DIARY FROM CHOMESH

Dear Friends,

I would like to share with you the experience a few of us had of the exciting last few days in Chomesh and hopefully pass on to those of you who could not be there, a so much needed shot of Zionism, adrenaline, renewed hope and faith.

Fearing that, like it had happened on Chanukka, the army would put up roadblocks already on Monday morning, our little group of 9 people decided to leave our homes at midnight Sunday night. In our van we packed as much as we could: a sleeping bag for each, warm clothes, helmets against police brutality, food, drinks and lots of strong will to make it to Chomesh. With me in the van were three of my children (Talya, 16 years old, Bentzie, 14 years old and Amichai, 10 years old), two other mothers and three other teenagers from Efrat.

Our first goal was to reach Shavei Shomron, the community closest to Chomesh where all the people had been asked to gather. Our drive took a little less than two hours and to our amazement - no roadblocks. The rumor was that the army was probably going to let the people get to Chomesh, but only for one day.

In Shavei Shomron we met many other people who also had feared roadblocks and thus arrived that night. Everybody found somewhere to sleep. Boys in one building, girls in another. The women in our little group joined others who had found room to sleep in some side room in the main synagogue.

In the morning, after morning prayers, we gathered around the synagogue plaza, we were around 300 people. The organizers told us that we would be the first group to mach up to Chomesh at 8:00 am. The masses would be coming later in the afternoon.

The rumor turned out to be true: the army decided to let marchers go up, on condition that it would be by foot. No cars allowed. The army’s decision to allow people to go up to Chomesh was already a first victory. After the authorities had threatened to not allow anyone back and even warned that people daring to march to Chomesh would be punished with a two year jail sentence and organizers would be fined with all the expenses - the organizers did not cave in; did not agree to make any compromises and simply said: we are going up no matter what. We refuse to make any deals with you, we refuse to collaborate with you.

When the authorities realized the organizers were serious, they realized they were the ones who had to bend down and allowed the marchers to go up. Sadly, this made us realize how things could have been different in the summer of 2005 - had we not been stuck with the Yesha council as our leaders but rather with a leadership with no ties to the government, a leadership of uncompromising idealists who do not collaborate with the authorities.

At 8:15 we started walking. Each and one of us, even the children, carried as much as we could: sleeping bags, sweaters, backpacks with as much food as possible, tefillin for the boys and lots of brazenness. We knew it was not an easy walk. Three hours, all the time uphill. But let me tell you, those 3 hours will not be forgotten by anyone. The knowledge that we were going back to Chomesh gave all of us, even those not in such good shape, the strength to make it uphill.

No word can describe the beauty of the view we witnessed. Who needs to go abroad to Thailand when we got even more beautiful views and landscapes right here in our Promised Biblical homeland? The green hills, the fields of colorful flowers, the amazing blue sky, reminded all of us how beautiful Eretz Yisrael is and how insane anyone who wants to give it up is. Here and there one sees some Arab houses and even small villages, but mostly, the area is empty, waiting for the Jewish people to come back home and resettle their G-d given homeland.

During the march, army jeeps were driving by with soldiers waving hello - happy that they were not (yet) asked to prevent us from going to Chomesh. When we neared Chomesh, we could see from far the ruins of the other community destroyed by the Sharon government: Sa-Nur. The last hill before one gets to Chomesh is the most difficult one- but by that time our excitement was so great, that no one could feel the tired legs and feet. We almost ran.

At around 11:00am we entered what once was the beautiful entrance to Chomesh. Our excitement and happiness mingled with lots of sadness. Everything was gone, destroyed, ruined. The evil powers of the Sharon government made sure to clean everything away, even the sewage connections. All that we could see were some bricks left from the streets and here and there some steps that used to lead to people’s homes.

The youth ran to the one and only structure left in place; the water tower. Climbing on top the tower they hung the 2 flags we had brought with us; the Israeli flag and a flag Women in Green had produced after the expulsion in 2005: an orange flag on which is printed a Magen David and the saying: The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.

We took a stroll around what used to be Chomesh. There was the swimming pool, there was the synagogue, there lived this family, there lived that family. Looking around one can easily see the Mediterranean sea, Tel Aviv, Natanya, Hadera; turning on the other side one can see Haifa and even the Hermon Mountains. One looks at this view and one asks: WHY? Why was this place destroyed? Why was this place abandoned? In Gush Katif they claimed it was because of the “many Arabs of Gaza” that make it impossible for Jews to live there - a lie in itself as we know, but that was the official “terutz”…here in Chomesh, with hardly any Arabs in sight, what was their reason? And this is where you realize that there was “reasoning” behind the expulsion. Just pure hatred of the national camp by the left. What pushed them to destroy 25 Jewish communities was pure evil. A sick pleasure by the Israeli secular leftist camp to try and crush the traditional Jewish camp and all those who want this country to be a Jewish country.

Looking down from Chomesh onto the road, we all of a sudden realized that the road we had just one up, was black with people. What a sight!! Thousands and thousands more Jews were now trekking up to Chomesh. Arriving, after a three hour walk, were women with children and babies, men carrying their little one on the shoulders, teenagers, and even elderly people. No, not only youngsters were making it up the hill but lots and lots of adults.

Everyone that arrived found a place where he would spend the night. Girls in one area of Chomesh. Boys in another one and families in yet another area. Everyone made sure to gather wood for the bonfires that will be needed at night. Around 4:00pm it was already getting very cold and windy. Youth were building a house from leftover blocks and stones. At 5:00pm the organizers covered tents they had hidden there a few days before. Within a few minutes five large tents had been put up.

The stream of people arriving did not stop till late in the night. There must have been at least 6000 people there. Among them Women in Green activists Anita and Chaim Finkelstein, Renee Margolis, Meira Zohar, Kenny and Sandy Lerner and many more. It was simply amazing.

Around 7:00pm the official ceremony started with incredible fireworks that warmed everybody’s hearts. Lots of singing, dancing and words of strength and Torah were spoken by different public figures and activists.

The night was not easy. It was very, very cold and by that time many people had finished all the food they had brought. Evil minds in the government had decided, in order to try and break the Chomesh supporters spirit, to not allow water and food be brought up to Chomesh. When the mass murderer Yasser Arafat, may his name be blotted out, was being held in the Mukata compound, the Israeli government made sure to tell the world that –for humanitarian reasons-Israel is allowing Arafat to get pita bread and humus and drinks - but when Jewish lovers of the Land are concerned, the Olmert government does not allow them to get supplies of food, water, diapers and coats that were so much needed.

This did not break the people and we spent the night, close to the bonfire, warming ourselves mainly with the incredible feeling of satisfaction and success: we had come back home to Chomesh and even if the authorities will succeed in bringing us down - we will come back and back again, till Chomesh will be rebuilt, please G-d.

The next morning, after morning prayers, our little group of nine needed to get back home. Even though the army had provided buses for people to go back, we refused to give them that satisfaction and walked back the three hour walk. Arriving back in Shavei Shomron we heard that the authorities had stopped allowing people to go up. Despite that, tens and tens of youth were going up, this time not on the main road but through the field and the mountains.

In the late afternoon a very exciting event took place in Chomesh. Limor Har Melech, resident of Chomesh, whose husband, Shuli HY”D, had been murdered a few years ago by Arab terrorists, had remarried and a week ago gave birth to a son. The very emotional Brit Mila (circumcision) took place on the ruins of their house.

Another night was spent on Chomesh. Our little group of nine already was not there. Other people had replaced those who had come in the beginning. This morning (Wednesday) 1000 policemen came and evacuated the 300 or so youngsters who were still in Chomesh. I am writing those words while listening to the Arutz 7 news report announcing that there still are tens of youth scattered around the hills.

Even if by the end of the day the government will succeed in bringing down all Jews from Chomesh - this return to Chomesh was an incredible success. We have passed on a clear message that like at the time of the creation of the State of Israel the Jews did not accept the decree of the British White Paper not allowing Jews to come to the land of Israel, we today do not accept the decree of uprooting us from our homeland. We have not forgotten nor forgiven. We will go back and back and back till we will be back in all places abandoned by the Sharon government. With G-d’s help.

Nadia Matar

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

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THE JEWS AND ISRAEL-THE PERENNIAL SCAPEGOATS OF THE WESTERN WORLD

Letter from Ruth Matar (Women in Green) Jerusalem
Thursday, March 29, 2007

The West is in trouble! In an open act of war last Friday, Iran kidnapped 15 British sailors in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s act of aggression occurred just as the British voted in favor of a UN Security Council Resolution, imposing increased sanctions against Iran for its illicit nuclear weapons program.

Kidnapping is something the Iranians are very good at. Last summer Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hizbullah, kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, to divert attention from Iran’s nuclear program. These soldiers have not, as yet, been freed, nor has access to them been allowed. We pray that they are alive and well!

One of the theories about the kidnapping of the 15 British sailors is that Iran used this as a bargaining chip to force the U.S. military to release Iranian operatives, who the U.S. has arrested in Iraq in recent months. No doubt Iran feels that the West, or at least the U.S., will be willing to pay any ransom price to solve this international crisis. And they are right! The U.S. Administration is more than willing to pay the price, as long as it is in Jewish Israeli coin!

U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, certainly no friend of the Jews and Israel, has therefore hastily been dispatched to our neck of the woods. Since last Friday, she has been shuttling between Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and Saudi-Arabia.

Has Condoleezza Rice come to our region to coordinate moves to check Iran’s increasing bellicosity?

Not at all! Rather, Rice is here to promote the Mecca Arab Peace Plan. This Plan was dreamed up by Saudi-Arabia, which pretends to be America’s good friend. Never mind that 15 of those 19 terrorists, who blew up the World Trade Center towers, killing more than 3,000 Americans, were bona-fide citizens of Saudi-Arabia!

No Sir! Condoleezza Rice is here to attempt to push the Jewish Israeli scapegoat off the cliff. She is laboring hard to force a weak, ineffective, unpopular Israeli Prime Minister to agree to dangerous and strategically catastrophic concessions to the Palestinian terrorist government.

The Mecca “Peace Plan” that Rice has come to the region to advance does not even have the benefit of a peaceful façade. The Palestinians make clear every single day that they do not and will not accept Israel’s right to exist in any borders, and that they will not work to combat terrorism against Israel. The Arab “Peace Plan” will, if implemented, bring about Israel’s rapid destruction.

In today’s Jerusalem Post, (March 2, there is a verbatim report of excerpts from U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice’s March 27th Jerusalem press conference.

Reading this verbatim report of what Rice said, (not somebody’s interpretation), makes it crystal clear that she has great animosity toward the Jewish State, and that she is unable to be impartial with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Now for a few excerpts from Rice’s verbatim remarks:

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: “President Abbas truly desires peace!“

RUTH MATAR: I beg to differ. On January 14th of this year, Abbas publicly called upon Palestinians to attack Israel. Speaking at a rally to mark the 42nd anniversary of the founding of Fatah, Abbas told a huge crowd in Ramallah: “With the will and determination of its sons, Fatah will continue. We will not give up our principles. We have said that rifles should be directed against the occupation. We have a legitimate right to direct our guns against Israeli occupation.”

After returning home from her meetings with Abbas, Rice said that the U.S. is working with Abbas’ Fatah to create a unified Palestinian security force. Rice then announced a United States 86.4 million dollar grant for the purpose of equipping and training Abbas’ Fatah forces!

Mahmoud Dahlan, a Gaza War Lord, was chosen to be responsible for carrying out this plan.

This is an exact quote of what Dahlan said upon being appointed by Abbas:
“THE PROJECT THIS TIME IS SUPPOSED TO BE ARMING FATAH AGAINST HAMAS, BUT [ALLAH] FORBID, I WILL NEVER SHOOT AGAINST MY BROTHERS IN HAMAS. THE USA WEAPONS AND AID WILL PROTECT THE INSTITUTIONS OF FATAH AND BE USED TO FIGHT ISRAELI OCCUPATION!”

Dear friends, I don’t know what happened to that 86.4 million dollar grant to Abbas that Condoleezza negotiated. Could someone please enlighten me? Did Congress agree to bankroll these murderers?

Now let’s discuss Condoleezza’s negotiating partner, Ehud Olmert:

*He is currently under investigation on several cases of suspected bribery and corruption.
*His bungling of the Second Lebanon War has left him bereft of any public support, with popularity polling figures between 2 and 3%.
*Olmert agreed to a cease–fire last summer, which was strategically catastrophic for Israel. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 places Israel on the same plane as the illegal Hizbullah terrorist organization; it prevents Israel from taking steps to protect itself; it does not require the safe return of hostages Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser; it enables Hizbullah to rearm and reassert its control over south Lebanon; and lets Hizbullah’s state sponsors, Syria and Iran, completely off the hook for their central role in Hizbullah’s illegal war against the Jewish state.
*Ehud Olmert proudly boasts that he was the mastermind behind the Gaza disengagement, and that he had to work hard to convince Ariel Sharon to expel the Jews from their homes in Gush Katif.
Olmert and his orientation have proven to be a tragedy for the Jewish people.
*Olmert has sent both of his own sons abroad, one to New York and one to Paris. Could that have been to avoid the dangers of Israeli Mandatory Army Service?

What gives this man the right to sign away portions of our Home Land as if this were his private real estate?

Dear Lord, save us from Condoleezza Rice’s diplomatic efforts. Above all, save us from Ehud Olmert, the most ineffective, defeatist and inept Israeli Prime Minister since our country’s rebirth. He is even disloyally willing to sell our Home Land for prime-time photo opportunities with bigwig American leaders!

We must get rid of Olmert before he gets rid of us!

Dear friends, we implore you to stand with us in these crucial times. Not only Israel’s future is on the line, but that of the United States and of the entire Western World. We must unite now in order to defeat our common enemy!

Please forward this Letter from Jerusalem to President Bush and to all your government representatives.

In the words of Eric Hoffer, the famous American longshoreman/social philosopher;
“I HAVE A PREMONITION THAT WILL NOT LEAVE ME; AS IT GOES WITH ISRAEL, SO WILL IT GO WITH ALL OF US. SHOULD ISRAEL PERISH, THE HOLOCAUST WILL BE UPON US. ”

I am pleased to be able to include the 1968 article by Eric Hoffer in its entirety.

ISRAEL’S PECULIAR POSITION
By Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/6

The Jews are a peculiar people: Things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.

Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people, and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it. Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks and Algeria a million Frenchmen. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese–and no one says a word about refugees.

But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world.

Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover, but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June, he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Negroes are executed in Rhodesia. But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.

The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.

The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts and Jewish resources.

Yet at this moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general. I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel, so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us.

* * *

Mr. Hoffer’s article was published in the LA Times in 1968. It is as relevant today as the day it was written!

With Blessings and Love for Israel,

Ruth Matar

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

To make a contribution via our secure server or through Paypal, go to: https://host5.apollohosting.com/womeningreen/funds/donation/donation.html

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Letter from Ruth Matar (Women in Green) Jerusalem
Thursday, March 29, 2007

The West is in trouble! In an open act of war last Friday, Iran kidnapped 15 British sailors in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s act of aggression occurred just as the British voted in favor of a UN Security Council Resolution, imposing increased sanctions against Iran for its illicit nuclear weapons program.

Kidnapping is something the Iranians are very good at. Last summer Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hizbullah, kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, to divert attention from Iran’s nuclear program. These soldiers have not, as yet, been freed, nor has access to them been allowed. We pray that they are alive and well!

One of the theories about the kidnapping of the 15 British sailors is that Iran used this as a bargaining chip to force the U.S. military to release Iranian operatives, who the U.S. has arrested in Iraq in recent months. No doubt Iran feels that the West, or at least the U.S., will be willing to pay any ransom price to solve this international crisis. And they are right! The U.S. Administration is more than willing to pay the price, as long as it is in Jewish Israeli coin!

U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, certainly no friend of the Jews and Israel, has therefore hastily been dispatched to our neck of the woods. Since last Friday, she has been shuttling between Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and Saudi-Arabia.

Has Condoleezza Rice come to our region to coordinate moves to check Iran’s increasing bellicosity?

Not at all! Rather, Rice is here to promote the Mecca Arab Peace Plan. This Plan was dreamed up by Saudi-Arabia, which pretends to be America’s good friend. Never mind that 15 of those 19 terrorists, who blew up the World Trade Center towers, killing more than 3,000 Americans, were bona-fide citizens of Saudi-Arabia!

No Sir! Condoleezza Rice is here to attempt to push the Jewish Israeli scapegoat off the cliff. She is laboring hard to force a weak, ineffective, unpopular Israeli Prime Minister to agree to dangerous and strategically catastrophic concessions to the Palestinian terrorist government.

The Mecca “Peace Plan” that Rice has come to the region to advance does not even have the benefit of a peaceful façade. The Palestinians make clear every single day that they do not and will not accept Israel’s right to exist in any borders, and that they will not work to combat terrorism against Israel. The Arab “Peace Plan” will, if implemented, bring about Israel’s rapid destruction.

In today’s Jerusalem Post, (March 2, there is a verbatim report of excerpts from U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice’s March 27th Jerusalem press conference.

Reading this verbatim report of what Rice said, (not somebody’s interpretation), makes it crystal clear that she has great animosity toward the Jewish State, and that she is unable to be impartial with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Now for a few excerpts from Rice’s verbatim remarks:

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: “President Abbas truly desires peace!“

RUTH MATAR: I beg to differ. On January 14th of this year, Abbas publicly called upon Palestinians to attack Israel. Speaking at a rally to mark the 42nd anniversary of the founding of Fatah, Abbas told a huge crowd in Ramallah: “With the will and determination of its sons, Fatah will continue. We will not give up our principles. We have said that rifles should be directed against the occupation. We have a legitimate right to direct our guns against Israeli occupation.”

After returning home from her meetings with Abbas, Rice said that the U.S. is working with Abbas’ Fatah to create a unified Palestinian security force. Rice then announced a United States 86.4 million dollar grant for the purpose of equipping and training Abbas’ Fatah forces!

Mahmoud Dahlan, a Gaza War Lord, was chosen to be responsible for carrying out this plan.

This is an exact quote of what Dahlan said upon being appointed by Abbas:
“THE PROJECT THIS TIME IS SUPPOSED TO BE ARMING FATAH AGAINST HAMAS, BUT [ALLAH] FORBID, I WILL NEVER SHOOT AGAINST MY BROTHERS IN HAMAS. THE USA WEAPONS AND AID WILL PROTECT THE INSTITUTIONS OF FATAH AND BE USED TO FIGHT ISRAELI OCCUPATION!”

Dear friends, I don’t know what happened to that 86.4 million dollar grant to Abbas that Condoleezza negotiated. Could someone please enlighten me? Did Congress agree to bankroll these murderers?

Now let’s discuss Condoleezza’s negotiating partner, Ehud Olmert:

*He is currently under investigation on several cases of suspected bribery and corruption.
*His bungling of the Second Lebanon War has left him bereft of any public support, with popularity polling figures between 2 and 3%.
*Olmert agreed to a cease–fire last summer, which was strategically catastrophic for Israel. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 places Israel on the same plane as the illegal Hizbullah terrorist organization; it prevents Israel from taking steps to protect itself; it does not require the safe return of hostages Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser; it enables Hizbullah to rearm and reassert its control over south Lebanon; and lets Hizbullah’s state sponsors, Syria and Iran, completely off the hook for their central role in Hizbullah’s illegal war against the Jewish state.
*Ehud Olmert proudly boasts that he was the mastermind behind the Gaza disengagement, and that he had to work hard to convince Ariel Sharon to expel the Jews from their homes in Gush Katif.
Olmert and his orientation have proven to be a tragedy for the Jewish people.
*Olmert has sent both of his own sons abroad, one to New York and one to Paris. Could that have been to avoid the dangers of Israeli Mandatory Army Service?

What gives this man the right to sign away portions of our Home Land as if this were his private real estate?

Dear Lord, save us from Condoleezza Rice’s diplomatic efforts. Above all, save us from Ehud Olmert, the most ineffective, defeatist and inept Israeli Prime Minister since our country’s rebirth. He is even disloyally willing to sell our Home Land for prime-time photo opportunities with bigwig American leaders!

We must get rid of Olmert before he gets rid of us!

Dear friends, we implore you to stand with us in these crucial times. Not only Israel’s future is on the line, but that of the United States and of the entire Western World. We must unite now in order to defeat our common enemy!

Please forward this Letter from Jerusalem to President Bush and to all your government representatives.

In the words of Eric Hoffer, the famous American longshoreman/social philosopher;
“I HAVE A PREMONITION THAT WILL NOT LEAVE ME; AS IT GOES WITH ISRAEL, SO WILL IT GO WITH ALL OF US. SHOULD ISRAEL PERISH, THE HOLOCAUST WILL BE UPON US. ”

I am pleased to be able to include the 1968 article by Eric Hoffer in its entirety.

ISRAEL’S PECULIAR POSITION
By Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/6

The Jews are a peculiar people: Things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.

Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people, and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it. Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks and Algeria a million Frenchmen. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese–and no one says a word about refugees.

But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world.

Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover, but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June, he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Negroes are executed in Rhodesia. But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.

The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.

The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts and Jewish resources.

Yet at this moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general. I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel, so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us.

* * *

Mr. Hoffer’s article was published in the LA Times in 1968. It is as relevant today as the day it was written!

With Blessings and Love for Israel,

Ruth Matar

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:wfit2@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

To make a contribution via our secure server or through Paypal, go to: https://host5.apollohosting.com/womeningreen/funds/donation/donation.html

To subscribe to the Women in Green list,
please send a blank email message to:
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Check your spam filter for confirmation to reply to

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A NEW FORM OF ARAB TERROR

Letter from Ruth Matar (Women in Green) Jerusalem
Thursday, March 22, 2007

Dear Friends,

In today’s Jerusalem Post (March 22, 2007) there is a worrisome article by Yisrael Medad, entitled “Raping as ‘resistance’”. A gang of Arab youths have committed a series of rapes in the Galilee area. According to this gang, the rapes were perpetrated as a form of nationalist vengeance against IDF operations in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

The innocent young Jewish girls are physically attacked and violently raped. It is not because they are provocatively dressed. Their sole “provocation” is being Jewish!

Humanitarian groups in Israel and abroad, which define themselves as Liberal or Left, have been rightfully vociferous in condemning rape used in the course of war, as in Bosnia, Rwanda, the Congo and Darfur.

WHY THE APPARENT SILENCE WHEN JEWISH WOMEN ARE RAPED?

And, of course, there are no words of condemnation from the new Hamas-Fatah unity government!

I am including Yisrael Medad’s article here in its entirety:

Raping as ‘resistance’
YISRAEL MEDAD, THE JERUSALEM POST
March 22, 2007

A good friend of mine, Edva Naveh of Sha’arei Tikva in Samaria, made an interesting observation recently concerning the gang of Beduin youths who, according to their indictment, committed a series of rapes in the Galilee area. She was struck by reports in the Hebrew media - YNET, for instance - saying that the rapes were perpetrated as a form of nationalist vengeance against IDF operations in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

The Post headlined its March 1 report: “Police make new arrests in ‘terrorist rape’ case.”

Now if it’s true that these were “terrorist rapes,” Edva wondered why feminist organizations in Israel which devote themselves to combating rape, harassment and trafficking in women appear to have ignored the entire matter.

These organizations also deal with sexual abuse, pay-scale disparities and other economic and social issues. Many have been active in protesting President Moshe Katsav’s continued tenure, despite the fact that he’s not been formerly charged. Haim Ramon’s kissing episode also deeply disturbed the feminists - not to mention the rest of us.

HOWEVER, Edva asked, why hasn’t the feminist community addressed - or at the very least investigated - the matter of Jewish women allegedly being raped out of nationalist motivation?

Millionaire Ofer Glazer and MK Yoram Marciano have been pilloried by them for reported sexual improprieties. Actor Rami Heuberger is being criticized. But the behavior of the young residents of Galilee has been largely ignored by the feminists.

Where are the feminist voices of MKs Ruhama Avraham and Zahava Gal-On? Surely it can’t be that “rape as resistance” is judged as being less of a crime than the standard criminal variety?

What about humanitarian groups here and abroad which define themselves as liberal, left or progressive? They’ve been rightly vociferous in condemning rape used in the course of war, as in Bosnia, Rwanda, the Congo and Darfur. Why the apparent silence in this instance?

Sociologists suggest that rapes carried out against the background of political violence are intended to show the affected men that they cannot even defend their women; that they are worthless. The tactic is used to fragment societies.

HISTORIANS TELL us that during the American Civil War, in April 1863, Francis Lieber, a Columbia College professor, wrote instructions (promulgated by president Abraham Lincoln) in the code of military conduct. Article 44 stipulates: “All wanton violence committed… all rape… of such [civilian] inhabitants, are prohibited under the penalty of death.”

Both Edva Naveh and I wonder whether Gal-On, Shulamit Aloni, Avraham and Shelly Yacimovich would support a similarly severe form of punishment for these young men, were they found guilty?

Meanwhile, won’t they, at the very least, speak out on the issue and stop ignoring it? Why the double standard? Why ignore a behavior pattern that is surely criminal and, if the reports prove accurate - and the defendants’ words and actions shown on the news broadcasts seem to confirm police suspicions - would be an offshoot of the terror campaign that Arabs have practiced against Jews for over 80 years in the land?

LET US consider some possibilities that explain the feminists’ silence:

They are not convinced that the assertions are true. After all, the trial hasn’t begun and the accused are innocent until proven otherwise.

On the other hand, no one has seen any solid evidence against Moshe Katsav, and yet demonstrations have been conducted outside his residence and demands made for his ouster.

Feminists might see protesting as inherently prejudicial given the low socioeconomic status of the Beduin accused.

But since when is socioeconomic status an excuse for feminist silence? Haredim (like those who live across the Green Line) don’t seem to get a feminist pass because of their lack of social and economic wherewithal.

Maybe feminists do accept that the “occupation” - as they call it - was a contributing factor. Which gets us back to: Is sexual violence less of a crime even if, using the prevailing “progressive” feminist worldview, the rapes were impelled by an immoral, oppressive situation and carried out by a deprived population?

What seems to be at work here is an aberrant form of Israeli post-feminism: a sick twist on the “she asked for it” excuse - not because of being provocatively dressed, but because of the provocation of being a Jewess and representing the larger - “oppressive” - state.

LEFT-WINGERS have for years been promoting the theory that violence in Israeli society, and especially violence directed at women, is somehow connected with the IDF service of their husbands and boyfriends. The theory’s proponents assume that the soldiers are either frustrated, or have become numbed by the force they must use against the civilian Arab population in the disputed territories. This pent-up anger is eventually released, the argument goes, at home against children, mothers and girlfriends.

This post-Zionist outlook has insinuated itself inside the feminist mindset. And when you mix radical feminism with an ultra-left view of the Arab-Israel conflict, I’m not surprised that the feminists are immobilized by reports that the Galilee rapes might have been motivated by an Arab animus toward Jews.

Whatever the reason for the silence of Israel’s women’s movement, it is a blemish on those parts of its ideology that mainstream Israel embraces, not to mention immoral from a Zionist standpoint.

It is still not too late for women’s groups to raise their voices on behalf of rape victims of the Galilee. Let them do so.

* * * * *

Dear Friends: The lives of rape victims of whatever age are forever negatively affected. Let us raise our voices against this Arab abomination! Only strong worldwide expressions of horror at this inhuman form of warfare against Jews will be affective!

With Blessings and Love for Israel,

Ruth Matar

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
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A SUCCESSFUL WOMEN IN GREEN 2007 PURIM DINNER!
Letter from Ruth and Nadia Matar (Women in Green) Jerusalem
Thursday, March 8, 2007

Dear Friends,

Close to 200 people attended the Women in Green 10th Annual Purim Masquerade Dinner which took place at the Shulchan David Hall on Mount Zion in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Guest speakers at the Dinner:
* Member of Knesset Arieh Eldad
* Attorney Yoram Sheftel
* Rachel Saperstein, Gush Katif resident who was expelled from her home during the disengagement from Gaza. She is currently head of “Operation Dignity.”
* Ezra Yakhin, former Lehi fighter, author of the book “Elnakam”. This book is a must read about Ezra Yakhin’s part as a teenager in the struggle to establish the Jewish State of Israel. (I can help you to buy this book directly from the author if you can’t find it in your local bookstore.)

We must not fail to thank our devoted Women in Green members in Israel, who we can always count on to be part of every demonstration and activity, all year long:
Yael Amiel, Chana Bernstein, Esther Bet-Halachmi, Gemma Blech, Elazar Brandt, Marilyn and Arnie Cytryn, Yona Depute, Devora Dudevitch, Anita Finkelstein, Barbara and Chaim Ginsberg, Kenny and Sandy Lerner, Sara Levy, Jacqueline Levisohn, Renee Morgulis, Esti Nae, Sara Rofeh, Micky and Herb Sunshine, Hadassa Weisbrod, and Datya Yitzhaki.

We have many other members, too numerous to mention, who help us to the best of their ability, but who are not able to attend every Women in Green function because of other commitments. We couldn’t be successful without them.

Last but not least, we depend on you, our loyal supporters worldwide, to continue to support Women in Green in the upcoming battles for the redemption of Israel.

As it is written in the “Chapters of the Fathers”: “You are not obligated to complete the task, neither are you exempt from carrying it out!”

With Blessings and Love for Israel,

Ruth and Nadia Matar

=============================================
Women For Israel’s Tomorrow (Women in Green)
POB 7352, Jerusalem 91072, Israel
Tel: 972-2-624-9887 Fax: 972-2-624-5380
mailto:michael@womeningreen.org
http://www.womeningreen.org

To make a contribution via our secure server or through Paypal, go to: https://host5.apollohosting.com/womeningreen/funds/donation/donation.html

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