and on the extreme left of the political spectrum, published a letter calling on the government to stop neglecting the Gush Katif expellees, many of whom are still living in horrible conditions, and are still unemployed.


On the face of it such a plea should be acclaimed. It isn't every day that such extreme left wingers show any sympathy for, and publicly advocate in favor of any of us associated with the 'extreme right.' But, unfortunately, in all actuality, they don't give a damn about the 10,000 Jews expelled from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. Their plea has nothing to do with humanity. The reason behind their unusual demand it totally political, sickening so. As published in HaAretz newspaper [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/825958.html] "the current neglect of the evacuees from Gush Katif [Gaza's main settlement bloc] is likely to erode the state's legitimacy should it decide to carry out a similar process in the future."

In other words, 'if we [they] don't take good care of these evictees, we won't be able to do it again – we will not be able to expel another 200,000 Jews from their homes and communities.' Clearly, once Yesha has been totally ethnically cleansed, these three men surely will not speak about their former residents' plights, for another expulsion will not be necessary. The 'legitimacy,' as quoted above, will no longer be a problem.


In the words of Grossman, Yehoshua, and Oz, the Gush Katif refugees are not people, not Israelis, deserving of a home, a school, a job, rather they are pawns to be taken advantage of, utilized to plan and legitimize the next transport.


Yesterday the Arutz 7 Hebrew site posted an article dealing with the 'ministerial committee' set up by Olmert and Co. to investigate law enforcement against Jews in Hebron. During a meeting of the Knesset Legislation and Law Committee, the IDF prosecutor, Col Avichai Mandelblat told the lawmakers that the number of 'incidents' by Jews in Hebron against Arabs has tremendously decreased and that of late, almost no incidents have been reported at all. MK Uri Ariel asked him why the cabinet had established the special ministerial committee and was told that the issue had not even been of the cabinet's agenda. These facts were backed up the Shai Nitzan, assistant attorney general for special affairs. In Ariel's words, the ministerial committee was not established for legal reasons, rather for political considerations alone.


This, of course, must be place in the correct context. Back in the days of the Rabin-Peres oppression, while Oslo was being shoved down Israel's collective throat, then Attorney General Michael Ben Yair, established 'secret' special administrative rules to deal with Jews living in all of Yesha, but most particularly , with Hebron's Jewish population. These special rules and regulations were admitted to by Ben Yair's successor, Eliyakim Rubenstein, who was ordered to void them immediately, an act which has yet to be fully implemented. (See: http://www.hebron.com/english/article.php?id=301)


In the past few weeks there have been at least ten serious security 'incidents,' perpetrated against Hebron's Jewish population: There have been FOUR attempts by Arabs to infiltrate into Jewish neighborhoods – three times Arabs have successfully, illegally, (and dangerously) entered the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, under the 'watchful eyes' of the IDF. Yesterday two Arabs were discovered by an Israeli woman trying to get into the Tel Rumeida neighborhood.


In addition, Arabs attempted to kidnap a teenage girl between Hebron and Kiryat Arba, hurled a bomb at a van carrying Hebron children, and have thrown a number of pipe bombs into the "Israeli-controlled' side of Hebron. Hebron children have also been attacked by Arab youth, usually while walking to their Tel Rumeida homes.


Thank G-d, these infiltrations and attacks did not lead to injuries or loss of life. However, we have yet to see a 'special governmental ministerial committee' being established to investigate attempts to murder Jews in Hebron.


The present government, led by Olmert, Peretz and Livni, has announced time and time again that their goal is to rid Judea and Samaria of it's Jewish population, abandoning this part of Eretz Yisrael to our enemies, as was done in Gush Katif. It is clear that in order to ethnically cleanse this part of Israel, they will have no choice but to segregate those of us living in Yehuda and Shomron, separating us from the 'general Israeli public,' delegitimizing us, thereby proving to Jews throughout Israel and the world 'how dangerous we are,' and how we are THE threat to peace in the Middle East, and in the entire world. In order to accomplish such a feat, they will use all tools at their disposal, including the police, the courts and the entire justice system.


What better a way to begin then in Hebron, creating kangaroo courts, which refuse to allow Jews to live in their homes, prevent them from building, and in essence, retract any rights we still might have. After all, a year ago the Israeli government signed an agreement with Hebron's leadership. This agreement promised that following a voluntary exit of nine families and a Torah study hall from the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood (the old Arab market), the community would receive permission to 'legally' move back into these apartments within a relatively short period of time.


Following our self-imposed expulsion, present attorney general Menachem Mazuz was quick to deny that any 'deal' had been signed. He later retracted this statement, admitted that an agreement had been reached, but invalidated it, saying that the general representing the state as not authorized to ok it. A year later, and we still haven't been granted the permission we were guaranteed by the commander of forces in Judea and Samaria to move back into Mitzpe Shalhevet.


Apartheid is defined at dictionary.com as "any system or practice that separates people according to race, caste, etc. In our case, the 'etc' relates to where people live, and what they believe. Religious Jews who believe in the right to live in a city such as Hebron or elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, and have the audacity to actually live there are, in the eyes of Olmert et al, a force to be reckoned with, to be set aside, to be segregated, to be delegitimized, all prerequisites of Israeli ethnic cleansing number three. (Don't forget Yamit.) In other words, apartheid at its worst. Jew against Jew. The Israeli government is starting in Hebron. Others are sure to follow. Be warned: the writing's on the wall.


And don't forget to celebrate: Happy Apartheid Week!

Why the orchestrated fuss?

Printed in the Jerusalem Post, January 17, 2007
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467756313&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Arabic word for whore - sharmuta - has gained international notoriety. CNN, ABC and the BBC, among many others, have featured Hebron resident Yifat Alkobi yelling it at her Arab neighbor across the street from her Tel Rumeida home.

Israel Radio and Israel's television stations have all broadcast reports on the cursing incident. The coverage has been over-the-top: "The police have ordered Alkobi to appear for interrogation. If she refuses, an arrest warrant will be issued."

"Alkobi is presently being questioned in the Kiryat Arba police station."

Of course, most news outlets didn't bother reporting that, after questioning by the authorities, she was permitted to return home without any restrictions.

The fact that an Arab woman spat in Alkobi's face was also not too widely noted. Neither were the complaints she issued against the Internet news provider Ynet and a member of the Abu-Isha family.

Alas, cursing in Israel is nothing new.

On February 2, 2002 Yediot Aharonot headlined a piece: "Curses exchanged in the Knesset committee."

And on December 12, 2006, Internet news provider NRG reported: "Curses in the Knesset? Forbidden to say but permitted to write." This following several choice words used by Ramle Mayor Yoel Lavi in a newspaper interview. MK Azmi Bashara, on December 5, 2006, told fellow MK Gilad Erdan to "f... himself."

Did such outbursts lead to ministerial committees, police investigations, a week of headlines and op-ed articles?

Of course not.

Only shouting and cursing between Jews and Arabs in Hebron is a cause celebre.

Mind you, Yifat Alkobi didn't threaten her neighbors. She didn't take up arms against them, shoot anyone or stab anyone. She didn't enter anyone's home and turn it upside down. She did no damage to property. All she did was raise her voice and use some salty language.

WHY DID Yifat Alkobi yell at her Arab neighbor and call her a sharmuta? That's not her usual choice of words.

Perhaps it was because Yifat's home was shot at - for two years - by Arab snipers. Perhaps it was because a terrorist's bullet barely missed her daughter's head by centimeters.

For the past year and a half, radical left-wing organizations, led by the International Solidarity Movement, Christian Peacemaker Teams, B'tselem and Machsom Watch have essentially staged numerous provocations at the entrance to the Tel Rumeida Jewish neighborhood attempting to draw Jewish residents into violent encounters which are filmed, edited and fed to an unsympathetic media.

Their goal is to dehumanize Hebron Jews.

In understanding what goes on in Hebron, context is important. How many people know that Jewish children walking home from school are periodically attacked by local Arab youths on the road.

Tel Rumeida is a pressure cooker, and as tends to occur throughout the world, sometimes people lose control and use language not usually part of their everyday vocabulary. A psychologist e-mailed me that last week he found himself cursing an Arab who spit on him on a Jerusalem street. Taxi drivers curse commuters every hour of the day.

Should "nice Jewish ladies" use coarse language? It's certainly not polite, but I've heard worse.

Incidentally, how many people know that the Yifat video was filmed some six months ago. Why was such a "devastating incident" kept secret all this time before the film was publicized and a complaint issued?

There is one reason, and one reason alone for the fuss: The prime minister is facing several criminal investigations. The defense minister is holding on to his job by the skin of his teeth.

Both of them are looking for a good way to distract public attention from their woes.

Together with a very left-wing media, they have found the solution: Yifat Alkobi and the 'W' word.

 

Who's to Blame?

January 12, 2007

 

Over the past few days Israeli media and blogs around the world have been chewing, regurgitating, and chewing again, a short video, filmed in Hebron a few months ago. The video shows Hebron resident Yifat Alkobi yelling and cursing some of her Arab neighbors, the Abu Isha family, who live across the street from the Alokobis and the other 17 families who live in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood.

 

Of course, for the Israeli media, this kind of film is similar to a big piece of chocolate cake with cream and a cherry on top. A live portrait of the 'monsters of Hebron.' Jewish monsters, of course.

 

However, all those having a field day over the Yifat video have either forgotten, or never knew, or prefer to ignore a number of important facts:

 

1.       The Tel Rumeida neighborhood, the highest Jewish neighborhood in the city, perching atop a hill, faces, to the north, the Harat a-Shech Hills. These hills were abandoned by Israel to the Arabs exactly ten years ago a part of the infamous Hebron Accords. All Israeli security forces were removed from Harat a-Shech.

When the Olso War (aka the 2^nd intifada) began in October, 2000, on the eve of Rosh HaShana, Tel Rumeida came under attack from those hills. Terrorists shot from those hills into Tel Rumeida for two years. All the caravan homes, comprised of pasted-together plasterboard walls, were hit by Arab gunfire. The homes are all full of bullet holes. One Friday afternoon, when the Alkobi's firstborn daughter Tziporah was playing outside, a terrorist lined her up in his rifle scope and fired. The bullet missed Tziporah's head by a few centimeters.
 

2.       Just over eight years ago an Arab terrorist penetrated the Tel Rumeida neighborhood at about 11:00 PM, entered the home of Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan from a back window, and stabbed to death the 63 year old Rabbi in his pajamas. The terrorist could not have perpetrated his attack without 'inside information' gleaned from, who else, Arab neighborhood residents.

3.       About a year and a half ago, following the expulsion of 10,000 Jews from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron, a group of radically extremist Arab organizations, headed by EU-funded ISM, and joined by groups like 'anarchists against the wall,' the Christian Peacekeeping Team, Ecumenical Escorters, and with tacit support from TIPH – Temporary International Presence in Hebron, decided to focus on Tel Rumeida, with the goal of wiping the Jewish presence their off the map.

Of course, the ends justify the means: the group's participants are ordered to physically intervene against Israeli security forces: " The project will be activist-oriented.  Unlike other organizations, the project work will not be
“witness” or “presence” oriented… Assertively advocate for Palestinians of Tel Rumeida-Physically intervene when soldiers or settlers attack Palestinians. [http://www.telrumeidaproject.org/Proposal.html]

These so-called activists, all foreigners, openly incite the Arabs against Israeli security forces and civilians. Their actions are overtly provocative, attempting to draw both Israeli adults, children and soldiers into violent situations, which they then selectively film, for use by media and internet. Of course, the films are professionally edited, so as to leave out segments which they clearly are not interested in being witnessed by the public-at-large. So too, with the "Alkobi video:" the events leading up to public version can be left up to your imagination.

4.       A true, short story, about the family in question, the Abu Isha clan, (which has been transformed by ISM et al into the Hebron media PA family of the neighborhood): A number of years ago one of the Jewish Tel Rumeida families had a broken piece of furniture. Their across-the-street neighbor, Mr. Abu-Isha, was a carpenter, and very naturally, they brought their broken chair to him to be fixed. When he completed the work and they asked the cost of the work he replied, "I don't take money from neighbors."  It seemed that the days of the Messiah arrived; children from both families began playing together, Jewish and Arab children playing in Hebron.

One day, as happens with children all over the world, the kids had a fight and this one went home crying and that one went home crying. A little while later the Jewish woman heard someone knocking at her door. When she opened it, one of the Abu-Isha clan stood their, and started screaming at her. (Did you see it on internet?) After a little while he turned around and went home. Shortly afterwards, a soldier stationed in the neighborhood approached the woman and asked her if she wanted to issue a complaint against the man who had screamed at her. She responded that she didn't understand Arabic, and she had no idea what he had said. The soldier replied, "I understand Arabic – he said he was going to come back with a knife and kill all of you." Needless to say, the kids stopped playing together.

5.       In conclusion, it is also important to try and keep events in proportion to their actual significance. For example, yesterday I read in Israeli internet news about a man who murdered someone because of an argument between….. two dogs. One dog bothered another dog in a coffee house in Haifa, and as a result a man was stabbed in the heart and killed.  The murderer was convicted and sentenced to eighteen years in prison but appealed the harshness of the punishment. Israel's illustrious Supreme Court accepted the appeal and reduced the sentence by three years, leaving the killer in jail for fifteen years. As Israeli punishment goes, I expect he'll be out after ten.

Did you know anything about this story? Which seems to be more significant: A Jewish woman yelling at an Arab woman, or a man who was convicted of killing another man because of a dog, and whose jail sentence was reduced due to its extreme severity?

 

6.       And finally, what really happened? What's shown in the video? A woman yelling at another woman. Now, let me ask you, when was the last time you yelled at someone – a co-worker, a spouse, a child – hand on your heart. Did you ever have a dispute with a neighbor and 'let go?' Did it make international news headlines? On Israeli news – Kol Yisrael headline news, one of the features is that Yifat Alkobi from Hebron has been ordered by police to submit to interrogation. If she doesn't appear an arrest warrant will be issued. This is headline news? Only because it's an Arab and a Jew in Hebron. Yifat didn’t take a gun into their house and shoot anyone, she didn't go inside and turn the house inside out – she yelled at an Arab women. Maybe her choice of words was 'undesirable' but believe me, I've heard worse. And great confessions: even at times I've lost it and used some pretty coarse language. I know a few righteous people who've never used such words, but not too many of them.

Again, the difference is Jews and Arabs in Hebron, incitement, provocations, and a well-placed video camera. And of course, a firm target: let's get the Jews out of Tel Rumeida.

In reality, that's the whole story. So you tell me, who's to blame?

 

A Day in the Life of a Girl from Hebron

Yesterday morning I was getting ready to leave our Beit Hadassah apartment. It was just after eight. At 8:30 I usually spend about half an hour learning with my friend Rabbi Yisrael Shlissel in the Ohr Shlomo Kollel (Torah study hall) in Tel Rumeida. My cell phone rang. It was Rabbi Yisrael: "We won't be able to study together this morning. The police are all over the neighborhood. I thin k they're looking for my wife. They were wandering around on our porch. I don't want to leave the house." I, of course, asked: "Why do they want Tzippy?" "I have no idea," he responded.

 

I drove up to Tel Rumeida to see what was happening. On the way up the hill the police car was making its way down. However, two cops were still in the neighborhood . "Who are you looking for today," I queried?  Their answer: "Who are you? Where is your ID card? Show me your driver's license." After carefully examining them, they ignored me. Someone else started yelling at them: "Who are you looking for today – our children. When was the last time you caught a terrorist, a murderer?"

 

After I while I left, and a few hours later drove up to Kiryat Arba. Who was just inside the town gate, waiting to greet me? You guessed. Another police car, signaling me to pull over to the side of the road.  The cop gave my car and my passenger a good once-over, and then, not having discovered what, or who, he was searching for, smiled a cute smile and told me to have a good day. Thanks a lot.

 

I later heard that the police were swarming around the outside gate of the girl's religious high school building.

 

Early afternoon. My daughter's friend and classmate, Bitya Shlissel, fifteen years old, was walking from the high school to the lunch room, a few minutes away. Together with a couple of other girls they walked past a group of plain-clothed detectives. Suddenly a police car stopped behind them and one of the detectives yelled, "Batya, get over here fast!" Bitya's two friends, being experienced in such matters, quickly grabbed her arm and started pulling her, just as the detective caught her other arm and  too began tugging. Bitya had enough. She told her friends, "why should they arrest you too?" and they let her go. The detective threw her into the back of the car and sped off with his criminal of the day. A fifteen year old tenth grader.

 

Not just any tenth grader. Bitya is the grand daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan, who was murdered by terrorists in Tel Rumeida over eight years ago. Sixty three at the time of his death, Rabbi Ra'anan was the grandson of Israel's first Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Kook. Her parents, Rabbi Yisrael and Tzippy, moved to Hebron following the killing and the Rabbi became the dean of the new study hall, opened in his father-in-law's memory.

 

The Shlissels lived in the Mitzpe Shalhevet neighborhood, formerly the "Arab Shuk" or market. Until they were expelled, with eight other families almost a year ago. A short time later they moved into the newly purchased Beit Shapira, not far from their old home. There too, they were expelled by the police, with several other families. One can image that the kids haven't had an easy time of it. And yesterday, Bitya found herself being dragged away by the police.

 

At the Kiryat Arba police station, when asked her name, Bitya responded. However, when they police started with other questions, she ignored them.

 

As a rule, a person who is to be interrogated is presented with an official request to appear for questioning. No such order had ever been issued to Bitya or her parents. She had no idea why she had been swooped up by the police while on her way to lunch.

 

The police packed her into another car and drove the fifteen year old to Jerusalem for further questioning. Only then did Bitya understand why she'd been kidnapped by the police.

 

Last summer three Hebron girls, Bitya's friends, were being held in prison as the result of a demonstration in Hebron. One night Bitya and a few of her friends staged a demonstration by the home of Supreme Court Justice Ayala Prokatchia, who was instrumental in keeping the girls in jail. The girls hung some signs outside and chanted some slogans before being chased away by the police. As a result of this demonstration, an arrest warrant was issued against Bitya Shlissel on July 2, 2006 and charged her with: threatening and offending a public servant, trespass, and inciting violence or terror. It seems that yesterday the police suddenly remembered that the warrant had been issued a half a year ago and decided to act quickly, before the terrorist criminal could escape. So, Bitya was arrested. Of course, her parents weren't notified until after the fact, when she was already in Jerusalem.

 

Bitya told me that during the interrogation she kept her eyes on one of the plants in room and refused to say anything. When the police woman questioning her became bored with her answers, she told her she could go home after her parents came and signed a bond note guaranteeing her appearance in court. Bitya told her: "No way are my parents coming here to sign anything. " The police woman then called Bitya's mother, Tzippy, who, as you might imagine, had nothing good to say to her. So the police finally agreed to allow Bitya to sign for herself, and then led her to the door.

 

"Wait," she exclaimed, "how am I supposed to get home? I don't have any money or anything. You swiped me from the street on the way to lunch." The police response: Our only responsibility is to notify your parents. It's your problem how you get back home. Period!

 

After a while one of the Shlissels' neighbors, who was in Jerusalem, picked Bitya up and drove her home for a belated lunch and dinner.

 

A day in the life of a girl from Hebron.

Marwan, Yigal, and Akiva

Marwan, Yigal, and Akiva

December 4, 2006

 

Absurdity levels are difficult to measure. Today Defense Minister Peretz gave orders forbidding apprehension of terrorists in Judea and Samaria without the expressed permission of the commander of forces in Judea and Samaria. In other words, if a wanted killer is seen standing on a street corner in downtown Jenin, an official request has to be issued before he can be arrested.

 

In addition, should Israeli forces view terrorists in Gaza preparing to shoot a Kasam missile at Sderot or elsewhere in southern Israel, the terrorists may not be stopped. They must be allowed to finish what they started, i.e, attempting to kill Israeli civilians in the state of Israel.

 

And finally, Olmert, speaking in the Knesset committee for defense and security promised that Israel will 'pay whatever price is necessary in order to release the POWs be held in Gaza and Lebanon.'

 

What are the implications of the above three paragraphs?

1.     Israel is opening coffee shop chains throughout Judea and Samaria, providing wanted terrorists a place to rest while the request to arrest them is processed.

2.     Israel is opening coffee shop chains in Gaza for terrorists to rest and relax at following a hard day (or night's) work shooting missiles at Israeli citizens.

3.     Rumor has it that the PA has included Yigal Amir's name on the list, right after Marwan Barghuti.

 

However, this is just the beginning. Just how far does Israeli theatre of the absurd reach? A few days ago, our friend Akiva Lebovitch received a military order, signed by General Yair Naveh, commander of the Central region, ordering him to report to …. Ma'aleh Adumim. [See: http://www.hebron.org.il/hebrew/article.php?id=308]

 

Akiva, married less than three months ago, [http://www.hebron.org.il/hebrew/gallery.php?id=191] lives with his new bride in the Yitzhar Community in the Shomron. There he studies in the local Yeshiva, while his wife travels daily to the city of Ariel, where she attends the College or Judea and Samaria. Akiva, twenty two years old, grew up in Hebron. His parents and younger siblings live in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. Late Friday afternoon, on July 26, 2002, one of Akiva's older brothers, Elazar, was driving his friend Neria ben Yitzhak and his new bride Sarah to Hebron, to celebrate the first Shabbat following their wedding. Terrorists opened fire on their car, killing Elazar. Only minutes earlier the same terrorists shot and killed three members of the Dikstein family from Psagot.

 

Last week security forces delivered a military order to Akiva which forbids him from being anywhere in Judea and Samaria for the next three months. He may not live in his new home in Yitzhar, nor may he visit his parents in Hebron. He can't even take a trip to Tel Aviv. The military order commands him to reside in Ma'ale Adumim, just south of Jerusalem. For the next three months.

 

Why? According to the command: "after having studied the security material which has piled up against Akiva Lebovitch, I am of the opinion that it is necessary for definite security reasons that he be placed under special surveillance."

 

Just what is the 'security material which has piled up' against Akiva? Ahh, that's a state secret, material compiled by the 'Jewish department of the Shabak,' the Israeli security force, an organization which more resembles Stalin's secret police than a Jewish intelligence agency in Israel, 2006.

 

Where in Ma'ale Adumim must Akiva reside? Is the army providing him with an apartment, or a hotel room? Are they providing free transportation to his wife everyday to Ariel? (The order was addressed only to him, not to her.) What about his monthly stipend/salary from the Yeshiva?

 

Of course, the answers to the above questions are clearly understood: Sleep in the street, eat air for three months, and forget about your wife. She's not dangerous; you are.

 

The restricting orders shocked the entire Lebovitch family. Akiva's father, Yossi, told me that the last time Akiva had any contact with the law was over three years ago, after participating in a Hebron demonstration. Since then, nothing. "They have no reason at all to restrict my son's movements. He hasn't done anything and was just married. Why should they make his life so difficult for him now, at this special time in his life. It was hard enough following the murder of his brother Elazar. But we've tried to mend our lives, putting them back together again, not an easy feat. Akiva and Moria (his wife) are so happy together. What did they do to deserve this?"

 

"If the security forces have information which incriminates my son, let them arrest him, present evidence, and give him a chance to defend himself. If they don't have any evidence against him, why should he be punished, for not only something he didn't do, but for what he is not even able to know about?  His alleged crime is so horrendous that it is a secret, even from him!?"

 

Akiva isn't the first young man placed under 'military house arrest' for unknown and undefined crimes against humanity. Over the past few months 20 others preceded him, also receiving such military orders, expelling them from any presence in Judea and Samaria.

 

Of course, protests against such deviations of justice are also illegal. Last Saturday night, Hebron resident Noam Federman, as he left his car in the vicinity of the residence of General Naveh, was immediately arrested, together with two young children and held until four in the morning. Another of the apprehended was Rabbi Shmuel Yaniv, a well-known Torah scholar, who was disgraced by the police.

 

So let it be known by one and all: It is forbidden to arrest Arab terrorists without permission, or to stop them from attacking Israelis, even when the missile is in the launcher. However, harsh restriction orders against Israeli citizens who have absolutely no idea what they've done wrong is perfectly OK.

 

Maybe we can get Marwan to add Akiva's name to the list too, after him and Yigal?

 

 

 

Anyone desiring to express an opinion directly to General Yair Naveh may fax him at:08-8680240  

or phone him at:02-5305738  or  02-5305294