December 1998
December 8, 1998 "If Someone Comes To Kill You, Kill Him First!"
December 8, 1998 "Should Our Sister Be Treated As a Whore?"
December 12, 1998 Demonstration for Jonathan Pollard
December 13, 1998 Hanukkah 5759
December 22, 1998 Children's Prayer at the Kotel
December 22, 1998 Closing the Ranks
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, December 8, 1998
"If Someone Comes To Kill You, Kill Him First!"
The word is out. It is perfectly permissible for
Arabs to beat up on Jews. Shoot them. Kill them. Women
and children, and other civilians. The Arab "Freedom
Fighters" are on the march, after years of oppression.
Not against their dictatorial, feudal Arab Governments
who have robbed and stolen from them all these years.
Lord forbid! It is the Jews who are the culprits! Sound
familiar? It is a theme which the Europeans are all too
knowledgeable about, blaming the Jews; accordingly,
France's Chirac, and England's Robin Cook are willing to
buy that Arab line, sight unseen. Moreover, they, along
with President Clinton, receive the arch terrorist and
murderer Arafat with open arms, an intolerable situation
which can lead only to a world without basic moral values
and restraints.
When Arafat gives the word to terrorize, as he just
has, the Arabs are out in force all over the Land of
Israel. With deadly stones, firebombs, and the like,
they are on the warpath against those "cowardly" and
"exploiting" Jews. Notwithstanding Arafat and the PLO's
commitments under the "peace" deceptions of Oslo, Hebron
and Wye, Arafat has given the "green light to terror."
And if the Jews do not wish the UN, and Arafat's many
other cultivated "friends and sympathizers," to issue
further condemnations against Israel, the Jews had best
just absorb the blows; if they know what is good for
them, they will turn the other cheek and receive the
killings and the maiming, in silence. There must be
no resistance to the new Arab onslaught if the Jews
are truly interested in "peace."
If there are no Men in our midst to wake up our
People, it is the Women of Israel who have traditionally
fulfilled this role. They remind us all of the glory of
our prestigious moral and ethical Prophets, and the great
contributions of the Jewish People to the humanization of
mankind. Moreover, they tell us that we have the same
right as all other peoples to defend ourselves and to
live in peace in our Jewish homeland.
That is why Women In Green will be demonstrating at
the HaMashbir Plaza on Monday, December 14, 1998, at 10
a.m. They want to advise the Government of Israel, that
the present debasement of the Jews by the Arabs is not
worthy of the descendants of the Maccabeans. Jews can't
allow themselves to be beaten by the Arabs without
following the advice of our sages: "If a man comes to
kill you, you are permitted to kill him first." We all
must rise up from our present lethargy and proclaim to
Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai: "Give back the right
to our soldiers, our police and our citizens to properly
defend themselves against Arab terror and violence.
Don't continue to expose us to being prosecuted for
daring to protect ourselves and our loved ones!"
Ruth and Nadia Matar
Top of Page |
End of Page |
What We Say Index Page |
To Home Page
*******************************************************
December 8, 1998
"Should Our Sister Be Treated As a Whore?"
The following is the text of Sunday's program by Nadia Matar, the
chairperson of Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), on Arutz
7. Nadia speaks every Sunday after the 12:00 noon newscast.
Shalom to all our listeners!
This is Nadia Matar speaking -
In the pogrom at the Ayosh Junction, near Beit El, we saw the
realization of the Oslo-Wye agreement. The sights on television, that
shocked us all, sights in which we see the almost-lynch - these are
the sights of the Oslo-Wye agreements. In other words, these are
agreements in which the Arabs brazenly attack Jews, murder them -
they are not always successful, so then they'll try the next time -
torching their property, and the Jews, not only do they not respond,
they even reward the rioters. The rioters continue to receive our
homeland and walk about freely with no fear at all that any Israeli
element will attempt to identify them from the video recording or to
capture them, not to mention punish them.
"No one has a license to kill" reads the slogan by the Transport
Ministry, that seeks to deal with the problem of road accidents. "No
one has a license to kill"? Not true! The Arabs have a license to
kill Jews. They received this permission from the Americans and from
the Europeans but, primarily, they received the license from the
governments of Israel. Since the intifada, continuing with the Oslo
accords, and now too with the Wye River Memorandum, Arabs who attack
Jews are not arrested, and Arabs who murder Jews and miraculously are
apprehended are released after a short stint in prison. Jewish blood
is free for the taking.
And I ask you, my listeners, when you see these difficult pictures of
the lynch in Beit El, what was the strongest emotion you experienced?
For me, personally, the feeling was one of anger and shame. Not,
Heaven forbid, anger at the Arabs. No. I expect such behavior from
the Arabs. They are the enemy, and this is how they act. The anger is
also not directed against the poor soldier, and not even against the
army jeep that passed by there a few seconds earlier, was attacked
with stones, and fled. Both the soldier in the automobile and the
soldiers in the jeep acted in accordance with army orders. And the
orders are clear: the throwing of rocks does not constitute a threat
to life, and therefore you are forbidden to shoot.
Ilana Podolsky, a resident of Kiryat Arba, found herself four years
ago in exactly the same situation on her way from Kiryat Arba to
Jerusalem. A murderous Arab mob threw stones and petrol bombs at her
automobile. Ilana got out of her automobile and fired in the air. The
road cleared and Ilana continued on her way. It transpired that one
of the attacking Arabs was wounded from the firing of her pistol, and
died a week later. Ilana was arrested and put on trial on the charge
of murder. After two and a half years of deliberations that exhausted
Ilana mentally and financially, she was convicted of manslaughter and
sentenced to three years' imprisonment. After a major campaign in
which we in the Women in Green were very active, the President
commuted Ilana's prison sentence to community service. And this is
not the end of the story! The family of the killed Arab, the same
Arab who was among the attackers who sought to kill Ilana,
shamelessly demand from her compensation of hundreds of thousands of
dollars! And Ilana, to this day, continues with this trial, greatly
fearing that it will end in favor of the Arab's family....
My listeners, after such a story, how is it possible to be angry with
the soldiers or the civilian in the case of the lynch at Beit El? My
anger and my shame are directed to two bodies. First of all, to the
authorities that give these shameful orders to our security forces.
Orders that tie the hands of our soldiers and forbid them from
reacting. And second, anger and shame against myself and against us,
the family of settlers, for our having not responded.
This entire lynch would have looked differently if, in response, all
the settlements would have gone out and blocked roads in Judea,
Samaria, and Gaza, and engaged in other protest activities with the
clear message that if a Jew is attacked, we will not remain silent,
we will respond. Not only our honor would have been raised, we must
begin acting so that the Arabs will think twice before they carry out
their nefarious plans. The time has therefore come to act on two
planes. First, all the settlements must organize and build groups of
people who will act and respond in such instances. And second, there
must be an outcry and clamor at our soldiers being forbidden to
defend themselves against attacks by Arabs. This is relevant both for
Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, and for Lebanon.
We in the Women in Green are beginning a demonstration this coming
Monday, the first day of Hanukkah, at 10:00 a.m. at the Hamashbir in
Jerusalem, against the tying of our hands and those of our soldiers.
We will gather signatures on a petition demanding that the
establishment treat stones as deadly weapons. The message must be
clear: Stones kill! An Arab who holds such a weapon with the intent
of throwing it must be shot. Very simple. Believe me, after one or
two instances in which we will shoot stone throwers - no more stones
will be thrown at us!
The goal of our campaign is also to be a response to all the women's
organizations that are springing up lately, every time that our
soldiers are injured and killed. Soldiers were killed at Joseph's
Tomb in the Western Wall Tunnels riots - an organization of religious
women sprang up that was entitled "Women for the Sanctity of Life"
who, in their words, "prefer to cry from afar over the tombs of the
Patriarchs rather than weep from close up over the graves of the
sons." Soldiers were killed in Lebanon - a leftist women's
organization sprang up, the "Four Mothers," that demands that we pack
up. This is not the way! The response to the attacks on our soldiers
is not withdrawal and pullout - this will only whet the appetite of
the Arabs. This will only intensify the attacks and the number of
casualties. The Zionist and sole response is deterrence, by an active
and aggressive policy.
My dear husband showed me a wonderful midrash in Genesis Rabbah on
yesterday's Torah portion, the portion of Vayishlah. After Shimon and
Levi took their revenge against the people of Shechem, a disagreement
erupted between them and their father Jacob. "Jacob said to Shimon
and Levi, 'You have brought trouble on me, making me odious among the
inhabitants of the land.'" The commentator Mirkin explains the
difficulty in the verse: Jacob does not protest against the act that
they did in Shechem per se, but rather expresses his apprehension at
the great danger they all may anticipate as a result of the deed. It
is as if he tells them: The deed you did in Shechem is certainly
right, but you have thereby brought great trouble upon all our heads.
They answer him: "Should our sister be treated as a whore?" They
justify the action that they took, but what they say does not contain
a single word in response to Jacob's complaint.
The midrash resolves this difficulty: Jacob told them: The barrel was
clear and you muddied it. It was quiet, the Canaanites know that they
are destined to fall into my hands, but not now, only when we
increase and will be a great people. As long as I do not reach these
dimensions, they will not destroy me, unless they find an excuse and
reason to do so - and you, Shimon and Levi, came and provided them
with such an opportunity, you have muddied the barrel. You have
transformed us from a potential threat to an actual one.
Rabbi Judah bar Simon, however, adds that Jacob's sons replied to
him: "The barrel was muddy and we clarified it." And they said:
"Should our sister be treated as a whore?" They said: What, are they
treating us as ones who are defenseless? (hefker)
In other words, Shimon and Levi say to their father: "You are wrong,
Father, 'Should our sister be treated as a whore?' - the barrel
already was muddied, the Canaanites raped Dinah because they treated
us as people who are defenseless (hefker).... The people of Shechem
did not attack Dinah because the Children of Israel constituted a
threat for them, but solely because we appear to them as people who
are defenseless. And we came and clarified the barrel - our
destruction of Shechem will intimidate them and deter them from
carrying out their nefarious plans." The commentator Aryeh Mirkin
concludes with the following words: "It is interesting how this
aggadic conversation between Jacob and Shimon and Levi parallels the
contemporary disagreements regarding the responses by the IDF to the
attacks by Arabs against Israel."
My listeners, today we are regarded as people who are hefker-
defenseless. This must stop. Deterrence must be restored to us and to
our security forces.
Next week is Hanukkah. Next Sunday, Hanukkah eve, the Shavei Shomron
community is organizing a large event on Mount Ebal, in the place
where the people of Israel accepted the law of responsibility - all
Israel are responsible for one another. Guided tours, the
installation of a Torah scroll, and the lighting of the first light.
For details: tel. (09)833-0272.
On Tuesday, the second day of Hanukkah, the Women in Green are
going to the southern Hebron hill country (drom Har Hevron)
settlements of Othniel, Beit Haggai, Adorah, Hebron, and also Karmei
Tzur. In every settlement we will distribute toys to the children in
the settlement. For those interested in participating, call:
(02)993-2083.
Have a good week, and let us not forget Jonathan Pollard and the
MIA's: Ron Arad, Zechariah Baumel, Yehudah Katz, and Tzvi Feldman.
Top of Page |
End of Page |
What We Say Index Page |
To Home Page
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, December 12, 1998
Dear Members,
We strongly urge all those who can, to participate in the following demonstration for
Jonathan Pollard.
Shavua Tov,
Nadia and Ruth
DEMONSTRATION FOR JONATHAN POLLARD WHILE CLINTON MEETS WITHWEIZMAN
Subject: DEMONSTRATION FOR JONATHAN POLLARD WHILE CLINTON MEETS WITHWEIZMAN
DEMONSTRATION FOR JONATHAN POLLARD WHILE PRESIDENT CLINTON MEETS WITH
PRESIDENT WEIZMAN: Sunday, December 13, 1998, 4:00pm
The Knesset Lobby for Pollard, the Council of Youth Movements in Israel,
with the Committee to Bring Jonathan Home, in a demonstration to tell the
US President:
CLINTON, KEEP YOUR PROMISE, FREE POLLARD NOW!!
We call on the President of the United States Bill Clinton during his visit to Israel
to provide the long-overdue Justice for Jonathan Pollard. Clinton must know that our
people are fully behind the A Free Pollard Now demonstration will be held on Sunday,
December 13,
1998, 4:00pm, First Night of Chanukah, at the President's Residence (Beit
HaNasi, HaNasi Street near Jabotinsky Street) in Jerusalem, when President
Clinton will be there meeting with President Weizman. Members of Knesset active in
the Knesset Lobby for Pollard will be in attendance.
Participants in the demonstration will hear a personal message from
Jonathan Pollard. While the two Presidents are inside Beit Hanasi at their
Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony, we will be outside to light the first candle of
the Festival of Lights and to demand of President Clinton to keep his promise to
release Jonathan Pollard to the lig · The US President is getting another reminder
from our people of this committment opposite the Hilton Hotel across King David
Street, where two gigantic signs proclaim: "Clinton, Keep Your Promise,Now!!" in
Hebrew and English.
It is high time that Clinton act to right a glaring American injustice and let
Jonathan Pollard come Home.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!
LET JONATHAN POLLARD GO!!
COMMITTEE TO BRING JONATHAN HOME, Jerusalem
Contact person:
Nissan GanOr Tel: 02-5639791 Fax: 02-5636162 E-mail: tci@aquanet.co.il
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, December 13, 1998
Hanukkah 5759
The following is the text of today's program by Nadia Matar, the
chairperson of Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), on Arutz
7. Nadia speaks every Sunday after the 12:00 noon newscast.
Shalom to all our listeners!
This is Nadia Matar speaking -
Clinton, you are not a haver (friend). This is our message to the
President of the United States today, as he "traffic jams" the
streets of Jerusalem for us. The state media in Israel always speak
about Clinton as the President friendliest to Israel. But this is
simply not correct. There is no American President who so greatly
advanced the goal of the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians. A
President who brazenly intervenes in Israel's internal affairs. A
President who came out in favor of Peres in the last elections, and
who now is responsible for the supervision over and implementation of
agreements that endanger the very existence of our country.
All this did not have to be like this. President Clinton is a
believer, loves the Bible, and there is no doubt that instead of
being a devotee of the platform of Peace Now, he could have been a
supporter of the national camp. So then what tipped the scales? We
find the answer to this question in the history of Hanukkah.
Historians asked why Antiochus issued his antireligious decrees
against the Jewish people, since he did not act in this manner
against other peoples that he had conquered. He permitted the latter
to continue their religious practices, so then why did he so
forcefully come out with such drastic decrees specifically against
the Jews? Decrees whose only purpose was the elimination of Judaism?
The historian Bickerman answers the question by stating that
Antiochus was ringed by Jewish advisors, Hellenists, and they were
the ones who counseled him to issue his decrees against their
observant brother Jews.
The Hellenist Jews who wanted to assimilate, Hellenists who sought to
remove from their shoulders the yoke of Jewish tradition, the yoke of
Torah, and who wanted to turn the Jewish people into a people like
all others, advised Antiochus how to break the Jewish people.
And this, unfortunately, is still relevant today. Clinton is
surrounded by Jewish advisors who belong to the extreme left, from
Dennis Ross to Martin Indyk and Shimon Peres. They decide regarding
his statements and actions concerning Israel. They are the ones who
have fashioned Clinton's outlook relating to Israel and the problem
of the Arabs here. And just as the Hellenists in their time
recommended that Antiochus enact antireligious decrees in order to
crush the national camp, so too today's Hellenists, the entire
leftist camp headed by Shimon Peres, have advised Clinton to enact
the anti-Eretz Israel Oslo decrees with the aim of breaking the
national camp and turning Israel into a country like all others.
The tragedy is that Prime Minister Netanyahu could have stopped this
cycle of Hellenism. For Netanyahu knows that, unlike Clinton and the
pro-Arab State Department, a large majority in the American Congress
is not sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and this Congressional
majority represents millions of Republican Christians in the US who
despise the Palestinians and who are sympathetic to us, the national
camp. Instead of nurturing their sympathy and doing everything so
that their power in Congress would increase, Netanyahu gave them a
terrible slap in the face when he agreed to come to Wye Plantation, a
week before the Congressional elections, and thus increased the
strength of Clinton and his leftist band. The Republicans begged
Netanyahu to wait two weeks before coming to Wye Plantation. They
explained to him that if he were to come after the elections to
Congress, then Clinton would have less possibility of pressuring
Netanyahu, but in an incomprehensible manner, Netanyahu insisted on
coming specifically before the elections, and the rest of the story
is well-known.
At Wye Plantation it became clear to all of us that Netanyahu lost
his will and his power to fight on behalf of Eretz Israel. There at
Wye Plantation Netanyahu, Sharon, and Uri Elitzur, albeit against
their will, joined the band of Hellenists of Dennis Ross, Martin
Indyk, and Shimon Peres.
Many commentators ask why we celebrate eight days of Hanukkah. There
was enough oil for one day, and the miracle was that the oil
continued to burn for seven more days. So then we should celebrate
seven days of Hanukkah, and not eight. Rabbi Meir Kahana, may the
Lord avenge him, provides an interesting interpretation for this
question.
As we know, the miracle of the cruse of oil symbolizes the miracle of
the victory of the few over the many. But inherent within this
miracle is another miracle: the very fact that the Jews took the
initiative to fight is a miracle by itself! Yes, my listeners, the
miracle of the first day is that the Jews were willing to go forth
and struggle on behalf of the Torah of Israel and Eretz Israel.
We await this miracle today. We wait today for Jewish leadership that
will struggle against the Hellenists among us and the haters of
Israel outside us.
Tomorrow, Monday, at 10:00 a.m., at the Hamashbir plaza in Jerusalem,
we in Women in Green will demonstrate against the policy of havlagah
(restraint) of the government, and we will demand that deterrence be
restored to our soldiers and to our civilians, whether in Lebanon or
in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. The public is invited to come and
demonstrate with us and to sign a petition. Ilana Podolsky, a
resident of Kiriat Arba, who was stoned by Arab rioters and still
suffers from trials against her, will be with us, and this will be a
good opportunity to come and support her.
Today, Sunday, at 4:00 p.m., a demonstration will be held for the
release of Jonathan Pollard, with the participation of MK's and
various public figures. The demonstration will be held at 4:00 p.m.,
opposite the President's Residence in Jerusalem, when Weitzman will
meet with Clinton. Together we will demand Pollard's release.
Have a good week, Hanukkah sameah, and, of course, let us not forget
our MIA's: Ron Arad, Zechariah Baumel, Yehudah Katz, and Tzvi
Feldman.
Top of Page |
End of Page |
What We Say Index Page |
To Home Page
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, December 22, 1998
To all our members,
Please spread as widely as possible.
Nadia
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because of the difficult situation the country is in-
a situation in which our People, our Torah and our Land
are exposed to great dangers, some Jerusalem women have decided to
organize a children's prayer at the Kotel.
On Monday, 9th of Tevet, December 28- eve of the fast-
at 12:00 noon at the Kotel there will be a giant tefilla of "Tinokkot
Shel Beit Rabban" (children from 7 to 12 years old).
The children and their mothers will be davening and reading Tehillim
The Tefillah (prayer) has received the blessing of Rabbi Avraham
Shapira and of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.
The organizers hope that thousands of children will be coming to the
Kotel. They call upon those who cannot come, to organize a
simultaneous prayer of children in their respective communities
around the world.
For more information call Sara Attlany - 02-9933026
or Rachel Mishan -02-6541607
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, December 22, 1998
Closing the Ranks
The following is the text of Sunday's program by Nadia Matar, the
chairperson of Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green), on Arutz
7. Nadia speaks every Sunday after the 12:00 noon newscast.
Shalom to all our listeners!
This is Nadia Matar speaking -
The main slogan of Netanyahu's campaign in the last elections was
"Peres will divide Jerusalem." Who would have believed then that,
less than three years later, the realistic slogan would be "Bibi
divides and destroys the national camp." But this is the situation.
The national camp today is split, confused, and no longer knows what
to think.
A part of our public says that there is absolutely no way, that it is
forbidden to bring about Netanyahu's downfall, because he is the
lesser evil, and if we bring him down, there is a high probability
that the left will take power. These people reiterate the well-known
sentence, "In '92 we brought Shamir down, and this put the left in
power." The trauma of the leftist government is so great that people
are simply ready to forgive Netanyahu for everything - just so the
left will not take power. One woman called me and said that the
borders of the land are important, but this is not everything, there
is also the matter of Judaism, of the Jewish character of the state.
At least we have a Prime Minister who cloaks himself in a talit when
he visits Poland, this woman who spoke with me said. We have a Prime
Minister who is proud of his Jewishness, and so on....
These people believe that this time Netanyahu really will not
continue with the Wye agreement, and therefore we must not bring him
down.
On the other hand, there is another part of the national camp,
that maintains that the situation has become intolerable. How many
times can we be lied to? Netanyahu is excellent at public relations,
and he has cunningly succeeded in creating the impression among a
large portion of the public that he really cares about us, that every
concession truly pains him to the depths of his soul, and that he
really has to give in here and there due to American pressure. But,
my listeners, all this is a Hollywood performance, and the difference
between Netanyahu and Barak is only cosmetic. When all the makeup is
removed from Netanyahu's mask, there can be only one conclusion:
Netanyahu wants to continue with the process of withdrawals,
Netanyahu is returning us to the '67 borders, Netanyahu is going to
establish a Palestinian state with his own hands, Netanyahu will
evacuate settlements, Netanyahu will withdraw from the Golan.
The difference from the left is that Netanyahu embraces us on the way
to the abyss and does not defame us. His permitting some building in
Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is part of the show. We should recall that
in Yamit the government built roads until the day before the
evacuation. Of what benefit will this construction be, if most of the
settlements will be enclaves in a sea of terrorists? Who will want to
buy these new houses if a Bosnia situation is created here?
And to the woman who was so moved by Netanyahu's wearing a talit in
Poland, I respond with what Eliakim Haetzni told me. If all that we
want is a little taste of Yiddishkeit,if all that matters is
"feeling Jewish" then outside Israel we feel even more Jewish. There
are wonderful Jewish communities abroad in which it is a pleasure to
be a Jew and feel Jewish. And I want to add to Haetzni's comment:
what good does it do for the Prime Minister to enwrap himself in a
talit in Auschwitz, if several days later he concedes and hands over
our homeland to those who continue in the path of the Nazis?
In my opinion, the time has come for a Prime Minister who
represents the national camp to fall, when he makes concessions
regarding our homeland. A Prime Minister who represents us cannot
think that we are in his pocket solely because of the trauma caused
by the left. In Wye Plantation Netanyahu crossed all the red lines.
It was there that he waived reciprocity and there that he established
the state of Palestine, and therefore he must fall.
The truth be told though, all this Talmudic hairsplitting is really
no longer so important or relevant. If Netanyahu will not fall
tomorrow, then this will happen in the coming months, and if not,
then, my listeners, the elections are already at our doorstep. The
relevant question today is not so much whether or not to bring
Netanyahu down, but how we are preparing for the approaching
elections.
This is the place to refute the lie of the '92 elections; to say that
the downfall of Shamir led to the establishment of the leftist
government is completely false. Bringing Shamir down did not lead to
the rise of the left. What did lead to the rise of the left was that,
after Shamir fell, the national camp ran in the elections split and
divided. If the national camp bloc had been united then, it would
have been victorious. This is the lesson that we must learn for the
approaching elections.
If the national camp will run in the approaching elections in a
cohesive fashion, in some united bloc like the Likud-Gesher-Tzomet
bloc, or similar to Meretz, that united Ratz (the Civil Rights and
Peace Movement), Mapam, and Shinui, then, my listeners, we will easily
have 25 seats in the Knesset, and no Prime Minister will be able to
ignore us. And this is our task, beginning tomorrow - we, the common
people, must pester our representatives in the Knesset to transcend
their personal honor and find some kind of formula for unity and closing
of the ranks.
It is only in this manner that we will have a chance of saving, not
only the settlement enterprise, but also the Jewish character of the
state, and to prepare for the hard days facing us.
Have a good week, and let us not forget to continue our struggle for
the release of Jonathan Pollard and for the return of our MIA sons:
Ron Arad, Zechariah Baumel, Tzvi Feldman, and Yehudah Katz.
Top of Page |
What We Say Index Page |
To Home Page