You shall again plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria - by Michael Freund

More than 2,500 years ago, the Prophet Jeremiah (31:4) foretold, "You shall again plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria." With the stroke of a pen, and a healthy dose of national pride, the government of Israel can and must do its part to help bring that vision to life.

Michael Freund..
Pundicity/JPost..
30 May '19..
Link: http://www.michaelfreund.org/22756/time-to-rebuild-northern-samaria

In recent weeks, a growing chorus of voices has emerged calling attention to a painful episode that took place 14 years ago in the hills and plains of northern Samaria, when four Jewish communities were pointlessly uprooted and destroyed as part of Ariel Sharon's so-called Disengagement Plan.

Sensing that the time may finally be right to correct this grievous wrong, prominent members of parliament, including Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, have spoken out in favor of the passage of a bill that would undo the injustice that was wrought. Such a move is long overdue and should be a top priority for the next government.

The withdrawal from Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim is the "forgotten expulsion," one largely overshadowed by the simultaneous pullout from Gaza which occurred in the summer of 2005. Hundreds of Jews who had built their lives in the communities, some of which dated back to the late 1970s, were traumatically forced out of their homes with little or no explanation.

Indeed, why Sharon decided to bulldoze the four flourishing villages in northern Samaria, which had no connection at all to Gaza, remains largely a mystery until today. Some suggest that he did so to send a signal that his aim in destroying Gaza Jewry was not merely a feint in order to save all of Judea and Samaria.

But to fully appreciate the folly of the move, consider the following. Whereas Gaza was emptied of Jews and turned over to hostile Palestinian forces, the four Samarian towns were emptied of Jews yet remained under full Israeli control, which is still the case today.

In other words, the Jews living there were expelled not because Israel was handing the territory over to our foes, but for no apparent reason at all. This was a senseless and cruel act, driven by politics yet devoid of morality and logic.

And with benefit of hindsight, many have come to acknowledge this.

BBC’s standard – but not impartial reporting on Israeli construction - by Hadar Sela

...The fact that the BBC has distilled the topic of Israeli construction in Judea & Samaria and parts of Jerusalem down to a collection of serially repeated talking points means that visitors to the BBC News website are clearly not being presented with the “wide range of significant views and perspectives” which would enhance their understanding of this issue.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
06 February '17..

If there’s one Middle East related topic the BBC can be relied upon to report methodically, that is Israeli announcements concerning building plans in Judea & Samaria and parts of Jerusalem: areas the corporation’s journalists are prone to erroneously describe as “Palestinian territories” or “occupied Palestinian land”.

In late January visitors to the BBC News website saw two reports on planning permissions granted in Jerusalem and in Judea & Samaria. Both those articles included amplification of negative reactions from Palestinian and other sources and promotion of the notion that Israeli housing projects are the prime obstacle to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as the BBC’s standard – but not impartial – mantra concerning ‘international law’.

(Continue to Full Post)

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Amona may have fallen, but it will rise again - by Michael Freund

...Will the supporters of the rule of law be just as vocal about the need to demolish additional illegal Beduin towns as they are regarding Amona? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Michael Freund..
Pundicity/JPost..
02 February '17..
Link: http://www.michaelfreund.org/19634/amona

As the security forces descended on Amona on Wednesday with orders to expel the town's Jewish residents, it was hard to overlook the bitter irony of the move's timing. For it was precisely 11 years ago, on February 1, 2006, that then-prime minister Ehud Olmert carried out the destruction of the Amona community in a whirlwind of violence and bloodshed that shocked the nation.

And now, here we are, over a decade later, and Amona's Jews are once again being dragged out of their homes by the very same government that encouraged them to move there in the first place and even provided them with budgetary support and infrastructure over the years. Hundreds of Jewish men, women and children, driven solely by a love for the Land of Israel and the pioneering spirit to rebuild it, will now find themselves without a roof over their head, left homeless in the heartland of the Jewish people.

It should never have come to this.

Whatever legal problems that might have existed with regard to the status of some of the lands on which Amona was built could have been addressed through a variety of other means short of demolition, such as providing compensation to Palestinian landowners. Indeed, the government had ample time to resolve the issues surrounding Amona, which worked their way through the courts over the course of several years via either legislation or negotiations.

But the bureaucrats dithered, and once the High Court of Justice issued its final ruling ordering the community's obliteration, there was little room left to maneuver.

Supporters of Amona's removal from the map cite the fact that Israel is a country based on the rule of law, and the law must be upheld. Of course, what they fail to mention is that the manner in which the rule of law is upheld is no less crucial, and that when it is selectively used against one sector of the population more than another, it can hardly be considered to be just.

Actually, the standard narrative about Israel is simply wrong on every count - by Evelyn Gordon

...Any government which considers Israeli-Palestinian peace unachievable in the foreseeable future has no choice but to invest in Israel’s internal development, in order to ensure that the country is strong enough to survive without peace. And improving Arab integration is crucial to the country’s internal development because Israeli Arabs, currently underrepresented in both higher education and the work force, represent one of the main potential sources of future economic growth. But proponents of the “far-right-extremism” narrative seem utterly impervious to the facts. So they can only scratch their heads in puzzlement over why Israel’s “most right-wing government ever” is precisely the one that’s taking far-reaching steps to improve the lot of Israeli Arabs.

Image by © Paul A. Souders/CORBIS.

Evelyn Gordon..
Commentary Magazine..
20 June '16..
Link: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/israel/israel-narrative-doesnt-fit-facts/

The standard narrative about Israel these days goes like this: The current government is the most right-wing ever, the public is increasingly racist and anti-democratic, and the prime minister is either a right-wing zealot or a coward afraid to challenge his right-wing base. But the most remarkable part of this narrative is how durable it has proven despite all evidence to the contrary.

The latest such evidence comes from today’s Jerusalem Post report about a massive drop in construction in the settlements. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, housing starts in the settlements plummeted by 53 percent in the first quarter, compared to an 8.1 percent decline in housing starts nationwide. Needless to say, one would expect settlement construction to soar under Israel’s “most right-wing government ever” and a prime minister captive to his right-wing base. Yet in fact, as I’ve written before, the “right-wing” Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently built less in the settlements than any of his left-wing predecessors–a fact that never seems to disturb proponents of the “far-right extremist” narrative.

Even more noteworthy was a pair of reports in the left-wing daily Haaretz earlier this month about two unprecedented moves to boost equality for Israeli Arabs. The first report noted that the Council for Higher Education, chaired by Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the right-of-center Jewish Home party, is advancing plans for Israel’s first ever BA-granting college in an Arab town. Until now, the only institutes of higher education in Arab towns have been teacher’s colleges. But a tender to set up a BA-granting college closed on May 31, and the CHE is now reviewing the five bids it received. The winner is expected to be announced in another few months, and the new institution is slated to open next year. To help it succeed, the government has promised millions of shekels in start-up funds plus an annual budget of 20 to 40 million shekels (depending on enrollment).

The new institution is expected to significantly increase the number of Arabs, and especially Arab women, obtaining BAs, because many will now be able to live at home and commute to college. Not only will this eliminate the expense of renting apartments near campus, but it also solves the access problem for women from conservative Arab families who are barred by social norms from living away from home.

C'mon folks, get a grip, There’s no grab!

...We call on the government to instruct the Civil Administration to renew the survey process with full force, not as retribution for terrorist attacks, that are ongoing, but in order to continue developing communities and give a Zionist answer to the systematic and organized attempts of the Palestinian Authority and its collaborator NGOs to take over vast areas of Judea and Samaria and deprive the Jewish people of their legal right to live there.

Gevaot, located in the Etzion settlement bloc..
(photo credit:Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)

Ari Briggs..
Opinion/JPost..
09 September '14..

Last week, the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria declared that some 1,000 acres in the area of Gush Etzion was public (state) land. This step was taken in accordance with decisions of the Security Cabinet following the kidnapping and horrific murder of three boys three months ago in Gush Etzion.

As expected, the extreme left-wing NGOs in Israel, led by Peace Now, exploded with an intensive campaign against this step, and shortly thereafter, the US, the UN and certain European countries began to condemn the move and demanded that Israel repeal its decision.

In a malicious manner intended to throw sand in the eyes of the international community, and to blacken the name of Israel, Peace Now purposely misrepresented this step – which was simply the formal completion of a well-known process – as expropriation of land, and another example of “occupation, expulsion and theft.”

However, an accurate analysis of this declaration and its basis in law completely disproves the claim that Israel has taken over privately owned land. The opposite is actually true – this entire process, implemented by the government, of surveying and officially declaring land to be state land, is intended to ensure that no private property rights will be harmed and that new or expanded communities will be established only on land that belongs unequivocally to the sovereign power according to international law, and not to a private individual.

What is the process of survey and declaration? In 1978, Prof. Aharon Barak, who was then the legal adviser to the government, declared, “The basic assumption in determining ownership of land is that all land is public land, except if it has been acquired by an individual.

Thus, any land which is desolate and against which no private ownership claim has been registered is assumed to be public land.” This mirrors land law in all western countries where there is only public land or private land.

Once again the tedious ritual of international condemnation and outcry of the Left

...The laymen of the greatest power in the world have found the time to highlight Israel's natural process of declaring 4,000 dunams -- which don't belong to any private interest -- as state land. And in the theater of the absurd, Great Britain has made the noise of the White Papers and Russia has issued a condemnation bemoaning the annexation. It is experienced in that. The Islamic State (ISIS) has seized tens of thousands of square kilometers from Iraq and Syria, and yet the international community is barely moved. Good for them they aren't Jews.

Dror Eydar..
Israel Hayom..
02 September '14..

It has become a common and tedious ritual: the international condemnation and the outcry of the Left. There is nothing to get excited about here. The Jews began the process, which could bring about the day when sovereignty is held over at least part of the ancient Jewish homeland. Good grief. There are two things forbidden to Jews: materializing any sort of sovereignty over the land of Israel, and defending themselves against the Arabs with arms. Too bad we have fallen back to history.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has been silent regarding almost every international front that had at one time been integral to U.S. interests, all but one: Israel. The laymen of the greatest power in the world have found the time to highlight Israel's natural process of declaring 4,000 dunams -- which don't belong to any private interest -- as state land. And in the theater of the absurd, Great Britain has made the noise of the White Papers and Russia has issued a condemnation bemoaning the annexation. It is experienced in that. The Islamic State (ISIS) has seized tens of thousands of square kilometers from Iraq and Syria, and yet the international community is barely moved. Good for them they aren't Jews.

Despite the propaganda of lies, let us go back to the basics: Judea and Samaria are not Palestinian lands, not even by international law. Moreover, these are disputed territories. From our perspective, these are Jewish lands that were stolen from us during the Muslim occupation, which began in the seventh century and continues till this very day. Despite all of that, the Palestinians continue to practice unilateral annexation all over the place, without meeting protest. While the Palestinians are subject to "the laws of nature," the Jews must oblige international law. If Israel wants to protect its control over the state -- not just in Judea and Samaria -- it must take the same actions in order to step up the application of its sovereignty; it is the natural behavior of the locals.

Which is the Bigger Threat to Peace? Houses, Terror or Kerry?

...By threatening Israel with another intifada if it does not make more concessions to the Palestinians, Kerry has set in motion a train of events in which Palestinian rejectionists feel justified, indeed encouraged, in engaging in violence. A U.S. policy that treats houses as more of a threat to peace than terrorism is one that is not only bound to fail but is also likely to make the situation worse.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
27 December '13..

The news that Israel is preparing to announce permissions for new housing starts in Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement blocs is causing predictable consternation in the international community. The Palestinian Authority is claiming the building of these homes threatens the peace process. European nations are expressing their unhappiness with rumblings about a “harsh response” that may go beyond their previous efforts to restrict economic cooperation with the Jewish state so as to exclude anything to do with the settlements. Prime Minister Netanyahu can also expect U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to be upset since he has gone on record as branding the Jewish presence beyond the cease-fire lines of June 4, 1967 as “illegitimate.”

Why is Netanyahu doing it? The consensus answer is domestic politics. Having agreed to release more convicted Palestinian terrorists next month, he is hoping to keep his coalition together by throwing a bone to his right-wing supporters in the form of housing starts. But even settlement movement supporters are no more thrilled with a policy that somehow equates building homes with sending unrepentant murderers of Jews back to a hero’s welcome than is the PA about an announcement of new houses within existing settlements. Considering that it is unlikely that these homes will be built any time soon, if ever, the announcement seems to be a lose-lose proposition for the prime minister and his government. But before you join in the chorus of critics lambasting his decision, it is worthwhile to re-examine the question of what is and what is not an obstacle to Middle East peace.

This is a moment when terrorism against the Jewish state is on the rise. Rockets are flying from Gaza into southern Israel. And Israel’s supposed peace partners continue to say they will never recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn. Yet the world is about to pounce on Israel for having the temerity to state its intention to build houses. If that doesn’t tell you all you have to know about the skewed moral compass of Israel’s critics and the lopsided morality of Middle East peace processing, nothing will.

Free construction, not terrorists by Nadav Shragai

The fact that we prop building in the land of Israel and Jerusalem on the crooked foundation of freeing murderous terrorists who could turn around and kill us is a moral distortion, a crooked formula. We could argue about trading captives for terrorists. But to talk about deals or understandings, even informal ones, where we "free construction" for releasing murderous terrorists?

Nadav Shragai..
Israel Hayom..
28 October '13..

The news about renewed building in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem is good news. The news about the next wave of releasing wretched murderers is not. The link that was created between the two is problematic, to say the least -- a depressive flaw in values. Have we reached a new era where we trade one terrorist for one apartment? Fifty terrorists for a whole neighborhood?

It is forbidden to free murderous terrorists. Period. They relapse, returning to kill us, sowing the seeds of slaughter in our streets. That's how it was, how it is, and, unfortunately, how it appears it will always be. This was proven in the recent and distant past. Once bitten, twice shy. It's unclear why we haven't learned our lesson. These are facts. We are not lacking examples. There's no point repeating the very same mistakes. The current releases are even more intolerable because they are happening after the recent string of terrorist attacks. A release such as this, specifically after a wave of terror, adds fuel to the fire of terrorism, increasingly propping it up, torpedoing peace efforts and the diplomatic process rather than bringing peace closer. The fact that the very purpose of this round of releases is simply to keep the Palestinians in the room with us, to be so kind as to continue the conversation, adds insult to injury.

The second issue here is not related to the first, and it is forbidden to connect the two. We must continue to build in Jerusalem and Zion, because settlement and developing the land are the lifeblood of Zionism, the cornerstone and very foundations. The link between releasing terrorists and building in the land of Israel is like mixing the impure with that which is holy. The Zionist narrative has known its fair share of settlement activities born in peril, terrorist attacks and war. The map of Israel is covered with hundreds of towns and neighborhoods established as monuments to civilians, soldiers and heroes who fell in war and terror. We found comfort after mourning building settlement after settlement. We saw how the Zionist reaction was appropriate, leaving one eye crying while the other laughed. As it says in the book of Jeremiah, even at "the time of Jacob’s trouble," facing his obstacle, "he will be saved" (Jeremiah 30:7). Our consolation is developing the land.

O.K., So the world is against us

Obviously the whole world can’t be wrong, even if sanctimonious self-appointed judges from other lands regard the shedding of Jewish blood as not entirely reprehensible. With a smidge of insincerity, Jewish misfortune can be blamed on the Jews. Simultaneously, any embodiments of perceived Jewish vitality inevitably give rise to revulsion and vehemence that – admit it or not – appear exclusively reserved for Jews.

Sarah Honig..
Another Tack..
30 August '13..

Around our troubled planet, constructing an apartment for a Jewish family in a vibrant veteran Jewish neighborhood – an indivisible part and parcel of the Jewish state’s capital – is decried as an unpardonable a sin against all the kind-heartedness and fair-mindedness that the international community purports to effuse.

This isn’t just the clichéd consensus of conformist correspondents and stale statesmen overseas. Sunshine friends too can’t resist the warm ambiance of group-think.

Irish filmmaker Nicky Larkin, for example, was feted here for his seemingly maverick pro-Israel stance. But now he finds that “increasingly difficult” because he “can’t accept the expansion of settlements on land the international community considers illegal, under the Fourth Geneva Convention.” In an op-ed for The Irish Independent, he just about equates settlement with suicide-bombing.

His indignation is predicated on the fact that “the UN Security Council, the UN general Assembly, the International Red Cross, and the International Court of Justice all agree the expansion of settlements is illegal. Even John Kerry, US Secretary of State, said so.”

The world is against us, ergo the world must be right and we must be wrong.

The same likely applies to springing heinous murderers duly convicted by Israel’s ultra-liberal judiciary. In the eyes of presumably enlightened world opinion this is considered proper, progressive and peace-promoting.

Obviously the whole world can’t be wrong, even if sanctimonious self-appointed judges from other lands regard the shedding of Jewish blood as not entirely reprehensible. With a smidge of insincerity, Jewish misfortune can be blamed on the Jews.

Simultaneously, any embodiments of perceived Jewish vitality inevitably give rise to revulsion and vehemence that – admit it or not – appear exclusively reserved for Jews.

UN's Ban and Israeli housing plans

Michael Lumish..
Israel Thrives..
14 June '13..





The snippet below was written by Michael Wilner of the Jerusalem Post.

WASHINGTON -- United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon remains "deeply concerned" over plans to construct hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, his spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

"These are unhelpful decisions that undermine progress towards the two-state solution," the statement reads. "They constitute a deeply worrisome trend at a moment of ongoing efforts to re-launch peace negotiations."

Could this not be any more transparent?

It goes like this:

   1) The Obama administration calls for negotiations between the parties.

   2) Israel agrees to negotiations between the parties.

   3) Abbas refuses to negotiate until Israel does this, that, or the other.

   4) EU countries, and the western left, including the Obama administration, blame Arab intransigence and   refusal to negotiate on Israel and threaten dire consequences.

   This is playing out just as I predicted that it would.

Yes, what a surprise that Ban Ki-moon is "deeply concerned."

A diplomatic response, a more direct response, and both.

Calev..
LOTL..
01 February '13..




In yesterday's Times of Israel addressing the UN Human Rights Commission's latest report, a pretty sharp response from Israel's Foreign Ministry:

“The report is so utterly misguided that it steps widely out of line in recommending a boycott that would harm Palestinians and Israelis alike,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told The Times of Israel. “The authors seem so enraged that they forget they have no authority on such issues, and their hubris leads them to decree as states, rather than opine as individuals.”

The Times continues:

Last March, the United Nations Human Rights Council decided to dispatch an international fact-finding mission to “investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.” Furious over the UNHRC’s apparent over-obsession with Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians, Jerusalem cut all ties with the Geneva-based body, ceasing all cooperation and barring its fact-finders from entering Israeli territory.

In the world of diplomacy one might say this is a bit feisty but there was to yet a bit more icing on the cake as reported in yesterday's Jerusalem Post:

Shragai - Barak's misuse of the law

Nadav Shragai..
Israel Hayom..
05 April '12..

Three years ago, in March 2009, Defense Minister Ehud Barak marked the 29th anniversary of the death of Yigal Allon, fondly reminiscing about the renowned Israeli general and politician and praising his accomplishments. It is just that there is at least one major difference that separates Barak from Allon: Allon was an enthusiastic advocate of Hebron settlers. Barak has become their chief prosecutor.

During Passover 1968, Allon helped Rabbi Moshe Levinger's group transform their settlement in the Park Hotel into an anchor from which sprouted Kiryat Arba and the Jewish community in Hebron. On Passover eve 2012, as Levinger's children were trying to recreate that historic Passover Seder, Barak forcefully evicted them from the house across from the Cave of the Patriarchs.

The rule of law, with all due respect, is only an excuse. Dozens, and even hundreds of Arab homes around Beit Hamachpelah (as the disputed house is known, thanks to its proximity to the Cave of the Patriarchs – Ma'arat Hamachpela in Hebrew) were built without permits. This is of no concern to Barak and his legal team. At the heart of the matter are the enormous gaps between Barak's worldview and that of the majority of the other ministers (from Shas, Likud, Yisrael Beitenu and Habait Hayehudi) regarding the Jewish settlement enterprise, which includes Hebron.

Feiglin - How Much Do They Cost Us?

Moshe Feiglin
Manhigut Yehudit
7 Av, 5771
(August 7, '11)

http://www.jewishisrael.org/eng_contents/articles/71/article7187.html

Translated from an article written for Ma'ariv's NRG website

When the spokespersons for the social protests engulfing Israel revive the clichés about the money that could have gone to housing wasted on the settlements, they evoke the poltergeist of classic anti-Semitism. The Jew is always to blame, and so is the settler.

Unfortunately, for over a decade the State hasn't invested a shekel in the settlements. Not roads, not infrastructure and not development plans. Not only is there no state investment in the parts of the Land of Israel invaded by King Abdullah in 1948 (with the generous help of Britain) and liberated by the Israel Defense Forces 19 years later, but the State of Israel also absolutely blocks private investment and does not authorize any new construction there. In my community, three young families now share a divided house that used to house one family. Each family pays rent for its third equal to the rents paid in Israel's center. The high rents are not the result of an authentic shortage similar to what people are complaining about in Tel Aviv: it is the result of deliberate policy. The only funds allocated to the municipalities over the Green Line are those earmarked for basic municipal functions such as upkeep of roads and sidewalks, transportation for students and the like. This is the same funding that all municipalities in Israel receive.

The building freeze in Judea and Samaria is one of the main causes (according to a study by Globes) of the housing shortage in Tel Aviv. Ending the building freeze is the only practical solution for quick and affordable housing near the business hubs in Israel's center. It is the cheapest, quickest and most convenient solution for most Israelis. It is also the most just and moral thing to do. But radical leftist singer Aviv Gefen thinks that it is Abdullah who liberated and the IDF that occupied Judea and Samaria, concluding that the most logical and inexpensive solution is a waste of billions of shekels that if they were invested elsewhere, would drastically lower the price of housing in the entire country.

Last week, I was interviewed with MK Yitzchak Herzog on the Channel 2 morning show. We discussed the housing protests in a very amiable atmosphere. But near the end of our slot, Herzog couldn't control himself and pulled the old genie out of the bottle: the "billions" going to the settlements at the expense of the development towns. I didn't ask him about the missiles flying into the development towns in his merit and the merit of his cohorts who rammed Oslo down our collective throats. I didn't want to raise the hate level.

"Do you have statistics?" I asked him in an attempt to keep the conversation businesslike. He didn't, of course. But it wouldn't have mattered even if he did. Because it is not the results of the investigation, but rather, who is investigating and who is being investigated that matters.

A person who talks about the billions going to the settlements is working on the assumption that the settlements are not legitimate and so, every shekel spent there is an exploitation of the tax payer. Likewise, a person who claims that all the State's money is channeled into the yeshivas (schools of higher Torah learning) is working on the assumption that Torah study is an insignificant waste of time.

To me, the Oslo Accords were not legitimate. Besides the death, misery and existential danger that they have brought upon us, we are also paying for them to the tune of 10% of our nation budget; approximately 15 billion dollars a year.

In other words, it is easy to claim - and to back up with numbers – that Aviv Gefen and Yitzchak Herzog and every other leftist who supported and dragged us into Oslo cost us infinitely more than a settler or yeshiva student ever could. And by the way, the IDF Home Front is quietly drilling emergency evacuation of the public from Israel's center to the only logical place that can safely accommodate them – Judea and Samaria. With G-d's help, we will not have to implement those plans. But we must remember that due to "Palestinian" (in quotation marks because there is no such nation) intransigence, the Oslo Accords have not been fully implemented, the settlements still exist and in the eventuality of a chemical attack (G-d forbid) Aviv Gefen and MK Herzog and their families will have a place to which they can run.

I heard a leftist professor explain that all the State's money goes to the religious and ultra-Orthodox. The professor, a senior liberal arts lecturer in one of Israel's major universities, earns at least 30,000 NIS per month. As far as I am concerned, let him earn twice that. The problem is that he and his students cost the State at least five times the amount that their yeshiva counterparts cost.

With this fact in mind, how do they dare to criticize the yeshiva students? It's simple: For the learned professor, liberal arts are a legitimate recipient of State investment (and I agree with him on that point) but Jewish studies are not. Despite the fact that the State invests miniscule sums on yeshiva students in proportion to what the professor and his students receive, they see those sums as nothing more than exploitation and waste.

I am not sure, by the way, that the State has to fund any of the students. But that is a different topic. Due to the fact that we still live under a centralized state, it would be best for us all to stop blaming each other. Who costs who how much and who is carrying the burden of whom is a matter of perspective that is decided in elections.

The social protests embody some very important authentic elements. It will all be lost if they become a platform for baseless hatred and reciprocal finger-pointing.

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The Forest Is The Politics, The Trees Are Our Children

West Bank Mama
01 March '11

http://westbankmama.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/the-forest-is-the-politics-the-trees-are-our-children/

Yesterday (Monday,Feb. 28th) the police moved in and razed a tent and some buildings in Chavat Gilad, what is called by some an “outpost” – what I like to think of as a baby yishuv. The police were particularly violent, and shot people in the back with what they claim to be paintballs, and others claim to be rubber bullets. You can see some of the injuries here at the Muqata blog. The violence of the police caused an uproar in the dati-leumi community (national religious) and many decided to protest. Some went to places in Yehuda and Shomron (Judea and Samaria) and some went to block streets in Jerusalem, and many clashed again with police.

The forest in this situation is the politics. For those of you unfamiliar with the territory, let me give you a basic rundown. An “outpost” is a place where Jews have decided to build homes somewhere in Yehuda and Shomron, but is now considered illegal. Some of these outposts can be as small as a few tents, some are much bigger and consist of caravans and even permanent housing. Most (not all) yishuvim in Yehuda and Shomron were started in this way, and as they grew they accrued the necessary permits and eventually became legal. This process is a long one, and ends with the signature of the Defense Minister. (Yes, the only difference between a legal and illegal yishuv is sometimes this one signature.) That is why there is such a difference between one outpost and another. The older ones cannot be distinguished from a regular yishuv. The newer ones are usually small and very temporary.

The politicians like to distinguish between legal yishuvim and illegal outposts. They can say on one hand that legal yishuvim should be able to grow, but outposts cannot. They can also say, if it helps them, that these outposts have to be destroyed. Although they too sometimes distinguish between one outpost or another. The outpost near Shiloh (sorry, can’t remember the name now) was supposed to be destroyed a long time ago – but it hasn’t, since two widows of IDF heroes are living there in permanent housing, and the politicians are wary of the public outcry if they throw these women out (and rightly so).

When the government goes in and destroys these outposts, they get “credit”. For someone like Barak, he gets credit with his future left wing voters. For Bibi, he gets credit with both the United States government (see, I’m doing what you want…) and with the more central of his future voters. For the right wing Likud voters (I am one) he can say that he only went after the illegal outposts, and the small ones at that (and we all know that they will be rebuilt in about two days. It doesn’t take long to set up a tent or a shack after all….)

To add to the cynicism, there are those who claim that the powers-that-be in the “settler movement” encourage the establishment of these outposts so that the politicians can make these false distinctions. How better to protect a yishuv than to divert attention to a small outpost? (To be perfectly honest, I think it is a brilliant move, politically. I just feel sorry for the young people who live there who may not see it that way).

So this is the forest. The trees, on the other hand, are our children, and there the story is much more complicated.

You cannot fault the young and idealistic for not distinguishing between a yishuv and an outpost, since these two entities are in most ways the same, except in some cases by one signature on one piece of paper. A lot of the young people who live in these outposts have grown up in yishuvim themselves, and believe that they are not only building the land that G-d gave us but also helping to keep Israel safe by building their homes in these places. They grew up hearing the stories of the first Zionest pioneers. This is added to their own experience growing up in Yehuda and Shomron, and makes them want to make their contribution too. The fact that the police and/or the army can come in and destroy what they build on a whim does not deter many of them.

Tough Choices

Yisrael Medad
My Right Word
10 November '10


The media asks

What do the settlers Jewish residents say?

And the answer is

Settler Spokeswoman Aliza Herbst noted that some settlementscommunities themselves ban Arab labour, sometimes due to security concerns, but it remains attractively cheap and abundant.

She said she supports the Palestinian government's efforts because she would prefer employers were freed of the financial temptation and hired Jews instead.

"I hope they succeed," she said.

And the background story is

Despite new ban on work in settlements Jewish communities, the Palestinians are building them

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Obama’s Middle East Policy vs. Reality

JenniferRubin
Contentions/Commentary
06 October '10

While the frantic bribe-athon by the Obama administration continues to try reimposing the settlement moratorium, building has already resumed, according to this report:

Bulldozers have been working furiously on the construction of 350 new housing units in various settlements.

As the end of the freeze approached, the settlements have made great efforts to launch a massive building campaign in response. The Yesha Council has expressed satisfaction at the large amount of construction that has taken place so far.

But there is more:

A long queue of Palestinian laborers lined up Tuesday at the entrance to the settlement of Talmon, west of Ramallah. The vehicles with white license plates parked at the side of the road, and Palestinian workers exited the vehicles.

The workers waited for the security officer to check their identity cards before entering the various construction sites spread out over the settlement that have sprung up since the end of the building freeze.

So in the real world, Palestinians get jobs and Israelis get homes.

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Succot 5771

Marc Prowisor
Yesha Views
21 September '10

Peace, peace, peace. Israel must give up territory… Israel must accept Arabs and their descendents that ran away in 1948 while Arab armies attempted to eradicate the Jewish existence in Israel…Israel must release terrorists who have murdered, and have been accomplices and/or have planned to kill Israelis. Israel must retreat to indefensible borders.

Russia arms Syria and Iran with advanced weaponry, the US arms Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and other Arab Nations with Sophisticated and advanced arms.

Islamic terror grows everyday as do attacks on non-Muslims and Western targets throughout the Islamic world.

The “Quartet” insists that Israel does not let any Jews build in Judea and Samaria. Salaam Fayyad and Abbas say the Judea and Samaria must be ethnically cleansed of any Jewish presence.

A close-to nuclear Iran says that Israel’s time is up. Salaam Fayad and Mahmud Abbas are on their way to the US to chum up to as many Jewish “leaders” as possible, to convince them to pressure Israel to place itself in the most “uncompromising” position as possible since the rebirth of the Jewish nation in 1948.

So lets see, pressure Israel to get into a one-sided peace agreement with the “Palestinian Authority” (who are the minority and barely represent themselves), arm the rest of Israel’s enemies to the hilt.

Again, I might have missed something…. Call on Israel to make every possible compromise and arm the nations that have been fighting against Israel since its creation even more than before.

Is it just me, or does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

As we approach the Holiday of Succot we are taught how the walls of the Succah should remind us of the “Clouds of Glory” that protected us against all odds as we traveled through Sinai. We had no other allies in the world, it was just we and G-d and a dream of being in our own land, a dream that was fulfilled... not just once.

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Call to Action

Women For Israel's Tomorrow
NashimBeYarok's Channel
27 April '10

A Call to Action by Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green) to safeguard Israel's Biblical Homeland in the hands of the Jewish People

To join our effort, please contact:

Nadia Matar 972-50-550-0834, nmatar@netvision.net.il

Yehudit Katzover 972-50-716-1818, ihuditk@gmail.com

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