Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun
Photo: Shaul Golan
Rioting in Hebron
Photo: Reuters
A letter to Hebron settlers
A face off with Hebron settlers could endanger entire settlement project
Many people say that the expulsion of uprooting of Gaza's Jews was so easy because the residents of Gush Katif were so nice, such good people. That's why they hit them so badly.
They think the country wouldn't dare plan a repeat of Gush Katif with settlers in Hebron.
This thinking gives rise to the aggressive thinking current in Hebron and Samaria. The feeling currently in the air is that "nice guys finish last," and that real extremists will win this time.
There are open calls to rethink our
Hebron Riots
Efrat Weiss
Second lieutenant wounded by settlers in Hebron tells Ynet about unpleasant experience; we tried to talk to them but they ran towards Arabs and started beating them up, he says. 'Youths told us they don't speak German'. Meanwhile, Hebron riots resume, police to boost presence
The goal in Hebron is clear: to create continuous Jewish residency throughout eastern Hebron and Kiryat Arba, in order "to prevent any possibility of cutting off and isolating Jewish neighborhoods, to say nothing of uprooting them."
So, too, in Nablus, where every Jewish town sits on its own hilltop, with Palestinian villages in the valleys below, within striking distance of the olive trees!
More clashes, possibly violent ones, are expected with state representatives should they try to defend the Palestinians, or should they try to remove Jewish residents from their homes. This has already started in Hebron.
Disaster coming
It is specifically because I support the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria with all my heart that I oppose, also with all my heart, this path and to the extremist word view behind it, and I am convinced that this path will bring only disaster on the settlement project throughout Judea, Samaria and Hebron.
Must we really still explain that this path is forbidden by both the Torah and basic morality, and will lead to total failure? Will anybody listen?
To a certain degree, the only people capable of influencing the extremists in Hebron are former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu and Rabbi Dov Lior. If they feel this path is a serious, dangerous mistake, there is a chance of preventing the clashes.
From a political and military perspective – the Israeli government today finds itself at a period of twilight in every way.
To be sure, the government has no desire to face off with Hebron's Jews, and will only do so if forced!
The government of Israel (and any Israeli government that will take its place, by the way!) must answer to the domestic and international judicial branch, and to international commitments.
If someone tries to force the government (any government!) to choose between international and legal commitments and the Jewish community in Hebron, he will be making a fatal mistake.
In such a case, the government will be forced to make decisions that will remove from the Jewish community in Hebron the validity of being a "majority occupation" and will place a large question mark over the whole project.
Don't force the government to make decisions it doesn't want to make – and don't expect the government to forego its legal and international obligations. It is simply not going to happen!
I've said many times in the past that the Likud's concessions would be much more painful than those offered by the left, and I'm sorry to say I wasn't wrong.
'Don't make things worse'
Last year I said that the destruction of Gush Katif was done with the authority of the government and the Knesset, land there was no way to prevent it on the ground, not by refusing IDF orders and not by mass demonstrations on site.
It was the vast majority of rabbis who prevented civil war by turning the struggle into a strong protest. Protest is a Torah value and a democratic right, but it cannot forcibly prevent execution of government decisions.
Again, today, I repeat: there is no chance an underground struggle will forcibly prevent the executive branch from carrying out the legal decisions of state institutions. Nothing good will come of clashes between the State of Israel and its institutions and young people full of enthusiasm and faith this for the people of Israel, the Torah of Israel, or for the Land of Israel.
These clashes can only bring damage. The only thing they can lead to will be extensive and deep damage.
More than that - every act of theft committed against Palestinian Arabs ruins our right to live in Hebron, more than all the shouts by left-wingers (see Rashi's commentary to the Gen: 13 about Lot's shepherds and see Nahmanides comments on Gen; 24 regarding Shimon and Levi's destruction of Nablus).
And of course, any all acts of violence against IDF soldiers or state institutions does serious damage to the basis of our power - the power of "most of Israel" amongst us, within the framework of the state of Israel.
And let's not forget - the fact that we are able to live in Hebron today is only due to the might of the State of Israel, and without the state we would not exist for one single day.
Please, think about it seriously, and stop this dangerous process. Don't force the Israeli government to face off against the Jews of Hebron, because this will put the entire Jewish settlement enterprise in danger.
The attribute of strength requires you refrain from doing things you believe will save homes in the Hebron marketplace, but they endanger the very existence of our presence in Hebron and Samaria.
Please, please my brothers - don’t make things worse!
