July 2001
July 1, 2001 Letter to Minister of Communications Ruby Rivlin
July 2, 2001 King Solomon, We Need You
July 5, 2001 Betraying the "Soul" of Peres!
July 5, 2001 In Jedwabne
July 10, 2001 Tenne and Degani Still In Need of Help
July 10, 2001 ME, A Criminal?
July 12, 2001 Does the Israeli Police Permit Murder of Jews?
July 12, 2001 Arafat Always Goes Too Far
July 15, 2001 Dennis Ross Confesses
July 16, 2001 Walking Around the Walls of the Old City
July 17, 2001 Israel Must Begin Evicting Its Enemies
July 20, 2001 Stop Blaming the Jews!
July 20, 2001 Har-Shefi Finally Pardoned!
July 22, 2001 You Don't Have To Sound Apologetic, Mr. President
July 22, 2001 Questions to Mommy
July 26, 2001 Rebuilding the Third Temple?
July 29, 2001 Suppression, Israeli Style
July 31, 2001 The Power of Weeping
July 31, 2001 A Jerusalem Tisha B'Av
July 31, 2001 More about the Temple Mount
July 31, 2001 Our Annual Tisha B'Av Walk
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 1, 2001
Honorable Ruby Rivlin
Minister of Communications
Dear Sir:
Several months ago when we congratulated Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
on his being elected to Israel's most prestigious office, we pointed out
that he should focus on bringing about a necessary house cleaning with
regard to the Public owned station Channel 1. Unfortunately, virtually
nothing has been done in that regard.
The Israeli public continues to receive an imbalance in the
presentation of the news. The Sarids, Beilins and Ben Amis continue to
disproportionately appear on this channel, with their predictable commentary
and anti-nationalistic views. So, for instance, when Prime Minister Sharon
is in Washington, and his meeting with President Bush, Sarid is called upon
to appear and receive as much time, and even more, downplaying the Prime
Minister. The views of a minority are given a disproportionate amount of
time to give their point of view, which in no way reflects the Zionist views
that a majority of our people hold.
It is quite apparent that those in charge will not allow the public
to hear fairly and fully Women In Green or Yesha or for that matter other
Zionist views against the dominance of the left in the communications
field. Those presently in control of the network unfortunately, decide
what sort of news the public is to hear, and how it is to be slanted.
A publicly owned network should be representative of the People.
While a majority of its listeners believe that we should have a Jewish
state, one does not come away with that understanding at all after listening
to our Government station.
It is time to act and not allow a perpetuation of things as they have
been. Precious time is being lost. The consequences are grave. No
concrete things are being done by you and this Government to lift the morale
of our People in these perilous times.
We do not know if you have the courage, vision and desire to take on
the entrenched "elite" of Channel 1 It requires a realization of how
extensive is their power, and the absolute need of the People to have their
airwaves represent their interests. We voted for a change, but we still
have, after many months of the Sharon Government being in office, the same
intolerable situation concerning what we are permitted to hear on television
and radio. When will you take the necessary steps to correct this extremely
bad and harmful situation?
Respectfully,
Michael Levi Matar,
Administrator
Cc: Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 2, 2001
King Solomon, We Need You
The headline in HaAretz read: "Arafat publicly blasts Israel after meeting
with Peres." The meeting, incidentally, took place on Friday night, so
that this Jewish Foreign Minister was shamefully, blatantly, and publicly
flaunting the violation of Israel's Sabbath. This is typical of Shimon
Peres. He has no regard for the perpetuation of Jewish traditions and holds
secular socialism as the key to Israel's salvation. There is a serious
question as to why the Socialist International audience in Lisbon would give
a platform to the terrorist-murderer Arafat. The Prophets of Israel would
have condemned this moral debasement. The nations of the world continue to
be silent in the face of such hypocrisy.
Peres, of course, was his usual subservient self. His foolishness lies not
only in deciding to attend this Socialist gathering. He knew that Arafat
would be honored by the Socialists. He was aware that these Socialists
would give Arafat a platform to address them. The matter went deeper.
Peres should have known his long futile previous sessions with Arafat
resulted in absolutely nothing productive. Moreover, Peres responded to
Arafat's public tongue lashing of Israel with the following ridiculous and
harmful blunder. He told Arafat through means of the world media: "Give
us security, and you'll get freedom." It was as if Peres was admitting
that Israel was responsible for the loss of Arab freedom. Given the
dictatorial nature of Arafat, and the corrupt manner in which his
Palestinian Authority is run, the concept that Israel is depriving Arafat's
Arabs of freedom is ludicrous.
The bottom line is that this present Foreign Minister of Israel has not
absorbed a Jewish cardinal principle that is found throughout our ancient
history. There is such a thing as evil in this world, and the
personification of such evil is found today in the person of terrorist
Arafat. He is Mr. Immorality; he murders, he lies, he deceives, and the
world is silent. The fact is that Peres by his blind adherence to the
beliefs of the Socialist Manifesto, is not a suitable Jewish leader. Moshe
Sharrett long ago made this appraisal of Peres, saying that if he were ever
in a leadership position, Israel would be required to don mourning garments.
Not only is Peres morally weak, but by his socialist convictions he
justifies such weakness by claiming that morality is, after all, relative
and not absolute.
Peres has totally failed to solve the problem of how to deal with Arafat.
He has been unable to bind him to fulfill his commitments under the various
Agreements which he signed. Despite it all, Peres persists in continuing
with him as a "peace partner." Not only that, Peres sees in the Oslo path,
the one and only viable alternative. This myopic and unimaginative thinking
is dangerous and extremely harmful to Israel. He is by no means the skilled
world diplomat some people make him out to be. He is merely an old, tired
and vain individual, who is bent on unsuccessfully applying his stale,
outdated views to a ruthless murderer. Arafat simultaneously mocks him,
and uses him in the devious make-believe game called the "peace process"
which Peres initiated. Arafat turns Oslo on and off, whenever he
strategically thinks it is necessary. However, Shimon is always there,
ready and willing to pick up the pieces,(and the bodies), whenever Arafat
signals for Peres's assistance, in order to bail him out, and to justify or
make excuses for his murderous escapades.
Unfortunately, Peres is at an age where he no longer is capable of reversing
his way of thinking. He has caused the death of many Jews by giving the
murderer Arafat guns. He will not voluntarily relinquish the power he has
as Foreign Minister. Nor will he consent to Sharon having the power to make
the necessary decision to abandon Oslo. We need a King Solomon! Sharon
apparently does not any longer have the wisdom, daring or courage. He had
shown these characteristics in the past, but the "liberal left" and the Labor
party have had deleterious effects on his inherent nationalistic leanings.
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*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 5, 2001
Betraying the "Soul" of Peres!
Shimon Peres has a unique concept of what democracy is all about. It
reduces itself to a simple formula. What Peres determines his conscience to
be at any particular moment is the overriding consideration. It is not Prime
Minister Sharon who should run the government. After all, he merely had
been given recently an overwhelming mandate by the electorate. It is the
conscience of Peres that is the overriding criterion of what is best for
Israel.
"I am serving as foreign minister to conduct the foreign policy I believe
in." "I didn't enter this government in order to betray my soul." So
spoke Peres when attacked for meeting with Arafat at the Socialist
International in Lisbon. Not a word about what the People want. It is
arrogant Peres who determines what has to be done in order for Israel to
survive.
So it is the "soul" of Peres that will determine the fate of Israel. Heaven
help us! Peres is continually rejected by the electorate, and recently by
the Knesset in his bid to be President. These votes of rejection expressed
the views of the Israeli electorate and the Knesset on whether Israel
should be run according to the "soul" and thinking of Peres.
This vain man has discarded the traditions of his forefathers, and has
adopted the Socialist International as his panacea for redeeming the Jewish
People. He is out of touch with the desires of a great majority of the
Jewish People. Those who have lived alongside of him here in Israel know
of his moral weakness, and his past shenanigans. They know and have
repeatedly rejected in the ballot box the solutions that he has offered.
He is like a bad penny, insisting we buy his stale merchandise with only his
counterfeit coinage. His formulas for solving Israel's problems are not
workable, nor beneficial for the Jewish People. Most of his decisions have
proven to be a disaster in the past. His present course of action stubbornly
clings to the Arafat-Oslo formula. It is a time bomb due to explode at any
moment.
The disdain which Peres holds for the Jewish People and their traditions
would not pose a threat, were he not in the powerful position of Israel's
Foreign Minister. There he can do Israel a great deal of irreparable harm.
Moreover, by continually threatening to resign from the coalition of the
unity government, he, in effect, has found a way to insure that he not be
challenged seriously. In these perilous times, he knows that Sharon is not
prepared to chance going it alone, without Labor. Peres thus continues to
make the arbitrary decisions of his "soul," which, in turn, cause the
deterioration of the heart and morale of the Jewish People.
Ruth and Nadia Matar.
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 5, 2001
In Jedwabne
(The bestiality of the Poles and Germans is aptly described below in this
article which recently appeared in Newsweek, written by the well-known
columnist, George F. Will. The article is a dire warning to Jews
everywhere, but especially to those living in Israel. The Arabs have shown,
during the 1929 pogrom in Hebron as well as in more recent times -- the
lynching
of two Jewish soldiers in Ramallah and the brutal murder of two teenagers
in Tekoa
-- that they are indistinguishable from the Poles and the Germans who were
involved
in the massacres described in Will's article.)
July 10, 1941, In Jedwabne
By George F. Will (Newsweek July 9, 2001)
Sixty years ago, on July 10, 1941, HALF THE POLISH town of Jedwabne
murdered the other half. Of 1,600 Jews, about a dozen survived. Why did
the murderers do it? Prof. Jan Gross of New York University may not realize
that he has found the answer.
It is in his astonishing little book (173 pages of text) just published
by Princeton University Press. The title "Neighbors" is an ice dagger in
the heart, but only after the book has been read. The word neighbor
connotes moral sympathy ("neighborly") as well as physical proximity. But
not on July 10, 1941 in Jedwabne.
Gross says this is a rather typical book about the Holocaust because it
does not offer "closure" - I could not say to myself when I got to the last
page, "Well, I understand now." Perhaps he is flinching from the awful
answer his book supplies.
On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union which was occupying
the part of Poland containing Jedwabne. On June 23, a small detachment of
Germans entered the town. There were almost immediately some isolated
atrocities by Poles against Jews - one man stoned to death with bricks,
another knifed and his eyes and tongue cut out. German policy encouraged
pogroms by local populations, and there were some ghastly ones near
Jedwabne. One of the first questions asked of the Germans occupying the
town was "Is it permitted to kill the Jews."
After the carnival of killing, the Germans reportedly thought the Poles
"had gone overboard" and said to them, "Was eight hours not enough for you
to do with the Jews as you please?" But the murderers were not socially
marginal people. At a town meeting - democracy, really - Jedwabne’s leaders
met with the Germans. Gross quotes a witness: "When the Germans proposed to
leave one Jewish family from each profession, local carpenter Szlezinski,
who was present, answered: 'We have enough of our own, we have to destroy
all the Jews, none should stay alive.' Mayor Karolak and everybody else
agreed with his words."
The mayor coordinated the killing, but otherwise, Gross says, "people
were free to improvise." Peasants from nearby villages got word of the
planned pogrom and came to town as to a fair. A Pole recalls that "the
Jewish population became a toy in the hands of the Poles." The Holocaust has
been called a manifestation of modernity because of its industrialization of
murder. But in Jedwabne books and wooden clubs were used. A head was hacked
off and passed and kicked around. To escape the killers, women fled to a pond
and drowned their babies, then themselves. But most were burned alive in a
barn while the town was searched for the surviving sick and children. A
witness: "As for the little children, they roped a few together by their
legs and carried them on their backs, then put them on pitchforks and threw
them onto smoldering coals."
Gross estimates that half the town's men participated, and because the
killings were concentrated in a space no longer than a sports stadium,
everyone "in possession of a sense of sight, smell, or hearing either
participated in or witnessed the tormented deaths." A murderer in uniform
can resemble a cog in a machine, but the last faces seen by Jedwabne's Jews
were the familiar faces of neighbors. It was, Gross says, mass murder in a
double sense - on account of both numbers of victims and the number of
perpetrators."
The Germans' involvement was confined by photographing events and, in
one instance, offering the sort of advice professionals offer amateurs. A
witness recalls that when Poles with thick clubs were battering six Jews, a
watching German said, "Do not kill at once. Slowly, let them suffer."
In 1996, Daniel Goldbagen's book "Hitler's Willing Executioners:
Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" argues that German society was saturated
by an "eliminationist anti-Semitism" that produced a high degree of
voluntary participation in genocide. His premise – that Hitler merely
unleashed a cultural latency and fulfilled the sick logic of German
history – reduces Hitler's role to that of mere catalyst. Goldhagen did
stress the powerful rule of Third Reich propaganda. But, then, what of the
Poles of Jedwabne, who were not Germans and who did their uncoerced
murdering after just two weeks of German occupation, before being
conditioned by propaganda?
Christopher Browning, author of "Ordinary Men," a study of middle-aged
German conscripts who became consenting participants in mass-murder police
battalions in Poland, argued that cruelties inflicted by the Khmer Rouge
against fellow Cambodians and by Chinese against Chinese during Mao's
Cultural Revolution cannot be explained by Goldhagen's model - centuries of
conditioning by a single idea. Neither can Jedwabne be explained by Easter
sermons characterizing Jews as God-killers, or by medieval myths about
ritual murders of children by Jews, or by lust for plunder.
Gross's book accords with Browning's admonition that explanation must
involve "those universal aspects of human nature that transcend the
cognition and culture of ordinary Germans." Or ordinary Poles. At bottom,
the explanation is not in their national history but in humanity as it
quickly becomes when severed from social restraints.
Gross quotes, but does not sufficiently dwell on, philosopher Eric
Voegelin’s thoughts about "the simple man, who is a decent man as long as the
society as a whole is in order, but who then goes wild, without knowing what
he is doing, when disorder arises somewhere and the society is no longer
holding together." Political philosophies that celebrate atomistic
individualism need to be re-read in the light cast by the crematoria of
Auschwitz.
The Holocaust, writes Gross, is a "foundational event of modern
sensibility, forever afterward to be an essential consideration in
reflections about the human condition." So, again: Why in Jedwabne did
neighbors murder their neighbors? Because it was permitted. Because they
could.
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*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 10, 2001
Tenne and Degani Still In Need of Help
Dear Friends,
Yael Tenne wishes to thank all those who have helped her and her family
cope with the financial situation which arose due to the horrible
circumstances outlined in the following story.
In spite of the generosity of a few good people, we are resending this
story in the hope that more help can be given to the Tenne and Degani
families, as their financial situation continues to be grave.
Attached is a photo of Gaddi Tenne at work building a house in the Land of
Israel. He would like to return to this work, and not be dependent on charity,
but due to the terrible security situation in which he finds himself, this
is presently impossible.
Nadia
----------------------------------------
Gaddi Tenne Shot At
In January, I sent an e-mail with the story of what happened to the
Tenne and Degani families from Itamar.
For the full story, see below.
I would like to update you on what has happened to them since then and
see how we can help them:
In brief, what happened is that on Sukkot over a 100 Arabs
marched towards the community of Itamar with clubs, axes and saws.
Few people were on the yishuv. Yael's husband, Gaddi Tenne, and her brother
Yaron Degani were called, separately, to the place. When Yaron
demanded -in Arabic- that the Arabs stop approaching
and go back, they continued towards Itamar, screaming "Itbach el
Yehud" (death to the Jews) and making threatening motions.
Yaron shot a few warning shots. Gaddi, hearing the shots, ran to the place,
and also shot in the air. The police and army finally arrived.
The Arabs claimed one of them was killed. (No body was ever
displayed. The Arabs claim they buried him right away!)
Yaron and Gaddi were arrested for 5 days and accused of murder.
In addition, Jibril Rajoub (PLO head of "police") proclaimed
vengeance and said all would be done to kill Gaddi and Yaron.
Gaddi's Rabbi clearly told him he is not allowed to leave Itamar
without a personal bodyguard.
Friends, since that shooting incident in January, the lives of these
2 families have turned into a living hell. Legal fees have
obligated them to take loans that basically are destroying the
families financially.
As we said in the previous mail, both families have together 18
children. Itamar is a very simple modest community. The
families live in caravans (mobile homes) or very simple homes. Their
income is basic and nobody is capable of financially helping their friends,
the Tenne and Degani families.
Gaddi Tenne is what we call in Hebrew a "shiputznik" ( a
repairman). Because the family could not pay for a personal body
guard that would enable him to leave Itamar, Gaddi has been
trying to find work in Itamar itself. For a while he was in charge of
the water on the yishuv; but because of the situation and the
simple conditions in Itamar itself, people there were not able to
pay him. The Tenne's immediately sold their car to help pay some
debts.
His wife, Yael, is the one who has been running around non-stop,
trying to cope and keep this household normal. I have been in
weekly contact with her and she gave me updates on their
difficulties. In addition to the regular needs of 10 children (clothing,
dentist, school, yeshiva etc...) the Tenne family has been hit with
great difficulties:
their older married son had a car crash, needed to be operated on
and spent time in the hospital. Yael had to be away from her
family to help him and his wife, for the time he was in the hospital.
She often needs to be in Jerusalem, which in itself, in our crazy
times, is not easy. Often the roads are closed and going back to
Itamar takes many hours. Buses are rare and one has to hitchhike.
In the winter, the caravan where the children sleep, collapsed,
became a wreck, full of mud...but they have no money to buy the
material to repair it.
The financial situation became so intolerable that Gaddi told his
Rabbi he must be able to leave Itamar to start working again and
make money. And because he cannot pay for a bodyguard, he will
have to go without one. The Rabbi gave him the OK.
Yesterday, Monday April 23rd, 2001, Gaddi Tenne was on his way
to Yitzhar where he has different repair jobs, especially
in Rabbi Ginzburgh's yeshiva. He borrowed a neighbor's car and on
his way to Yitzhar....Arabs shot at him. Three bullets hit the car.
Baruch Hashem Gaddi was not hurt. The family is convinced Gaddi was
targeted by Jibril Rajoub's men.
Yael called me immediately to tell me that the man they were
talking about on the news was her husband. She called me from
the Ichilov hospital where her 11 year old daugther was undergoing
surgery after having fallen off her scooter and broken 2 bones.
You can imagine in what state this family is.
Yael has begged her husband not to leave town anymore without
proper protection. Meanwhile she cannot be in touch with her
children in Itamar cause she is in the hospital with her daughter
and the phone has been cut off (bills were not paid).
I believe Hashem is testing not only them but us too. It is our
obligation to help this family get back on their feet. All they want is
to go back to the days before the Sukkot shooting incident. Days
where Gaddi and Yael had no debts and could live a normal,
modest Torah life in Eretz Yisrael. These 2 Jews protected their
community from a lynching mob. Now it is our turn to help and protect
them.
Yael gave me the following list of their debts:
1- Legal fees: They found a lawyer who asked a "modest" sum of
$30,000. (This fee is "modest" compared to what others asked).
They paid their lawyer the entire sum after taking a loan.
They managed to repay $10,000 with the help of donations.
They need to repay another $20,000.
By the way, the trial is basically going nowhere. The left and the
press are keeping the pressure on the courts to ensure that the case
is not closed, and on the other hand, the trial has not started yet
cause there is no evidence whatsoever that a murder has been committed
here!!!
2- A personal bodyguard costs 450 NIS a day.
($1= 4,15 NIS)
3- To fix the children's caravan costs $4000
4- Debts to school and yeshiva: 10,000 NIS
5- Debts to the dentist: 5000 NIS
6- Debts because of their older son, Itai: $1050
7- Debts for clothing: 3000 NIS
8- Telephone bill they were unable to pay (and therfore the telephone
has been cut off ): 4780 NIS
In addition, I want to add that we have to find a solution for Gaddi to
be able to travel around safely. As a repairman he needs a car to
go and get materials, drive them to the homes he fixes etc...
Yael says they really need that bodyguard. I think that it is not
enough. One can have 3 bodyguards and still get shot in the car
while driving to work. Maybe we need to at least immediately buy
him a bulletproof vest and helmet....or a bullet proof car....I don't
know.
Let's first of all get them out of their debts.
Dollar checks are tax deductible for US tax purposes.
Please send them to the Central Fund of Israel and earmark them
"The committee for the Tenne and Degani families"
In Israel:
Central Fund of Israel- the Committee for the Tenne and Degani families
POB 6724
Efrat 90435
In the States:
Central Fund of Israel
(The Committee for the Tenne and Degani families)
980 6th Avenue
New York NY 10018
Nadia
------------------------------------------------
The following is a copy of the first letter I received from Yael Tenne
January 9, 2001
To: Ms. Nadia Matar
From Yael Tenne
Itamar - Samaria
Further to our telephone conversation, I am sitting down and
committing to writing the matter about which we spoke.
About two years ago, a group of people came together to live in
Itamar, in the [Samaria] hills. We all regarded as supremely
important the sanctification of these lands by a maximal amount of
Torah, commandments, and good deeds, so that by their merit
we would be worthy of these lands. Some of these people, including
ourselves, are large families (Tenne - 10 children; Dagani - 8 children).
On Sukkot this year, on the second day of Hol ha-Moed, Kibbutz
Hafetz Hayyim organized a vacation day for the inhabitants of the
yishuvim of the eastern slopes of the Samaria hills because of the
security situation. [translator's note: As an act of solidarity, many
kibbutzim have invited residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza for a
day of fun]. So many families from our settlement [Itamar] went,
so that none of those left in Itamar knew who was present, if at all.
Suddenly, more than 100 Arabs from the village of Beit Furik
marched towards Itamar, up the hill, armed with clubs, axes, and saws.
They came under the pretext of harvesting olives, but they did not stop
in the olive grove. They came up to the road that connects the
settlement with the hills, where area 851 meets the main road.
A woman from the nearby hill was driving on her way to the
grocery >store and saw the mob. She continued on her way, and the first
person >she encountered was my brother, Yaron Dagani, who was with his
two-year-old son. She told him that there were Arabs on the hill,
and that he should see what to do about that. Yaron did not know their
number, he did not imagine how many there were. He left the
baby in his house, took his weapon, informed the army outpost,
and went to see what it was all about.
When he arrived there, and saw what an unacceptable mass was
standing opposite him, when he did not know if anyone besides him was
on the hill, he shouted in Arabic to the Arabs to leave. Not only did they
not leave, they approached him, screamed "Itbah el-Yahud [death
to the Jews]," and made motions of slaughtering and all kinds of
military movements, until they came within several meters of
Yaron.
Yaron wanted to deter them, on the one hand, and also to
summon help. He fired several rounds in the air, and when he saw that his
ammunition was running out - and what would happen? - he fired in
their direction.
At that time Gaddi Tenne, my husband, stood in the synagogue,reciting the
Shemoneh Esreh prayer. He hears shots. Our thirteen-year-old daughter,
Ahinoam,
was alone in the mobile home, 50 meters from where things were happening.
He knows that everyone has gone to kibbutz Hafetz Hayyim for a day of fun.
He is certain that the Arabs are firing on Point 851 (where his caravan is
located).
He concludes his prayer, runs from the synagogue, meets an
additional person with a baby in one hand and a rifle in the other. Gaddi
takes the rifle, and asks the person to call the soldiers. He arrives at
the scene, sees the mob, but not Yaron. He fires a number of
rounds in the air.
In the meantime, the police arrive, and soldiers and officers also
arrive. The Arabs claimed that someone was killed. No one sees
the body; they claim they buried him an hour after it happened. Yaron
and Gaddi are arrested and charged with murder. They are released
under limiting conditions.
The left is not allowing the case to be closed. We were forced to
take a lawyer, whose fee, "modest" in relation to his colleagues, is
$30,000.
Not much time passed, before Jibril Rajub (PLO Chief of Police)
proclaimed vengeance, wanting the heads of Gaddi Tenne and
Yaron Dagani. And now the ruling by our rabbi calls for security, and this
too, God be blessed, costs a great deal of money. [Translator's
note:
Because the PLO Jibril Rajoub called to kill Gadi and Yaron, their
Rabbi said they cannot go out without a bodyguard; that too costs
money, in addition to the legal suit].
And now we are encompassed by children who have a lot of
needs - like ny children, and the restrictions on the entire populace,
and on us as individuals, in the days of riots and bloodshed, obviously
pose difficulties for us all. To such an extent that the simple and
minimal everyday expenses are harmed, despite all the loans that
we have taken for these needs, and that have to be repaid.
And therefore we call to you from this distress, to help bear the
tremendous burden of the Tenne and Dagani families, who are
fighting for their lives within the entire people of Israel. Our "crime" has
been that our husbands defended our yishuv from an Arab lynching mob.
To bank account:
"The Committee for the Tenne and Dagani Families"
Bank Hapoalim
Branch no. 533
Account no. 177944
or
By mail:
The Committee for the Tenne and Dagani Families
POB 5908
Jerusalem 91058
Telephone of the Tenne family in Itamar:
02-9947290
Sincerely, and with our thanks,
Yael Tenne
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*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 10, 2001
ME, A Criminal?
Shimon Peres is furious. He maintains that just because he was one of the
main architects of the Oslo Process, and agreed to give guns to Arafat, the
concept of criminally prosecuting him for such acts is absurd. He contends
further, that he should not be held responsible for the deaths and maiming
of Jews which resulted from Oslo.
When Peres became aware that there was a car sticker, widely being
circulated, which reads: "Prosecute those responsible for Oslo"*, he was
beside himself. However, he recovered his composure. He made a public
statement in which he typically used the ruse of tying in Rabin to any
attack made upon him personally. The critics of Oslo do not hold Rabin to
be one of the architects of Oslo. They say Rabin was duped by Peres into
supporting it. Now, when Peres was verbally attacked individually, he
presented the matter as if Rabin was being attacked as well. Peres is no
fool. He knows how to manipulate public opinion. However, Peres is mortal
and vain. It is reminiscent of the time when the Labor Party accused him of
being a "loser," to which he reacted vigorously then. To this new
accusation he retorted with the now equally famous phrase: "Me, A Criminal?"
Peres knows how to exploit the dead. Cleverly he knows the deceased can no
longer defend themselves. Peres always conveys the impression that it was
Rabin who was behind the Oslo scenario, directing its every move. After
Rabin's death, Peres consistently pretended an intimate partnership and
relationship with Rabin, which in fact never existed.
The facts are otherwise. Whenever during Rabin's lifetime he soberly
referred to Peres, it was always in derogatory terms. Thus in his
autobiography he continually referred to Peres in a most negative manner.
Peres was a "liar," could not be relied on, and could never be trusted.
Rabin rarely had a kind word for Peres. Suddenly, after Rabin's death,
Peres devised an intimacy which thereto never existed. Peres thus uses his
name extensively, never once mentioning the reservations nor the conditions
of Rabin’s support for Oslo. This was typical Peres, as he himself supported
Oslo unconditionally. Peres thus manipulates the use of Rabin's name and
association, to justify his own instrumental role and duplicity in Oslo.
Even Peres's restoration of the monster Arafat from oblivion is made out by
Peres as if there was a joint decision made with Rabin as to this grave
miscalculation.
Prosecute the Oslo perpetrators? Yes! It is Peres who is in the forefront
of those responsible for the present catastrophe which has befallen Israel.
Peres's attempt to hide behind a deceased Rabin will fail. Rabin,
unfortunately, cannot arise from his grave. He is thus unable to join with
others in the justifiable condemnation of Peres which Peres richly deserves
as the main architect of Oslo, and apologist of Arafat.
* If you wish car stickers in Hebrew "Prosecute the Oslo Criminals,"
please email, call, fax or write and we will send them to you. Tel.
02-624-9887
Fax: 02-624-5380, P.O.B. 7352, JERUSALEM, 91072 Israel.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 12, 2001
Does the Israeli Police Permit the Murder of the
Jewish Residents of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza?
In an official letter that was received today, the Israeli police
informed Nadia Matar, the co- chairperson of Women for Israel's
Tomorrow (Women in Green), that it will not continue to investigate the
complaint filed by Women in Green against Zeev Sternhal, who, in an
article in "Ha'aretz," incited the Arabs to murder settlers and encouraged
them to place explosive charges, only on the eastern side of the Green
Line.
(Sternhal wrote in "Ha'aretz," May 11, 2001: "There is no doubt
regarding the legitimacy of the armed resistance in the territories
themselves. If the Palestinians had a bit of sense, they would
concentrate their struggle against the settlements. [...] They would
similarly refrain from placing explosive charges on the western side of the
Green Line.")
According to the police, "there is no criminal guilt" in Sternhal's
statements.
The Women in Green movement is stunned by the police
statement, that basically permits the calling for the murder of the Jewish
residents of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Yasser Arafat is already officially
acting in accordance with Sternhal's directive. "Ma'ariv," today reports:
"Arafat told his men: Kill as many settlers as possible."
We appeal to Minister Uzi Landau, who is in charge of the
police, and ask: Do you, too, agree with this approach?
Call and fax Minister of Police Uzi Landau protesting the police's
decision to close the investigation against Sternhal.
Tel: 972-2-530-8500
Fax: 972-2-581-1832
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 12, 2001
Arafat Always Goes Too Far
Robert L. Pollock
Wall St. Journal
The crackdown was swift and brutal. Though the government was deeply
divided between hardliners and those favoring more negotiation with the
Palestinians, the hardliners won. Towns and refugee camps that had
raised the flag of the Republic of Palestine were shelled, while Yasser Arafat
proclaimed a "genocide" and urged his people to resist. There were numerous
casualties on both sides.
The Arab League called for a ceasefire, and then for a meeting of its
heads of state. But Mr. Arafat rejected their proposals. At a meeting with the
government shortly thereafter, he accused his opponents of being
imperialists in
league with the U.S. If this sounds familiar, it should -- except that the
start
of this conflict was September 1970, not September 2000; it happened in
Jordan,
not Israel and the West Bank; and Mr. Arafat's nemesis was King Hussein,
not Ehud
Barak or Ariel Sharon.
In 1970, Palestinians, both citizens and refugees, were almost as
numerous in Jordan as King Hussein's own Bedouins. Mr. Arafat used the
estimated
20,000 Palestine Liberation Organization fighters in Jordan to exercise
control over much of the Palestinian population. In many parts of the
country, he was the de facto government. The king had grown increasingly
worried that Mr. Arafat posed a threat to his regime, and cross-border
attacks into Israel and other acts of PLO terror had put intolerable
strains on his relations with the West.
The last straw came on Sept. 6, when the PLO hijacked four civilian
airliners, flying three to Dawson's Field in PLO-controlled northern
Jordan and one to Cairo. After European governments secured the release of the
hostages by agreeing to release PLO terrorists from their prisons, the
PLO blew up the planes.
The Jordanian response, from which one of the PLO's most notorious
brigades was to take its name, became known as Black September. An estimated
2,000 PLO fighters and several thousand more Palestinian civilians were
killed.
Mr. Arafat fled to Cairo, where an angry meeting with King Hussein
nonetheless led to a ceasefire. But Mr. Arafat soon returned to join the
rump of his forces, which had retreated to northern Jordan, close to
their Syrian sponsors. Within 10 months they were driven out of the country.
As the world waits to see whether the current, fragile ceasefire will
put an end to nine months of low-level warfare between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority, the past may prove instructive. For, in essence,
we've been
here before. And regardless of what one thinks of Mr. Arafat from a moral
standpoint -- is he simply a terrorist, or does he come, as he famously
told the United Nations in 1974, "bearing an olive branch and a freedom
fighter's gun"? -- his history, wherever he has gained a territorial
foothold, has
not been that of a reliable or even rational partner, even with potential
Arab allies. His history is one of pushing too far.
Is the Jordan example not convincing? Well, a replay wasn't too long
in coming. Within months of their expulsion from Jordan, Mr. Arafat and the
PLO were setting up shop in Lebanon and tearing at the fabric of that
country too. Lebanese Christians, particularly, resented suffering the Israeli
retaliations that the PLO's cross-border raids provoked. In April 1974,
for example, the PLO killed 18 at Kiryat Shimona and 20, mostly schoolgirls,
at Maalot, both in northern Israel.
The early '70s were also boom years for PLO terrorism on the international
stage.
The year 1972 alone saw PLO groups blow up a West German electricity plant,
a Dutch gas plant and an oil refinery in Trieste, Italy; kill, in
conjunction with
the Japanese Red Army, 24 at Israel's Lod airport; and massacre 11 Israeli
athletes
at the Munich Olympics. In early 1973, Black September took the American
ambassador
and his deputy (along with one Belgian diplomat) hostage in Sudan's
capital, Khartoum,
and, after President Nixon refused to negotiate, murdered them.
Flush with money from his Arab and Soviet sponsors, as well as an
income tax levied by the Gulf states on Palestinian workers, Mr. Arafat
quickly
built up a state -- called the Fakhani Republic after the Beirut neighborhood
in which he operated -- in much of Lebanon. By 1975, he had some 15,000
troops under his command, with many more associated paramilitaries, and was
acquiring tanks and anti-aircraft guns.
PLO-affiliated conglomerates, including one controlled by Ahmed Qurei,
who would later negotiate the Oslo Accords, monopolized everything from
shoes to baby food. Billions of dollars flowed through the PLO, the only
thorough
record of which seemed to be a small notebook Mr. Arafat carried on his
person. His underlings levied arbitrary taxes on the Lebanese, and
practiced other forms of extortion, car theft and racketeering.
That year -- 1975 -- Christian rage boiled over, and Lebanon's long
civil war began. By early 1976, the PLO and its allies controlled most of the
country. But that summer Palestinian assassins murdered the U.S.
ambassador to Lebanon, and the U.S., Israel and the Arab states tacitly
supported a Syrian-led invasion of the country, which reversed many PLO
gains.
An October ceasefire stabilized the situation. But 40,000 had been killed.
And in subsequent years, PLO attacks into Israel continued, provoking more
Israeli retaliation. The endgame began in June 1982, when renewed PLO
attacks on
Israel coincided with an assassination attempt on the Israeli ambassador in
London.
Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered Defense Minister Ariel Sharon to send
Israel's armed forces into Lebanon to drive out the PLO. Mr. Arafat's
appeals to the Arab League and the U.N. went unheeded, while ordinary
Lebanese took to crying "Enough!" whenever they spotted him. In August
President Reagan convinced Israel to stop the fighting, but Mr. Arafat,
whose forces had been routed, had already told the Lebanese government
he would leave the country. On Aug. 30, he left for Tunis, while his forces
dispersed to other Arab countries. The Lebanese would suffer eight more
years of the civil war he provoked.
The extent of Mr. Arafat's personal involvement in the numerous
terrorist acts that have left an indelible stain on the Palestinian cause has
long been a matter of debate among knowledgeable observers. But there is no
question that, if not outright front groups for Mr. Arafat's Fatah
faction, the groups that claimed responsibility were most often fully paid up
members of the PLO, and that Chairman Arafat did nothing to stop them.
Persistent rumors that the U.S. and Israel possess tapes of Mr. Arafat
directing the 1973 Khartoum murders (confirmed to me by Ariel Sharon
late last year) have gained further credence with the recent allegations of
James J. Welsh, a former Navy and National Security Agency intelligence
analyst. He says the NSA sent out a warning of a possible PLO attack, based on
shortwave intercepts, that was inexplicably downgraded by the State
Department. After the murders, it was covered up. His story deserves
congressional attention. After all, there is no statute of limitations
on murder.
But the more pressing question is what the future holds for the little
war now going on in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Mr. Arafat's history in
Jordan and Lebanon suggests this is headed for no good end. From
internal corruption and abuse of power, to the repeated breach of
agreements, to
the apparent use of territory as a base for terrorism, the situation of
today's Palestinian Authority is strikingly similar to those two prior
episodes.
Perhaps such observations played a part in convincing former U.S. envoy
Dennis Ross, who spent a decade trying to convince the world otherwise,
to conclude this year that Mr. Arafat "is not capable of negotiating an end
to the conflict." And if Prime Minister Sharon soon feels compelled to act
decisively against Mr. Arafat, as he did in 1982, and as King Hussein
did in 1970, it would behoove the world to think carefully about where blame
for the continuing Palestinian tragedy really lies.
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Jerusalem, July 15, 2001
Dennis Ross Confesses
By Shmuel Katz
("Jerusalem Post," July 11, 2001)
We have entered an era of explanation, admission, and even confession. Last
Friday, the "Jerusalem Post" published an explanatory interview with Martin
Indyk, the outgoing US ambassador to Israel, while last month, Dennis Ross,
for 12 years one of the central exponents of United States policy before and
during the woefully misnamed Oslo "peace process" has now let the public
into some secrets of America's thinking.
Thus Ross revealed a sensational fact which he discovered about the
so-called peace negotiations. "Arafat," he said in an interview in the
"Jerusalem
Post" (June 22), "really can't do a permanent deal." Ross enlarged on his
point in
a public lecture at Ben-Gurion University. "Chairman Arafat could not accept
Camp David," he declared. "It was too hard for him to make this decision
because when the conflict ends, the cause that defines Arafat also ends,"
(JP, June 20). What this manifestly means is that Arafat, after all, is not
such a bad fellow, but suffers from a psychological block that he can't
overcome.
What this psychobabble does mean is that Ross is trying to avoid telling the
truth about American policy. One well-known part of the truth is that he and
his colleagues have been nourishing the legend that all that's needed for
Arafat to make peace is that Israel make major surrenders of territory,
jeopardize its security and blot out the testimony of Jewish history. The
other part of the truth is that Ross and his colleagues in the State
Department have got it all wrong. Arafat has no intention of making peace
with the State of Israel.
Ross's apologia for Arafat - a psychological blockage which the State
Department whiz boys were unable to detect in all these years of cosseting
him - is plainly disingenuous. There is not the slightest reason for
anybody, least of all Ross, to delve into the depths of Arafat's mind in
order to understand why he "can't do a deal."
Arafat himself has openly, indeed defiantly, been telling the world time
after time what his plan for Israel is. That plan is no chimera, but a
practical strategic objective. It was not created by Arafat. It was first
announced by the spokesmen of the Arab states when, at the United Nations in
1947, they opposed the recognition of a Jewish state - even within
indefensible borders. They followed up in 1948 by making war in order to
abort its birth. Then, in 1967, the destruction of Israel (without Judea,
Samaria, Gaza, the Golan and Sinai) was the declared aim of the Arab
invasion, and the dismemberment of the Jewish state is the centerpiece of
the Palestinian Covenant.
The game plan for achieving that end has even been aired frequently by
Arafat. It is the "policy of phases." It could be called the "salami"
process. And it is perfectly rational to understand that Barak's offer of
near-complete surrender was not enough for Arafat: there are "phases" still
not reached, and goals still unachieved. A Palestinian state (with Jerusalem
exclusively as its capital) has not been promised, and Israel has not agreed
to let the so-called "refugees" flood its cities. If he were to underwrite
peace with those hurdles not overcome, he would lose control of his own
people. Moreover, Arafat knew what he was doing. By not signing, he left the
door open to new negotiations.
The prelude to negotiations is, as usual, killing Jews - intifada. Do you
not hear how he is being urged by Israeli leaders now to stop terror and "come
back to the negotiating table"? And are not the Americans doing their best
to get Israel to negotiate even if the terror is only "reduced"? Indeed more
light on U.S. behavior and policy after Oslo has been shed by our Ross in an
interview in the "Australian Jewish Review," June 2001.
He actually criticizes Arafat. "You cannot be promoting incitement to
violence," he said, "and say you're committed to peace. The two are
contradictory." But pressed by his interviewer, David Mandel, about his
failure to react to Arafat's non-fulfillment of his obligations under the
Oslo Accords, he admitted that "the prudential issues of compliance were
neglected and politicized by the Americans in favor of keeping talks
afloat."
He went into detail. "Every time there was a behavior, or an incident, or an
event, that was inconsistent with what the process was supposed to be about,
the impulse was to rationalize it, finesse it, find a way around it, and not
to allow it to beak the process," because "the process seemed to have
promise."
Thus, buses filled with passengers bombed in Jerusalem, in Afula, in Hadera,
in Tel Aviv, were merely "incidents" or "events"; blowing up supermarkets
was only "inconsistent with what the process was supposed to be about"; casual
murders by stabbing in various streets, or running buses into crowds of
soldiers waiting for lifts, or groups of civilians at bus stops, were merely
"behavior."
Ross did not mention that the Israeli dupes, disregarding all warnings from
within Israel, had given Arafat thousands of rifles because he undertook to
use them against the murderers. The immediate consequence of the "peace
process" was the threefold increase in the rate of murder of Jews by
Arafat's people.
Ross thought it proper to add a piece of advice. He suggests that if
circumstances make future negotiations possible they ought to be based on
"something the parties have put on the table, and not [what] the United
States has put on the table." Precisely this good advice has been nixed by
the State Department: which, as we see it, is as busy in our affairs as it
ever was. And terror goes on.
(The writer is the author of "Hareshet - The Net: The Aaronsohn Family Saga,"
and a biographer of Ze'ev Jabotinsky.)
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Jerusalem, July 16, 2001
Walking Around the Walls of the Old City
A Tisha B'av You Will Always Remember!
Tisha B'av Evening - Saturday night, July 28, 2001
Rabbi Mordechai Elon will lead the walk of thousands of our people who are
observing an old Jerusalem custom of walking around the walls of the Old City.
9:00 p.m.: We will read Eicha near the American Consulate on Agron Street.
Bring an Israeli flag, Megillat Eicha and a flashlight or candle to help
you follow the reading.
10:00 p.m.: Our walk will begin. We will pass Jaffa Gate, the New Gate,
Damascus Gate and Herod's Gate. At the Lion's Gate we will assemble to
proclaim our eternal bond to the Temple Mount, where our First and Second
Temples stood, and where the Third Temple will be built, speedily, and in
our days. We will end our walk at the Dung Gate (near the Western Wall).
We have a police permit for the event. Come with your whole family,
friends and neighbors. The walk itself takes about 40 minutes.
Even if you have said Eicha in your own synagogue, you will still have
plenty of time to participate in the Walk.
Together We Will Save Our Beloved Jerusalem!
Ruth and Nadia
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Jerusalem, July 17, 2001
Israel Must Begin Evicting Its Enemies
(Written the week after the Dolphinarium suicide bombing)
Cal Thomas
The suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv night club last Friday night,
which killed 19 and injured scores of other mostly young people, is the
latest in a continuing strategy to exterminate Israel and eliminate every
Jew from the area.
A government communique issued Saturday in response to the attack
minced no words: "The government of Israel has determined that the
Palestinian Authority (PA) and Chairman Arafat are engaged in terrorist
activity, encourage it and are inciting hatred and violence. The PA has not
only violated its obligations and agreements to fight the terrorist and
incitement infrastructure, but its members are themselves engaged in
terrorism and incitement. The PA has established in its territory a
coalition of terror and is attempting to disguise it with words of peace as
lip service to the international community while continuing to incite its
people to hatred and violence."
Precisely!
Enough of the excuses for Yasir Arafat's behavior. His condemnations
of terror mean nothing because he and his cohorts are behind it. Terror is
an instrument to their policy. When former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak offered to meet 95 percent of Arafat's demands, it wasn't enough.
When the current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, unilaterally declared a
ceasefire in response to Palestinian Authority shelling of Israeli
civilians in late May, the violence continued. People who claim that the
Israeli "settlements" in formerly Palestinian territory are responsible for
the violence must explain what caused the violence before the "settlements"
started to appear.
The response from Sharon's government to the latest bombing should be
swift and strong. Since nothing Israel does or does not do will persuade
Arafat to make peace or dissuade him from making war, Israel should declare
war on Arafat and his terrorist brigade. The assaults on Palestinian
Authority military and terrorist positions should be total and relentless.
Call it a war of attrition until Arafat has had enough and takes concrete,
irreversible steps to stop the violence.
It should now be clear that Israel cannot tolerate a huge Arab
population decision must be made. Most Arabs and Palestinians appear to be
nonviolent, but it can be difficult to tell the difference. As Middle East
analyst
Emanuel Winston (a research associate of the Freeman Center for Strategic
Studies in Houston) notes in a recent article: "The terrorists sometimes
come in with workers, or the Arab community offers safe houses in Israel to
protect the terrorists."
The Jews have misplaced their faith. Gifted with thinking the best
about human potential, Jews have made decisions that too often are not in
their interests - such as allowing mortal enemies to live among them and
giving up land seized for their own protection after five wars and numerous
terrorist attacks.
Israel should declare its intention to transfer large numbers of its
Palestinian residents to Arab nations. This sounds radical until one
considers that is precisely what Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have done. After
the Palestinians assisted Saddam Hussein in Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
during the Persian Gulf War (which Arafat cheered while calling on Saddam
to shell Israel), Kuwait forcibly evicted and transferred to Jordan about
300,000 Palestinians, labeling them as traitors and a fifth column. Saudi
Arabia also recognized Arafat's betrayal of their Kuwaiti hosts by
transferring about 350,000 Palestinians to Jordan.
Those diplomats who regularly denounce Israel for any perceived slight
against Palestinians were noticeably silent about these transfers. As
Winston writes in another commentary: "No Arab country, other than Jordan,
trusts or welcomes Palestinians into its country as citizens. Even the
radical Arab nations of Syria
(and ) Lebanon (under Syrian control), Iraq and Iran keep them segregated
in squalid refugee camps, knowing full well their reputation for breaking
agreements and conspiring against their host government."
How quickly we forget Black September in 1970. Arafat tried to
overthrow King Hussein of Jordan. Hussein killed thousands and drove
Arafat and his Palestinians into Lebanon. Arafat, who had broken numerous
agreements by then, began a 12-year reign of terror against Christian and
Muslim Lebanese. More than 100,000 Lebanese were murdered, raped and
tortured by Arafat's Palestinians.
The current model of "land for peace" is not working, nor can it work
given the objectives of Arafat and Israel's other enemies. Eviction is a
better avenue to stability. Will it happen? Probably not. Should it? Yes.
Cal Thomas is a Washington-based columnist.
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Jerusalem, July 20, 2001
Stop Blaming the Jews!
The following is the translation of a short beeper release
we sent to the press late last night after hearing about the
murder of three Arabs, close to Hevron.
We felt it important to immediately react, for the entire media was
already, before any investigation, blaming Jews and all the Israeli
politicians, and public figures were already beating their chests.
The fact that the Arab survivors testified that the attackers looked
Jewish doesn't mean anything. We know that Sarah Blaustein,
HY"D, and Esther Elvan, HY"D, were murdered in a drive-by
shooting by kippa-wearing Arabs. (Sarah's husband, who was
driving at the time, testified he did not suspect the car
driving by him because the occupants were wearing kippot.)
Just last week, a Jewish couple was shot at in the Shomron by
Arabs dressed like IDF soldiers.
Press release
Women in Green call upon all to stop blaming the Jews for the
murder of the Arabs next to Hevron.
Before we rush to conclusions, let's remember that it was proven
that the child Muhammad-el-Dureh was murdered by Palestinian
gunfire in Gaza. The Arabs then blamed the IDF for propaganda purposes.
(This incident gained worldwide coverage during the first months of the
current war).
The Jews of Hevron were blamed (by the GSS) a few years ago for
the murder of some Arabs in Halhul. Very soon it was found to be a
libel. Arabs had murdered other Arabs. It subsequently developed
that the GSS knew very quickly the truth, that it was Arabs who
were the perpetrators, but kept this knowledge to themselves.
On the very day that Europe and the United States called for an
international observer force in Judea, Samaria and Gaza,
there is a clear Arab interest in portraying themselves as victims.
Let's not fall into that trap. Stop blaming the Jews!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 20, 2001
Har-Shefi Finally Pardoned!
The shame caused to our legal system by the unprecedented conviction and
imprisonment of Margalit Har-Shefi, has been somewhat ameliorated by her
being granted a Presidential pardon. Margalit had been convicted and
sentenced to nine months in prison because she did not take seriously what
Yigal Amir told her. It was claimed by the prosecution that she should have
reported to the authorities the announced boast of Yigal Amir that he
intended to kill Yitzhak Rabin.
Strangely, Avishai Raviv, a GSS agent knew, and reported to the GSS of
Amir's intent to kill Prime Minister Rabin, even before Amir said anything
on this subject to Margalit. However, the GSS ignored what Raviv told
them. Raviv has never been tried for an offense which appears to be worse
than that for which Margalit was found guilty. Instead his trial is
constantly and inexplicably being postponed.
Women In Green had conducted a campaign in behalf of the wrongs done to
Margalit. They traveled the length and breadth of the Land of Israel and
gathered tens of thousands of signatures requesting that the President
pardon Margalit. Each Monday morning, they held a vigil outside of the
President's home in Jerusalem with the same message: Pardon Margalit!
Previously, as part of the required procedure, they had sought to have
Minister of Justice Meir Shitreet recommend such a pardon. That request
fell on deaf ears. Though a formal member of Likud, Shitreet is very much
Labor Party oriented.
A few months ago, the image of the State of Israel was gravely damaged when
Margalit was taken from prison to Court. There she appeared on the screen
in foot chains and handcuffs, just like a dangerous criminal. This
horrifying picture, which the viewers of television observed, will not
readily be forgotten. It was an experience which humiliated our Police, the
Court, Margalit and the viewing audience.
The situation created by Arafat, which Israel finds itself in today is
extremely grave. Taken in perspective, and by comparison, what occurred to
Margalit Har-Shefi may be considered a minor incident. Nevertheless, this
vengeful act by Labor loyalists has weakened the legal fabric of our
society. It is a sad indication of how the law can be used unwisely for
nefarious purposes. President Katzav did well to finally issue this pardon.
We now can begin to try to correct the grave injustice done to this gentle
young lady.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 22, 2001
You Don't Have To Sound Apologetic, Mr. President, For Doing
What The Overwhelming Majority of Your People Wanted!
The arrogance of those who are in control of the Media in Israel, knows no
bounds. This so called secular "elite" have no real feedback from the
majority of the Jewish People of this Land. That is why we have heard in
recent days only sharp criticism over our airwaves and in our newspapers of
President Katzav's decision to pardon Margalit Har-Shefi.
As usual, the media ignored what the great majority of the People wanted. In
a relatively short period of time over 70,000 signed a Petition drawn up by
Hebrew University Law Professor Shochetman to have Margalit pardoned. A
good many, but not all, of the signatures to such a Petition had been
delivered to the President by Women In Green. He therefore knew what the
Jewish People wanted in this matter. He merely responded to their request.
That is supposedly what a democracy is all about.
In true Bolshevik fashion, MK Cabel of the Labor Party petitioned the
Supreme Court to set aside the President's pardon. Labor's Pines-Paz,
moreover, has invited President Katzav to explain his decision to pardon
before the Knesset Law Committee which he presently heads. Pines-Paz is
looking into the basis of such a decision, but has ignored asking for the
multitude of signed petitions by the People in this regard.
When will the Sharon Government act to return the Government television and
radio stations to the People? At a time when it is vital for our People to
be fairly informed about what is going on, we are forced to hear the views
of a minority who are out of touch with the Jewish People. Those in
control of our airwaves will not voluntarily relinquish the power they
possess. Only a determined revolutionary house cleaning will bring about
the desired results. Is Sharon capable of doing the job? We doubt it.
His appointments to date in this regard are sadly wanting.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 22, 2001
Questions to Mommy
Nadia Matar
The following is the translation of an
article written by Nadia Matar and
printed in Mekor Rishon, July 20,
2001, Yoman Shevu'i, p. 20.
Our oldest son, Yehudah, who is 12
years old, rose to the challenge that
I posed him this summer. I told him
that if he were to read the book by
the Lehi fighter Ezra Yakhin, I would
reward him with a personal visit to
the author. Immediately after his
reading of the books Elnakam (the
biography of Yakhin as a Lehi fighter)
and Yibaneh [It Shall be Built] (the
story of Danny Beit Hamikdash, another
Lehi fighter), the penetrating
questions began: "Mommy, how was it
possible that Jews, among the heads of
the Yishuv [the Jewish community in
Eretz Israel], from the Palmah, and
from the Haganah, persecuted their
brothers, acted against them, and even
handed them over to the British?",
"How is a Jew capable of handing over
to the enemy his brothers?"
He was especially shocked by the
depiction by Danny Beit Hamikdash of
his arrival in a ship from Europe to
the port of Haifa, wearing a Beitar
uniform: "I could not control my
excitement, and I bowed down to the
earth to kiss the soil. While I was
lying like this, I was surprised by a
strong blow in the back, followed by
another and another. Within a few
minutes my entire body was bruised and
bloody. As they were cruelly beating
me, I heard them shouting at me words
that continue to pursue me to this
day: 'Fascists! You killed
Arlosoroff!' I was stunned. In the
Diaspora the anti-Semites persecuted
the Jews on the pretext that the Jews
murdered "their" Jesus; in Eretz
Israel, Jews consumed by hatred
persecute Jews, claiming that the
Revisionists murdered Arlosoroff"
(Yibaneh, p. 17).
Rabbi Shalom Gold of Har Nof, in a
lecture he gave this week in Efrat,
related to the essence of our son's
question. The Rabbi wondered why the
Torah relates in such great length to
the phenomenon of Dathan and Abiram.
Dathan and Abiram were two wicked Jews
who went forth from Egypt with the
Children of Israel, slandered the
Land, and incited others to sin;
according to the midrash, they
informed against Moses to Pharaoh,
telling him that Moses had killed the
Egyptian. Just imagine: Moses killed
an Egyptian in order to save a Jew,
and Jews run to Pharaoh to hand Moses
over to the government of the enemy!
Why does the Torah tell about these
wicked ones at such length? Rabbi
Gold's answer: The Torah seeks to
teach us, and to warn us against them.
In every generation wicked Jews will
arise who will collaborate with the
enemy against their brethren. Every
Jew, in every generation, must choose
to which group he belongs: to the
group of Moses and Aaron, who are
loyal to the Torah, to the people of
Israel and to the Land of Israel - or,
Heaven forbid, to the "post-Zionist"
and anti-Jewish group of Dathan and
Abiram.
When I drive every day on the roads
of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, the
question that pops into my mind is not
"Why do the Arabs want to shoot me?",
but "Why did Jews give rifles and
cities of refuge to the enemy, and
enable him to shoot me?" The Arabs'
aspiration to murder us and drive us out
of our land has always been known. Why,
then, did the architects and criminals of
Oslo join together with Arafat, the greatest
terrorist of our time, and build him
up at the expense of our blood and our
land?
My answer: Because they embody
Dathan and Abiram in our generation:
Jews who join together with the enemy,
with the purpose of ruling, and of
undermining the Jewish-national
foundations of the people of Israel.
Consequently, the real struggle
today is not between us and the Arabs,
but between the majority of the people
of Israel, that is faithful to the
people and the Land, that wants a
Jewish-Zionist state, and the "Dathans
and Abirams," who seek to build at any
cost a state of all its citizens from
which Judaism and Zionism have been
expunged.
During the time of Ben-Gurion, it
was the guns of Yitzhak Rabin and his
men, who shot at their brother Jews on
the ship the Altalena and
coldbloodedly murdered them, in order
to ensure that they and their views
would not have influence or weight
among the people. Today, the "Dathans
and Abirams" have become more
sophisticated, and it is only their
agents, Arafat's people, who shoot at
us with the guns that they received
from Rabin, Peres, and Beilin.
The goal of the Oslo accords is
clear: to expose the Jews of Judea,
Samaria, and Gaza to a sea of terror,
in the hope that they will leave
Judea, Samaria, and Gaza "of their own
free will." The trauma of the
cleansing of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza
of Jews is supposed to crush the
national camp, and thereby ensure that
the left will remain in power.
After I explained this belief of
mine to our son Yehudah, he continued
to ask: "If Sharon is among those
loyal to the people, why did he form a
government with the Oslo criminal
Shimon Peres? Why does he allow him
and his friends to continue in the
path of Dathan and Abiram? And why
doesn't the national camp, that won
the elections, try to take over the
bastions of the extreme left (the
media, the State Attorney's Office,
the police ...)?"
I promised to relate to these
questions in another article, entitled
"When the Right Is in Power, It Dances
Ingratiatingly." In the meantime, I
bought him Moshe Shamir's latest book,
"Yair," knowing that this book would
keep him strong against all the
"Dathans and Abirams" of our time. I
also cheered him up, [by telling him]
that as of late many among the left
have come to their senses and returned
to the bosom of the people of Israel.
Nadia Matar is Chairperson of the
Women in Green movement
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Jerusalem, July 26, 2001
Rebuilding the Third Temple?
Tens of thousands of Jews from Jerusalem, from all over Israel, and from the
diaspora, will be observing the ancient custom of walking around the Walls
of the Old City on the night of Tisha B’Av. Last year there were over
100,000 participants in this Walk. This year Tisha B’Av will be on Saturday
night, July 28, 2001. At 21:00, evening prayers will begin, followed by
the reading of the Book of Lamentations. At approximately at 22:00 the Walk
will commence.
On Tisha B’Av the Jews mourn the destruction of Jerusalem and the First and
Second Temples, which occurred here in Jerusalem and on our Temple Mount
thousands of years ago. At a brief ceremony at the Lions Gate, the
distinguished Rabbi Mordechai Elon will put in perspective for us the
meaning in our times of the observance of Tisha B’Av by the Jewish People.
The renowned archeologist Dr. Gabi Barkai will speak about the current
attempt by the Moslems, who presently control the Temple Mount, to destroy
evidence of the prior existence of the Jewish Temples that were on this
Jewish holy site. Yehuda Etzion will also briefly address the audience.
Rabbi Shalom Gold will give an appropriate Dvar Torah in English.
In the 19th century, French General Napoleon Bonaparte landed in Acre on
the night of Tisha B’Av. He inquired why the Jews that he saw all about him
were in a state of bereavement. It was explained to him that it was the
night of Tisha B’Av, and that the Jews were mourning the loss of the
destruction of their Temples that occurred thousand of years ago. Napoleon
thereupon astutely observed that "any people that still feel strongly about
events that occurred to them thousands of years ago, will surely survive as
a people, and persevere."
At this time when the People of Israel are in a state of disarray and are
threatened from within and without, Tisha B’Av has a special significance.
It will be a show of faith by those participating in the Walk that they do
indeed mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples. By joining in
this Walk are they also expressing their determination that the Third Temple
will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount in the very near future? Amen, Selah!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************************************
Tisha Ba'av, Jerusalem, July 29, 2001
Suppression, Israeli Style
Those in control of television, radio and the newspapers here in the Land of
the Jews, have ruthless methods of attempting to control public opinion.
They merely do not report on any event that was organized by a group that
fosters national unity and abundant reasons for Jewish pride. Thus, the
traditional Walk around the Walls of the Old City, organized each year by
Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women In Green ), was deliberately boycotted by
Israel's major newspapers and its television and radio networks. Over
80,000 members of the public chose to participate in this ancient custom on
Tisha Ba'av evening, despite Tisha Ba'av this year falling on a Saturday
night. Thousands, who usually attend the Walk from around the Country,
could not do so this year because the event occurred right after the Jewish
Sabbath ended.
The media's attitude is not at all surprising, because the Sharon Government
itself does very little to foster an image of Jewish self worth. Starting
from the top, Arik Sharon, the aged warrior, has surrounded himself in his
main Ministries with Labor people such as Shimon Peres and Benjamin
Ben-Eliezer, who have no positive image of themselves as Jews. They dominate
the policies of the Sharon Government, prominent among which is the
humiliating and vacuous policy concerning the Temple Mount. They also cause
the impotent reactions to the murderous attacks on Jews, inspired and
approved by Arafat.
Moreover, Sharon has done practically nothing about returning the Government
station Channel 1 back to the People, who, sadly, are forced to pay for its
upkeep. Moreover, he says nothing to the disgrace of the Supreme Court
preventing the legalization of Arutz 7 which the Knesset approved. It is in
his own interest that the news be fairly and objectively reported.
Unfortunately, he hasn't shown by concrete deeds any attempt to cause a
change in the media being controlled by an unrepresentative minority.
Sharon missed a glorious public relations opportunity by not participating
in the Ancient Custom of the Walk around the Old City. He was invited, and
never formally refused the Women In Green invitation. He kept telling us
until the very last moment, that it was still being seriously considered.
He had a chance to concretely show to the world that Jews still mourn the
destruction on the Temple Mount of their First and Second Temples. His
appearance would have insured an attendance of over 300,000. It is another
sad indication of Sharon's inability to grasp the larger picture. Once
again, it demonstrated his failure to positively identify with his People's
ancient Jewish history and traditions.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 31, 2001
The Power of Weeping
The following is a translation of Nadia Matar's Hebrew speech
delivered at the march around the Walls on Tisha B'Av evening, close
to the Lion's Gate. Other speakers were: Rabbi Mordechai Elon,
Rabbi Shalom Gold, Dr. Gabbi Barkai, and Yehuda Etzion.
"A cry is heard in Ramah - wailing,
bitter weeping - Rachel weeping for
her children. She refuses to be
comforted for her children, who are
gone. Thus says the Lord: Restrain
your voice from weeping, your eyes
from shedding tears; for there is a
reward for your labor, declares the
Lord; they shall return from the
enemy's land. And there is hope for
your future, declares the Lord; your
children shall return to their
country" (Jeremiah 31:15-17).
By merit of the weeping of our
mother Rachel, the Lord gives her
reward: "they shall return from the
enemy's land." Weeping is a sort of
outcry and protest. By merit of the
weeping of our mother Rachel for the
children who are gone, and for the
children who were murdered, burnt,
slaughtered, and stoned - by the merit
of weeping, then and only then - "your
children shall return to their
country."
When a Jew weeps and cares for his
brethren who are murdered, cries out
and moves heaven and earth in order to
prevent further murders, then, and
only then, does he merit Eretz Israel,
Jerusalem, the Temple Mount.
I feel that the gates of the Temple
Mount are locked before us because we
have ceased to weep. It seems that we still
are not worthy of the Temple Mount, because
we have ceased the weeping and the
protest against the murder of Jews in
Eretz Israel.
Behold, Master of the Universe!
Every day another Jew is murdered.
Jewish blood is shed like water, but
we neither weep nor cry out nor
protest! The slaughter and stoning to
death of our sons in Tekoa passed
quietly. Sniper fire at the infant
Shalhevet, may the Lord avenge her,
passed quietly. Every murder of Jews
passes quietly.
I am absolutely convinced that the
Temple Mount is locked before us
because we have a government that
engages in restraint and enables the
enemy to murder Jewish children,
women, and men. But let us not accuse
only the government! Let us also look
in the mirror: the Temple Mount is
locked before us because we have a
people that does not stand and rise up
against those who gave the enemy
weapons, ammunition, and cities of
refuge - and against those who still
tell us, in their great insolence,
that we must continue to negotiate
with this murderous enemy.
The Temple Mount is locked before us
because "koooo-lanu" (all of us) have
stopped the weeping and the outcry at
the murder of Jews. The verse in
Psalms states: "Their blood was shed
like water around Jerusalem, with none
to bury them" (Psalms 79:3) - today,
unfortunately, we can say: "Their
blood was shed like water around
Jerusalem, with none to weep and none
to protest."
May it be His will that we, the
people, shall arise and cause our
political and spiritual leaders to
raise a cry in Ramah, to weep for our
children who are gone, and to strike
the enemy a death blow.
And then, with the Lord's help, our
action will bear fruit, and the people
of Israel will once again settle all
of Eretz Israel, and the gates of the
Temple Mount will open for the
building of the Third Temple and the
complete Redemption, speedily in our
days, Amen.
Nadia Matar,
Co-Chair, Women in Green
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Jerusalem, July 31, 2001
A Jerusalem Tisha B'Av
Tisha B'av 5761
By Judy Lash Balint
Another day that the media distorted events here in Jerusalem and played
into the hands of those bent on inflaming tensions.
A silent, dignified march by tens of thousands of Jews around the walls of
the Old City last night was completely ignored by both Israeli and world
media. Today, the story was not the rocks hurled at Jewish worshipers
standing in prayer at the Western Wall, but the reaction of Israeli forces
who went up on the Temple Mount and managed to quell the riots in just a
few minutes.
The traditional walk around the walls of the city attracts throngs of
Israelis who gather across from the US Consulate on Agron Street half an
hour after Shabbat. Many of us were concerned that the turnout would be
adversely affected because those living outside Jerusalem would have
difficulty
getting there so close to Shabbat, or that the hazards on the roads would
keep people from coming into the city. But even as the baal koreh starts
to read the mournful Eicha over the microphone, thousands cluster on the
grass with flashlights straining to hear every word.
Across the street, the US flag flutters atop the consulate building, as
wary consular security officials keep watch on the crowd. Just a little
way up
the block, the gaudy blue neon cross atop the French Catholic church
shines out into the night.
As the marchers move off following a huge banner proclaiming our slogan of
allegiance to Jerusalem, organizer Nadia Matar reminds the crowd that this
is not a demonstration or a rally, nor is it a social event. In fact, no
reminder is necessary, as the restrained mass of Jews soberly sets out to
encircle the gates of the Holy City.
Scattered amongst the marchers are quite a number of non-observant people.
Women wearing pants and sleeveless tops walk side by side with others
whose hair is carefully covered with scarf or hat. Many parents are there
with
small children and there are large numbers of older people too. Walking
up the hill to Tzahal Square we turn to look back at those behind us. People
as far back as we can see accompanied by huge Israeli flags, quietly taking
part in an ancient Jerusalem tradition.
On down past New Gate, traffic traveling in the opposite direction on
Route #1 is held up as we take over the streets and pour down the road toward
Damascus Gate. Most of the Arab stores are shuttered tight, but a 24 hour
bakery is open, its few customers studiously ignoring our presence. A few
shebab (Arab youth) are loitering around outside Herod's Gate accompanied
by the ubiquitous Israeli police burdened on this warm night with bulletproof
vests.
In front of us we see the Mount of Olives crowned with its Arab and
Christian institutions. Despite its Jewish historic and spiritual
significance,
the only living Jewish presence on the Mount today is Beit Orot, the hesder
yeshiva and development initiative.
Turning the corner to walk along the eastern wall, we look out at the vast
expanse of the oldest Jewish cemetery in the world. Sticking out like a
sore thumb is the Ras el Amud mosque built on the southeastern corner of the
cemetery. The green neon on the tower is extinguished as we come to a
halt in front of Lion's Gate, the gate used by the paratroopers who liberated
the Old City in 1967.
As a few Arab kids play noisily in a house above, we listen in silence to
the words of Temple Mount archeologist Gabi Barkai; Rabbi Moti Elon and Rabbi
Shalom Gold. "They tell us that approaching Har Habyit is dangerous these
days, said Rabbi Elon. "I say turning our backs on Har Habayit is what is
dangerous."
Many of us wander over to the wall to gaze at the Kidron Valley below with
Absalom's Tomb and the monument to the prophet Zecharia. Across the
valley we can see the new Maale Hazeitim development that acts as a buffer
between Abu Dis and the Temple Mount. Rounding the corner, we look up at the
imposing Southern Wall of the Temple with the steps and Huldah's
Gate, before climbing the hill towards Dung Gate and the entrance to the
Western Wall. Glancing backwards again, the sight of the masses of people
still behind us is awesome. Quiet and dignified, the march has gone off
without incident.
The media was already full of screaming headlines about Arab reaction to
the annual effort by members of the Temple Mount Faithful to go up to the
Temple Mount this morning. The group generally attracts around 30 people, and
Israel's High Court had already ruled last week that they would not be
permitted to carry out a cornerstone laying ceremony on the site. Israeli
police had given assurances that no such action would be allowed to take
place.
Nevertheless, the usual Arab spokesmen still threatened that the group was
a provocation and they wouldn't be able to control the violence that would
ensue. As if on cue, at around 11 a.m. rocks were hurled from above at
Jewish worshipers in the Western Wall plaza below. People started running
for cover, some covering their heads with plastic chairs. Within moments,
hundreds of Israeli police in riot gear ran through the gate atop Robinson's
Arch and onto the Temple Mount. All it took was three minutes to subdue
the agitators. But the headlines had already been written. "Israeli troops
storm Moslem holy site," trumpeted one wire service.
The morning's events impacted another traditional Tisha B'av observance.
Later in the afternoon when calm was restored, Rav Ariel made an
announcement to a few hundred people who had gathered to observe the custom
of reciting prayers and blowing silver trumpets at the gates of the Temple
Mount.
Due to security concerns the police had prohibited the group from carrying out
their annual observance. We would have to make do with a token ritual at the
top of the stairs looking over the Mount and then down below at Robinson's
Arch. The planned mincha (afternoon service) that was to have taken place at
Huldah's Gate was cancelled.
A few of us head to the Kotel Hakatan, the small section of the Wall
closest to the Holy of Holies. In the cool tunnel on the way to the Moslem
Quarter, a few men are stretched out to rest. One is dressed in sackcloth,
the
traditional mourning dress.
The alleyways to the Kotel Hakatan are heavily guarded, but all is calm at
the tiny courtyard of the Wall. Rabbanit Chana Henkin, dean of Nishmat
is davening there with a few other women. As we prepare to leave, we're
replaced by a contingent of yeshiva students from Beit El.
Back in the plaza of the Western Wall, the tired, hot and hungry are
sprawled on the ground waiting for the fast to be over. A thirty-something
policewoman in pants is downing a bottle of water. She apologetically
announces
to her friend that she's still fasting, and is taking only water to be
able to work.
So forget about what you've seen on CNN or heard on NBC, CBS or the BBC.
The Jews have once again taken seriously the observance of Tisha B'av, even if
it means enduring rocks and bad press.
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Jerusalem, July 31, 2001
More about the Temple Mount
Ruth Matar interviews GERSHON SALOMON, founder of the Temple
Mount Faithful, and HERBERT SUNSHINE, professor of law,
on the Women In Green Hour, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1 at 9:07 p.m.
(Israel time), 98.7 FM and 1539 AM, and live on internet:
www.israelnationalnews.com
The article below is from the "Jerusalem Post" of June 28, 1967. It
is interesting in light of current events, particularly the Mufti
of Jerusalem asking for permission for Muslims to have week-long access
to the Al-Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount.
*************
The Jerusalem Post
June 28, 1967
Eshkol tells religious leaders of free access to Holy Places
Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Reporter
Heads of the Christian and Moslem religions from both sides of the pre-war
boundary last night assembled with Prime Minister Eshkol, the two Chief
Rabbis, and the Minister of Religious Affairs at a formal gathering in the
Prime Minister's office. The religious leaders discussed the hope for peace
and the prosperity of the Holy City.
More than 40 Christian and Moslem high-ranking ecclesiastics and the
two Chief Rabbis seated around a large table, with Mr. Eshkol at its head,
presented a colourful scene - the Moslem kadis and dignitaries in their
purple and white turbans, and the Christian Patriarchs, Archbishops, and
other clergymen in the habits of their respective denominations.
After thanking the dignitaries for responding to his invitation to
meet in "Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel," Mr. Eshkol said he was happy to
announce that all Holy Places and places of worship in Jerusalem were now
freely accessible to members of all faiths without discrimination. It was
a cardinal principle of the Government to safeguard the Holy Places. "This
policy will be maintained scrupulously, through regular consultations with
you or your designated representatives," he said. After declaring that
suggestions would be welcome, Mr. Eshkol said, "It is our intention to
place the internal administration and organization of Holy Places in the
hands of the respective religious leaders." The Government had charged the
Minister for Religious Affairs with the responsibility for various
arrangements which would shortly be completed.
" We are living in momentous times," the Premier said. Out of the
horrors of war, declared to destroy Israel, had emerged hope and almost
unlimited possibilities for the development of the peoples of the region.
Mr. Eshkol spoke of the spirit of harmony and brotherhood, "so necessary
for a peaceful settlement of Israel-Arab differences."
Speaking on behalf of the Christian leaders, who predominated, the Greek
Orthodox Patriarch Benedictos declared the Mr. Eshkol's remarks concerning
the Holy Places had been heard with great interest. "We quite well
understand how serious the situation is, not only as regards this region,
but all the world. This is why we most promptly accepted your invitation to
this gathering. We have not for the time being any proposals to put
forward; as religious heads we have to be frank and forthright, and on this
historic moment, to speak truth: Render unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's."
KINDNESS
He declared: "We are pleased with the behaviour of the Israel army;
everyone has shown kindness and willingness to serve us, and all have shown
respect for the Holy Places, churches, convents and religious institution."
As a Christian leader, "I can only say, we beseech our Almighty God to give
us peace, justice, and security to worship in the Holy Places, and peace to
all the world. Let us hope and pray for peace, love and good will, for
these sprang from Jerusalem, cradle of our religions."
The Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Sa'ad e-Din el Alami, said that since
the Prime Minister had asked for suggestions, he had one. Instead of
Moslems having access to the Al-Aksa mosque on Fridays only, access should
be all week and at all hours. When a Moslem dies, he must be brought to a
mosque for prayers, he said. The Mufti also asked that only police be
permitted at mosque courtyards, and not soldiers. He continued his brief
and eloquently delivered remarks by thanking the Prime Minister.
Chief Rabbi Unterman spoke of Jerusalem as the City of Peace.
Jerusalem was beloved by all the religious leaders present and he hoped all
who loved Jerusalem would work in peace and harmony, each worshiping
according to his faith. Then, out of Jerusalem would come forth peace,
brotherhood, and unity of nations.
Mr. Warhaftig pledged his full assistance and cooperation, declaring
he placed himself "at your disposal at any time." He said he would give his
attention to the Mufti's suggestion.
Nadia and Ruth
*******************************************************
Jerusalem, July 31, 2001
Our Annual Tisha B'Av Walk
After Tisha B'av, there still remains an aftermath of reflections.
The great effort we made with regard to getting people out for the Walk
around the Old City Walls in the end proved to be rather successful. That
there is a failure to grasp the significance of this event by the Media,
is somewhat sad. Our people however, are undaunted by this obvious snub,
and remain convinced that eventually the full potential of the Walk will be
totally realized.
We had several speakers during the course of the evening, including
some heavyweights. At the beginning of the evening, Eicha (Book of
Lamentations) was expertly read by David Matar. Then Professor Eldad, the
son of a staunch Zionist, read a beautiful poem on Jerusalem by the famous
poet Uri Zvi Greenberg. He was followed by Rabbi Yosef Mendelevitch, a well
known Russian refusenik, who spoke passionately about how our People must
keep in perspective the special relationship it has with the God of Israel,
and remain faithful to Him and His Promised Land. The Walk commenced
shortly thereafter. It soon become very apparent that despite the dangers,
there was a huge turnout. The Jewish People apparently would not be scared
away by suicide bombers and the like.
At the Lion's Gate, (where the IDF entered and recaptured the Old
City and the Temple Mount in 1967) Rabbi Mordechai Elon, Rabbi Shalom Gold,
the famous archeologist Dr. Barkai, Yehuda Etzion, a passionate advocate of
the right of the Jewish People to the Temple Mount, and Nadia Matar, all
spoke briefly. Rabbi Elon told us that the foxes were still on the Temple
Mount (the Talmud's way of describing the effects of the destruction that
occurred on the Temple Mount). The Jewish People, however, believe with a
certainty, that this terrible desecration will disappear and that the Third
Temple eventually will be rebuilt. He commented on the massive turnout for
the Walk, and said that the silent march around the Walls, spoke powerfully
of the faith that still remains in our People, who know for a certainty that
this is the Land the Lord promised to their forefathers and to themselves.
Dr Barkai urged his massive audience to put pressure on the authorities to
stop the destruction of antiquities on the Temple Mount. Yehuda Etzion said
that it was not enough to cry on Tisha B'av about the forces that
destroyed our Holy Temples. We have come to the point where we will have to
struggle to re-conquer the Temple Mount. We now have our own State, and it
is incongruous that we still have a ghetto Western Wall mentality. The
Temple Mount belongs to the Jewish People. That the Arabs do not permit us
to pray there is an intolerable situation. Rabbi Gold spoke in English and
summed up our present situation by asking a very difficult question to each
of us. He said that 3500 years of Jews, beginning with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob were asking us daily, "What are we doing for our People’s survival?
What are you doing for Jerusalem and for restoring the Third Temple on the
Temple Mount?" He said that the judgment of history demands that we act
NOW.
Nadia Matar was absolutely brilliant in her short talk. Speaking
with a faith that was absolutely contagious, she pointed out that our mother
Rachel, wept for her children who have been slaughtered throughout the
generations. Mother Rachel was rewarded by having her sons return to Eretz
Yisrael from Galut. We have stopped crying and caring for those who are
daily being killed all around us. We in turn will be rewarded only when we
possess the deep feelings which would enable us to cry out and demand
punishment for those who gave our enemy guns, and permitted them to have
cities of refuge to escape from the just punishment they deserve. We, like
our mother Rachel, must never stop weeping for our lost brothers and
sisters, for then and only then will we have the emotional strength and
desire to act and do what has to be done. Then and only then will we, like
our mother Rachel, be rewarded with the redemption that we all so earnestly
seek.
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