Media Releases – July 1997
July 1997
July 6, 1997 Two Years Since Dagan
July 8, 1997 Jewish Immortality?
July 11, 1997 “Accomplices” to Murder
July 14, 1997 Women In Green Tour Joseph’s Tomb
July 18, 1997 Are There, In Truth, Any Red Lines?
July 20, 1997 “How Goodly Are Thy Tents, O Jacob….”
July 27, 1997 A Striking Example of Pure Greed
July 30, 1997 The Biblical Mount of Olives Is Alive And Well
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Jerusalem, July 6, 1997
The following article by Nadia appeared in the latest edition of “Voices” — a
monthly English language newsletter published in Efrat and focusing on the Jewish
communities of Gush Etzion.
Two Years Since Dagan
On Sunday, June 22nd,1997, the trial of the State of Israel vs. Nadia
Matar regarding the Dagan issue began in the Shalom court in Jerusalem.
Sitting in the courtroom listening to the testimonies of the soldiers
brought back many poignant memories. I am sure you all remember almost
two weeks of incredible togetherness and camaraderie, sleeping in tents
on top of lumpy stones, sweltering in the heat, eating the food
contributed by our many supporters, and celebrating two incredibly
uplifting Shabbatot on the hill.
The purpose of our struggle was to show the government that we were not
going to permit our Efrat land to be given to the Arabs. We all knew
that one of the main principles of Oslo 2 was to give the Arabs any land that
was not yet settled.
In July of 1995, four Efrat women — Eve Harrow, Sharon Katz, Marilyn Adler and
myself — hatched the original plan to secretly go up on Efrat’s most northern
hill during the night. We asked our friends to join us, and tens of us went
up on that first night with sleeping bags and torchlights. Our wonderful men
were there with guns to protect the operation.
Over the next few days, our tent city grew tremendously, joined by
supporters from Efrat, Tekoa, Gush Etzion and all of Israel.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin also joined us on the hill a few days later, after
his return from abroad.
Peace Now, surprised by our audacity in claiming Jewish land, incited
Arabs to come and demonstrate at the foot of Dagan.
Ten days after the operation started, large forces of army personnel
forcibly removed men, women and children from the hill, tearing down all
tents and other structures. Hundreds of people were arrested and
released after a couple of hours.
A day and a half later, at night, the army was shocked to see that we
had again taken posession of our hill. In the morning we were removed
once more, this time quite brutally. 108 people were arrested and brought
once again to the Bethlehem police station. All were released with the
exception of Rabbi Riskin and myself. We were secretly brought to the
Abu Kabir jail in Tel Aviv. (I would like to once again thank the hundreds
of people who demonstrated for our release, both in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv,
many of whom suffered beatings, arrests and indictments as a result.)
Cynics might say that the Dagan struggle did not accomplish anything.
On the contrary — not only did we prevent the Efrat hills from becoming
Area B under Oslo 2, but our operation was the catalyst for what the
media called “the struggle for the hills.” It became clear that Jews
would not give up their land without a fierce fight.
Unfortunately the battle is not over. I hope you are taking good care
of your sleeping bags because you might need them — in Morag, in Yitzhar
or on Dagan!
Rabbi Riskin and I were subsequently indicted together for “illegal
gathering” and for staying in a “closed military zone.” Imagine my
surprise when my lawyer informed me, a month ago, that the previous
Attorney General, Ben Yair, had removed Rabbi Riskin from our
common indictment — leaving me as the sole defendant to bear the brunt
of the state’s legal “inquisition.” My lawyer immediately filed for the
same relief, and I hope that the present Attorney General, Elyakim
Rubinstein, will feel that justice should be equal for all Efrat
residents.
If the case is not dismissed soon, I would be happy to have your support
in the Shalom Court on Monday, September 22, 1997 at 12:00 noon in the presence
of Judge Tsabban.
No physical violence, no arrests, no trumped-up charges and no legal
harassment has the power to stop us. Nothing can defeat us if our Dagan
spirit prevails.
Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 8, 1997
Jewish Immortality?
It does not take an astute analyst of the
present Israeli scene to quickly assess that the Jews in
Israel are in deep trouble. On the one hand, it is
readily discernible that what Peres, Beilin and their
ilk conjured up in the form of the “Oslo peace process”
is an absolute failure, and has no possible chance of
bringing peace to the area. Perhaps the main reason for
this failure is the underlying false premises on which
the whole process was based, that basic morality can be
abandoned; that ignoring the character and past deeds of
the main players can be substituted for what was
irrefutably told to us at Sinai.
A quick utopian fix was the solution
offered by Peres and Beilin, rather than the more
cautious approach that would have been dictated by the
wisdom of our Jewish sages, and by the grave suffering
the Jews experienced throughout the ages at the hands of
those who were not guided by moral and ethical
considerations. The Jews have learned from their Torah
that a leopard cannot change his spots, that you cannot
enter into a binding agreement with such a leader as
Arafat, a person whose basic character is seriously
flawed, and who has a murderous and immoral past. Yet a
Peres who has no use for history, nor his heritage, has
willed it otherwise; as a result he has placed the
Jewish People in grave danger.
What to do about it now? It is a “given”
that Peres supplied small arms to the Arabs who are
living amongst us, and who would, if it were possible,
liquidate us entirely. A precursor of what may lie in
store in that regard were the September riots in 1996 on
a flimsy pretext, where PA police fired upon, killed and
wounded many of our soldiers. The daily riots in
Hebron, and the rumblings in Gush Katif, and the ominous
threats in Jerusalem, are all part of the same pattern.
Terror and the threat of terror, tools which Arafat
employed freely in his past, are once again being
resorted to by him.
A disloyal opposition, led by Labor leader
Barak, who puts self and party over country, does not
help matters. And at a time when Jewish survival calls
for unity, self-pride and firmness, we have a vain
Foreign Minister David Levy whose prime consideration is
his own ego; a Defense Minister Mordechai whose
appeasement policies are leading us to new disasters;
and Aryeh Deri who sticks with his fellow Morrocan David
Levy, rather than acting on the basis of what is good for
the Jews. Things look rather bleak, and were it not for
such observations of the late Mark Twain about the “eternal
Jew”, we should be thoroughly depressed. Twain observed:
The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled
the planet with sound and splendor, then faded..;the
Greek and the Roman followed…and they are gone; other
peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a
time,… but they now have vanished. The Jew…beat
them all….What is the secret of his immortality?
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 11, 1997
“Accomplices” to Murder
There is a phenomenon occurring in our
Land, which is tantamount to acts of terrorism. It
takes the lives of many Jews, but has defied as yet any
effective solution. I am talking about the placing of
deadly weapons in the hands of certain Arabs in the form
of monstrous trucks and other motor vehicles. These
Arabs use them on our roads to commit mayhem and murder
of unsuspecting victims, who coincidentally always turn
out to be Jews. The problem is obtaining the required
proof to meet the rigid requirements of the criminal
law, that is to prove the necessary ingredient of intent
of the Arab driver to commit murder; subsequently the
Arab driver invariably claims that he was merely
careless or some other ingenious explanation of how the
“accident” occurred. However, such recurring incidents
and their frequency, in a setting of inciteful hostility
and other acts of violence against Jews, encouraged and
approved of by Arafat and the PLO, give credence to the
belief that what is involved in these “accidents” is
more than meets the eye.
Everyone I’m sure has heard about such
incidents for they occur often enough. Not too long
ago, the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Shmuel Meir, a father
of eight small children, lost his life at the hands of
an Arab driver. There have been many more such
occurrences. Recently, I was made to focus on this
problem at the anniversary of the death of one of our
valiant Women In Green, Michal Koren; she was killed at
the age of 66 near the Ramot road, when a 70-ton dump
truck crushed the car she was driving, instantaneously
killing this mother of two and grandmother of seven.
Her tourist passenger from Belgium was also killed. The
Arab truck driver who clearly caused that “accident” was
from Ramallah. Police investigation disclosed that he
had entered Israel without a permit, and was driving
without a valid driving license. His employer, the
owner of the dump truck, was a Jewish concern, the S.
Broshi Earthworks Company, should have been indicted,
but inexplicably was not; the officers of that company
had smuggled the employee into Israel, and allowed him
to operate one of its potentially dangerous heavy trucks
without suitable training, or even requiring from him an
appropriate valid driver’s license.
Such inexcusable behavior on the part of
the Attorney General’s Office in failing to prosecute
the officers of the owner of the truck is one of the
reasons that such “accidents” which occurred to our dear
Michal Koren and her friend, will continue to happen to
other Jews. Arabs, particularly from the areas which
the “Palestinian Authority” controls, (which loosely
issues so-called driving licenses), will murder Jews in
a similar manner, either with the assistance of the PA,
or irresponsible employers, or otherwise. It is vital
that a public hue and cry be raised to immediately solve
this grievous problem.
Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 14, 1997
Women In Green Tour Joseph’s Tomb
Our two busloads of Women In Green came to
Joseph’s Tomb late in the day, as part of our program,
following the advices of our teacher Moses: to “spy” out
our land, to know its length and breadth, and therefore
to more fully appreciate what the Lord has given to us.
Women In Green believe that, as enlightened Jews, we can
more readily deal with any of the problems we have to
face daily concerning our Land.
In this context, a visit to the Holy site of
Joseph’s Tomb in the heart of the historical Jewish City
of Shchem should be a must on every Jew’s itinerary.
It is a signal reminder, among other things, of the
actuality of the living Bible which once played an
important part in the lives of the forebears of the Jewish
People, no matter where they reside throughout the world
today. Righteous Joseph, as he is traditionally known,
was a prominent leader in ancient neighboring Egypt, noted
for his wisdom and perspicacity. He was a loyal Jew,
nevertheless, who lived in accordance with the Jewish values
he had been taught in his home, and the Jewish People’s
special relationship to the Land of Israel. It was quite
natural, therefore, that he extracted a promise from his
brothers that they would insist on having his body
returned to his homeland in Israel for burial, like his
father Jacob before him. And indeed the promise was
kept, and Joseph’s bones were taken from the Nile upon
the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. His bones were
reburied in Shchem on the very plot of land that our
forefather Jacob had purchased some three hundred years
earlier, as is recorded in the Bible.
A visit to the holy site of such a
prominent Jewish ancestor is not only inspirational and
educational, it also instills life and vigor into the
Bible itself and makes relevant the Bible’s vital
contents to our children, as heirs to this magnificent
Jewish Heritage and legacy.
Yet, there are other significant and urgent
reasons why this holy site should be visited frequently,
particularly during this crucial period in our history,
when the consequences of the Oslo process are not fully
comprehended by the Jews of Israel and those residing
outside of Israel. Perhaps the most grievous sin of the
architects of the Oslo process is their lack of
understanding of the magnificence of their Jewish
Heritage, and their lack of pride in the existence of the
Jewish State of Israel. How else can you explain the
provisions of Oslo agreed to by these descendants of the
Maccabees, which do not permit Jewish soldiers to be
dressed in the army uniforms of the IDF, but instead
require them to wear civilian innocuous garb; Arabs
around the outside of this ancient Jewish Holy Site,
meanwhile, patrol in PA uniforms. How this shameful
concession to Arafat daily demeans the grandeur of this
holy site to Jewish visitors! Only a Peres and Beilin,
the Oslo architects, who are devoid of any Jewish pride,
could permit such an ugly and humiliating state of
affairs.
But that is not all. The remnants of the
destruction wrought by rioting Arab masses led by PA
soldiers and police attacking this holy site compound
back in September of 1996, is still all too visible. The
memorial plaque on the site attests to the six IDF
soldiers killed at the time, by PA police guns supplied
by the Rabin-Peres regime under Oslo. These guns were
turned on our IDF soldiers coming to the aid of the
defenseless and beleaguered Jewish students at the holy
site. In addition, the Arabs extensively burned Jewish
prayer and holy study books which were at the Yeshiva on
the premises, and wreaked physical havoc on major parts
of the premises, while stealing whatever they could of
value, all under the supervision and guidance of the PA
Authority personnel who were with them.
To top it all off, one of the major Arab
criminals released from prison under the Oslo Accords, on
his promise not to partake again in Arab violence against
Jews, defiantly inscribed his name in Arabic on a wall in
the Joseph Tomb compound. He was flaunting his broken
promise, and openly recording his participation in this
September 1996 riot. Needless to say, the PA, when
advised by the IDF of this bit of audacity and broken
promise, has not to this day moved to arrest this
unrepentant criminal. Nor has Arafat turned him over to
the Israeli authorities to put him back in prison. So
much for belief in Arab commitments.
It is ironic and inexplicable, the hullabaloo
that has been raised and deftly exploited by the Arabs,
over a single misdirected young lady unwisely responding
with an attack on the Muslim religion. Unfortunately,
and improperly, she compared their prophet Mohammed to a
pig; she further claimed, and there is ample evidence
supporting such claim, that Muslim religious leaders
encourage these attacks on Jews, and at the very least do
nothing whatsoever to prevent the continuance of such
daily attacks on Jews in the area. At the same time,
those who are vociferously speaking out against this
unjustified verbal and poster attack on the Muslim
religion, were completely silent re the extensive
“book burning” by rioting Arabs of Jewish holy books,
and the destruction of the holy site of Joseph’s Tomb.
The latter incident, in comparison, was far more severe
and serious. Arab and Moslem leaders, who are now
leading the accusations against the Jews and Israel
for the act of one irresponsible young lady, should have
spoken up with at least the same vigor and extent at
the actual desecration of a Jewish holy site, and the
burning of Jewish Holy Books. Moreover, the Israeli
Government is presently criminally prosecuting this
young lady; in marked contrast, the PA did nothing
whatsoever with regard to those criminally responsible
for the reprehensible burning of Jewish holy books,
the attack by Arab rioters on Joseph’s Tomb, and the
murder of six Jewish soldiers who died in the fray at
the hands of the PA police.
What is utterly amazing and unacceptable is the
fact that since the September 1996 Arab riots at Joseph’s
Tomb, Defense Minister Mordechai has failed to issue
building permits at Joseph’s Tomb to allow the Holy Site
to be properly reconstructed, and rebuilt in accordance
with its sacredness and importance to the Jewish People.
In his typical appeasement-like approach, he delays doing
anything which might offend the Arabs, no matter how
unreasonable or unwarranted their demands, and no matter
how legal, and within the meaning and spirit of the Oslo
accords and vital to Jewish pride and dignity, the
required action might be. Such shortsightedness on
Mordechai’s part solves nothing, and merely delays
temporarily the next Arab explosion.
Unless, for starters, there is meaning and
content given to Oslo by the PLO and Arafat by their
respecting and honoring the Jewish right to live and grow
in Hebron, and to restore and freely visit Joseph’s
Tomb, Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs, among
other Jewish Holy Sites, it makes no sense whatsoever to
continue further with the Oslo process. If we cannot be
firm in matters of such importance now, we only delay the
looming catastrophe. The fact is that the Arabs are only
using the “peace process” as an instrument to keep us at
bay and disunited until they are ready to launch a
successful war against us whenever they feel
circumstances are in their favor to do so. Our ancestor
Joseph in his wisdom would have pierced the Arab veil of
deceit long ago. Would that his descendants had the
courage and fortitude to act in accordance with his faith
and prescription for Jewish survival.
Postscript: Shortly after our last buse left
Joseph’s Tomb, the same Army escort that had accompanied
us to the site, was violently attacked, and damaged along
with the yeshiva student bus, by Arabs from Shchem. We
learned about it on the news late that same evening upon
our return to Jerusalem. These attacks only reemphasize
the need to keep our visits to this important holy site
frequent, undeterred by such Arab abhorrent acts.
Typically, no Arab voices, nor those of their sympathizers,
were raised in Israel or outside of Israel, to decry this
crude Arab attempt to restrict Jewish freedom of religious
worship.
Ruth Matar
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Jerusalem, July 18, 1997
Are There, In Truth, Any Red Lines?
This past week I went to Joseph’s Tomb in
Shechem, as one of the monthly trips of Women In Green
to become acquainted with the Land of our forefathers.
I find difficulty in finding the words to adequately
describe what we saw there. Foremost among my
impressions was that the yeshiva students of the Ode
Yosef Chai Yeshiva were virtual heroes. These fearless
and dedicated students travel every single day through
what is presently the heartland of hostile Arab Shechem
to Joseph’s Tomb, which is located in that city’s midst.
It is they by their study and daily sacrifice who are
responsible for this Jewish holy site being preserved
and made available to our People.
We had to wait for the IDF escort who
would accompany us to the Holy Site. On the way we
passed many uniformed terrorists with the weapons they
received from Shimon Peres, which they had used to kill
6 of our soldiers in the riots here last September.
Although we arrived in two buses, the army restricted
our entry to one bus at a time, telling us, inexplicably,
that more than one bus would annoy the Arabs. When the
first busload of people completed its visit, only then
was the second bus allowed to visit. This was the first
humiliation we suffered on this day.
We then were given a tour of the holy
site by the cooperative yeshiva students, with an
excellent presentation of the insights of our sages on
the grandeur of our forefather, the Biblical Joseph.
We were surprised to see our soldiers
informally dressed in T-shirts rather than in their
uniforms. We asked why? We were told that in the Oslo
Agreement, our soldiers are forbidden to wear their
uniforms while guarding the premises from within, since
this would annoy the Arabs. It was tantamount to
another humiliation, both to the image of our army, its
soldiers and to our Jewish State.
But that was not the end of the
surprises awaiting us on this visit. We entered the
place which, prior to this past September, had been the
Yeshiva Library. What we saw there reminded us of
photographs from kristallnacht when Nazi storm troopers
destroyed and burned synagogues and sacred books in
Germany in 1938. Here it was in Israel, at this holy
site of Joseph’s Tomb, that Arabs carried out a pogrom.
They burned and tore up sacred books, destroyed
tefilin, looted and carried away what they could lay
their hands on, and burned down the entire library
building. It still was a horrifying sight, almost one
year later.
And how did the Government of Israel,
and the rest of the world, react to this blatant act of
bestiality. Hardly a whimper! It is extremely painful
today to see our so-called Jewish leaders, the Prime
Minister, the Chief Rabbis, and even the President of
Israel react with more sensitivity and anger to a
stupid drawing of a pig done by an immature young lady,
than they did with regard to the September 1996 pogrom
at Joseph’s Tomb carried out by a horde of rioting
Arabs. On the contrary, the Arabs were given a reward
following these riots…we evacuated Hebron!
Our Defense Minister moreover,
incredulously has not granted permission
up to now, to rebuild what has been destroyed by the
Arabs. The Arabs cross red lines and Israel is silent.
What is happening in Hebron is indicative of this
illness.
IDF General Oren Shahor appeared on a
program recently on Israeli television and spoke about
his understanding of what constitutes the crossing of
red lines. He seemingly warned the Arabs that if they
were to cross the red line, then the IDF would have to
enter the autonomy region under Oslo, and reoccupy the
former cities we had relinquished to the Palestinian
Authority. When he was asked what constitutes for him
the crossing of the red line, his answer referred to two
possibilities: 1) if uniformed Palestinians would shoot
at us, as they did in September, or 2) If there would
be tens and hundreds of Israeli casualties.
Do you comprehend what Shahor is
telling us? Essentially he is saying that anything
less than the examples he has given above, is not
crossing the red line! When Arabs invade Jewish lands
in Morag, and cause the moving of the Memorial in Gush
Katif of a soldier they murdered, this is not the
crossing of a red line? When a bomb explodes in Hebron
at the feet of IDF soldiers, and daily rioting is
permitted and even encouraged by the Arab authorities
who bus in Arabs from outside of Hebron to participate
in the hostilities, that is not crossing the red line?
When the Arabs fire 9 shots at Jewish civilians
residing in Beit Hadassah, this is not crossing the red
line? When hundreds of petrol bombs are thrown at Jews
by Arabs in Judea, Samaria and in the Gaza Strip, this
is not crossing the red line? When bullets are fired
at Rabbi Levanon and his family near Eilon Moreh, this
is not crossing of the red line?
How many more miracles do we have to
receive from the Holy One before we arise from our
present stupor and say: “Enough!” Must Jewish blood
acually flow before we wake up? Will we respond even then?
Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 20, 1997
“How Goodly Are Thy Tents, O Jacob….”
In this week’s Bible portion of Balak,
in the book of Numbers, we learn about the first attempt,
more than three thousand years ago, to censure or curse
the Jewish People. This maneuver long ago preceded the
modern attempts by the PLO and the UN to accomplish the
same objective. Balak, one of the ancient Middle East
Kings, attempted to enlist the aid of the then international
sorcerer Balaam to curse the Jewish People as a prelude
to Balak defeating them in battle. Balak was not successful.
Instead of delivering a curse, Balaam, through the
intervention of the Almighty, blessed the Jewish People
to the dismay and frustration of Balak.
As preparatory to defeating Israel in
battle, Balak’s strategy was to first weaken Israel
psychologically; first he would attack her verbally, to
lower Israel’s own people’s morale, and to besmirch her
name, and reputation among the nations of the world.
Since then, this “Balak technique” has been repeatedly
used against Israel throughout the ages, and to this very
day. We are surrounded by enemies and countries that
incite against us, and against our very existence. The
present leader in this region is the PLO Authority, which
has recently initiated a world-wide anti-Israel campaign
in which it makes ridiculous false charges and
accusations to a world which is all too ready to listen
and believe the worst about Israel. The Arab penchant
for extraordinary fantasy has them claiming that Israel
sends spoiled food products and dangerous viruses into
their areas, as well as erotic chewing gum.
Nor is their ability for untruths
restricted to such unfounded and preposterous claims.
The PLO would also rewrite history. They preposterously
claim the Western Wall has no connection to the Jewish
People and is not a remnant of the Jewish People’s
ancient Temples on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Moreover, they absurdly conjecture that the events
described in the Bible occurred in Yemen; that the
Children of Israel described in the Bible were in fact
Arab tribes; and that all Ashkanazi Jews are not Jews at
all but are descendants of the European Kuzars; history a
la the PLO is a whole new amoral world, with the imprint
on Western Civilization of Jewish morals and ethics wiped
away entirely by the Arafat oriented PLO’s version of
history.
The whole sordid attack on reality
would be funny, and the PLO’s blatant lies fully exposed,
if we had an objective media. We could then launch a
counter offensive to such nonsense, which would confirm
the historical facts and would expose the truth about our
enemies and their murderous intentions. You would think
that this job would be naturally undertaken by Israel’s
own Governmental station. Unfortunately, that station is
controlled by Meretz and Labor personnel who are more
interested in embarrassing the present Netanyahu
Government, and pushing the Peres-Beilin Oslo failed
peace process, than in exposing the historical
distortions of the PLO and its serious breaches of the
Oslo Accords.
You do not have to listen to the
PLO’s “Voice of Palestine” for these comical distortions.
Israel Radio 2 (Reshet Bet) and Shelly Yehi-Movitz, one of
its leading commentators, will provide you with the same
anti-Israel nonsense. You need not seek out agitators and
inciters against Israel by almost every Moslem religious
leader, when on the widely heard Israeli Television program
of Popolitika, we have bona-fide self-hating Israelis Dan
Margalit, and Amnon Dankner to continually blacken the good
name and reputation of Israel. Nor do you have to go to the
anti-Semitic and anti-Israel newspapers of Egypt to get one-
sided lambasting of Israel. You can obtain virtually the
same results from reading the leading Israeli newspapers,
Maariv, Yedioth Achronot, and HaAretz!
That is the real problem — a media
which is in the control of those who do not have a
positive feeling about being Jewish, and who take no
pride in the tremendous accomplishments of their People
and Israel. However, we must not despair. We have
definite remedies to this deplorable situation. Arutz 7
(radio) is a good beginning. At long last we are able to
listen to the radio without getting angry at its
unfairness. Arutz 7 speaks to the overwhelming majority
of the Jewish People on themes that are dear to their
heart, Judaism, and Zionism. It is a potent antidote to
the poison and defeatism being daily disseminated by such
Israel radio stations as Radio 2 and Army Radio (Galei
Tzahal).
But what about the written press?
Anyone who reads HaAretz, the Jerusalem Post, Maariv or
Yediot is liable to undergo a severe anxiety attack.
Here, too, there is a slight glimmer of hope. Two days
ago, a new weekly newspaper appeared, called “Mekor
Rishon.” It is a refreshing addition to what has
heretofore been available to the Jewish public. Just
like radio Arutz 7, the newspaper is “of the people and
for the people.” It appears to be a newspaper with love
and pride in the Jewish People and in the Land of Israel.
Would that we were able to soon have television stations
which also promulgate such love and pride of Israel and
its Jewish People.
The time has come for the media in
Israel to represent the views of the overwhelming
majority of its Jewish citizens. Although the strength
of this majority increases from day to day and its
influence continues to grow in the army, the sciences,
and other parts of the Government, the media in Israel
still stands far apart from the Jewish public, and is
unsympathetic to its traditions and its heritage. There
is presently a wide chasm between the Jewish People and
its media. The words of Biblical Balaam should be heard
throughout the length and breadth of this Land
continuously: “How Goodly are thy tents O Jacob, and
your dwelling places, O Israel.” Such an approach would
help to remove that chasm, and also help to unite our
People in the difficult days that lie ahead of us.
Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, July 27, 1997
A Striking Example of Pure Greed
Will we here in Israel ever come to grips with
the fact that the Labor party, with its adjunct the
Histadrut, has no intention of giving up their grip on
the wealth of this country? They have monopolized and
heavily milked the Israeli public for so long, they
can not easily “kick” the habit, their recent defeat
at the polls notwithstanding. They have considered
the State of Israel their own private possession,
without ever feeling a twinge of “nationalism.” All
their loyalty was directed to the “Party.” Anyone
who challenged their exclusive right to rule, was the
“enemy,” and treated as such. Their actions may be
cloaked in high-falutin phrases, but when you cut down
to the marrow, it is pure self-interest and self-
preservation and their control of this country which
is at stake.
The recent one day national sympathy strike
with the Bezek workers, who had struck against
privitization, called last Thursday by the Histadrut,
is a glaring case in point. Everyone concedes that no
worker’s job was seriously threatened and, in fact,
privatization would clearly resound to the workers’
benefit. Yet the concept of competition in an economy
heretofore tightly controlled by the moguls of the
Labor party was an anathema that had to be fought.
Muscles had to be flexed, and those presently in power
had to be shown the actual strength of Labor. Even
if it did not presently control the reigns of the
democratically elected new Government, which had dared
to put the general public’s interest as paramount, it
was important for Netanyahu to be taught who really
was the boss. Although even this one day strike was
recognized by everyone as having caused great economic
damage to the nation and the public, Labor’s response
was in effect: the public and the nation be damned.
Those Labor stalwarts who were in the forefront of
calling for the law’s implementation against the
supporters of Zo Artzeinu blocking intersections,
were as one in justifying the right of the “workers”
to block traffic at those same intersections, as part
of a sympathy strike against privatization. Behind
the facade of the “holy” workers, havoc and
destruction were permissible, and openly encouraged.
The sad truth, however, is that the strike
accomplished nothing more than closing down the
country for a day. It could not go beyond a day,
because the public would then have been in an uproar
against this myopic self-interest group, who put their
own desire for power and control of the economy above
the interests of the nation and its public. It was
the whimper of a former giant who is still struggling
against finally sharing with all of us the benefits
and burdens of running an old-new country of the
people, by the people, and for the people.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
*******************************
Jerusalem, July 30, 1997
The Biblical Mount of Olives Is Alive And Well
Over the centuries Jews have brought their dead back
to Israel from all parts of the world to be buried on
their holy Mount of Olives. King David used to pray on
the Mount of Olives and the Prophet Zachariah foretold
that the Messiah will come from there. The exciting
news is that on Jewish owned land, on this holy Mount of
Olives, the Municipality of Jerusalem has given
permission to have Jews reside as well as be buried
there. The security of, and easy accessability to, this
Jewish holy site of the Mount of Olives, will thus be
assured.
But wait a minute. Not so fast. The Arabs who
claim exclusive control over the Jewish Temple Mount
area where the first two Jewish Temples stood, are
protesting that the Mount of Olives is also exclusively
Arab. However, the development of Ras Al Amud as an
Arab neighborhood has only taken place since the 1967 war,
when the Jews reoccupied Jerusalem. During the
Jordanian controlled period of 1948-1967 an Arab Mukhtar
had falsely staked a claim to adjoining Jewish land, but
even the Jordanians held then that the land belonged to
Jews. Notwithstanding, the Arabs, led by Faisal
Husseini, an indirect descendent and follower of the
Jew-hating and Hitler associate, the Grand Mufti of
Jerusalem, threaten to riot if living Jews are allowed
to reside on Jewish land in the area.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, Foreign Minister David
Levy and Defense Minister Mordechai, a trio epitomizing
short-sightedness and lack of faith, have bowed to
pressures from an international community which in turn
is effectively pressured by the Arabs. There has been a
rush by the trio to assure Arafat and the PLO that they
will not allow Jewish building. Although the objection
is phrased in the deceptive words of “Now is not the
appropriate time,” the meaning is clear. Out of fear of
Arab rioting, no building by Jews without prior consent
of threatening Arab terrorists. Labor Party chieftain
Barak, whose criterion is what he mistakenly thinks will
get him elected, has now reversed his prior approval of
the project. They do not see that Arab success in
opposing Jews residing on the Mount of Olives in
Jerusalem will only embolden Arafat to be more obdurate
about Har Homa and other Jewish building in Judea,
Samaria and the Gaza strip, as well. Arafat’s
opposition to Jews living and rebuilding their Biblical
homeland extends to all places, not only within eastern
Jerusalem.
The answer to the Arabs should be: “Let us build
together, not destroy.” Arab and Jew can only live
together in peace, if the Arabs finally realize that the
Jews must be allowed to rebuild and restore all parts of
their Biblical homeland, which had become barren through
neglect, where the Jews literally have made deserts
bloom once again. Israel must be firm and say to the
PLO and to the nations, just as our forefather Isaiah
said to critics many years ago: “For the sake of Zion I
will not be silent, for the sake of Jerusalem I will
not be still.”
Nadia Matar