[Video] Rowdy Arab Youth in the Heart of the Old Yemenite Village

Daniel Luria of Ateret Cohanim encounters a bunch of rowdy Arab youth towards the end of a day of filming in the historically Jewish neighborhood of the Yemenite Village in Jerusalem. Since its decimation in 1936-37 it has been taken over by Arabs and renamed Silwan. Now more than 17 Jewish families have moved back. The old Synagogue has been brought back into Jewish hands as well.

Reclaiming Hebron

Ten days after being forcibly removed by authorities for entering two building legally bought, 20 Hebron residents are attempting to make their way back into them.  This is not the first time there has been a tumult over private land purchases in Hebron. One of the strategies used to strengthen the community is to increase the purchases in the Israeli controlled areas in order to ensure Jewish continuity from Kiryat Arba to the Jewish community of Hebron as well as between the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.  After all, Kiryat Arba with its 8,000 plus residents is essentially an extension of Hebron.

One of the first attempts to do this was with the purchase of the Peace House in 2007. Noam Arnon, Hebron spokesman at the time of the original purchase of the Peace House said the following:

″The house of peace, on the main road between Hebron and Kiryat Arba is an additional link in the growth of the City of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. Bonding Hebron and Kiryat Arba, this building will provide homes for dozens, if not hundreds of Israelis, waiting to live in Hebron.″

The first Jewish residents were removed in 2008. Despite setbacks, the house was officially given over in a court ruling in 2012 to the Jewish owners who had bought it.  This ruling was held up by the Supreme Court in 2014.

 

Map of Hebron, courtesy http://www.Hebron.com
Map of Hebron, courtesy the Hebron Community

The two buildings in question now stand between the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Jewish Neighborhood of Avraham Avinu. The legal purchase of these properties is clear and so the only question really is why the Defense Minister is balking.  We have noted before that he is clearly nervous of a new trend and one that would be hard for him to stop once it gets rolling.  If Jews begin to buy properties in Hebron like they do in Jerusalem’s Old City and many of the formerly Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, it will spell the end once and for all of the two state solution in the minds of both Israelis and their Palestinian counterparts.

This may be one of the roots of his fear. Control has belonged to the sons and daughters of the secular Kibbutz movement since the beginning of the State.  Turning over the keys to Moshe Levinger’s children is not on Yaalon’s agenda. Yet, at the end he may have no choice.  The energy no longer belongs with his camp, but rather has returned to the caretakers that can lead the Jewish Nation to the next stage of their National Redemption.

Reclaiming Hebron represents the most authentic form of Zionism.  David’s Kingdom began there and it was there that Moshe Levinger showed the world that the Jews could return to their ancient lands, thus reversing the injustice of the wanton ethnic cleansing of Hebron’s Jewish population in 1929.

In the coming days, the Israeli government will be forced to choose its future.  It can either decide to embrace the struggle for true Hebrew Liberation by allowing Jews to freely buy homes in the city of their forefathers or delegitimize their claims to be a government dedicated to furthering the restoration of the Jewish people to the entire ancestral homeland.

 

I have Borne You on the Wings of Eagles

“‘You have seen what I did to Egypt, and I have borne you on the wings of eagles and brought you to Me. And now, if you hearken well to Me and observe My Covenant, you shall be to Me a Segula of all nations, for Mine is the entire world. You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Children of Israel.” (SHEMOT 19:4-6)

Before bestowing upon Israel the Torah at Sinai, HaShem commands Moshe to relate these instructions to the entire Hebrew Nation. Awareness of Israel’s national mission is a prerequisite for receiving the Torah because only through understanding our historic purpose and the Divine Ideal our nation is meant to manifest can we hope to fully grasp the significance of the individual mitzvotthrough which that greater ideal is expressed.

The national mission of the Jewish people in history is achieved through that which can best be described as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Israel is tasked with bringing all of humanity to the conscious awareness of HaShem as the timeless ultimate Reality without end that creates all, sustains all, empowers all and loves all. And in order for Israel to achieve this lofty goal, we must first constitute a healthy nation in our homeland that manifests the Divine Ideal in all spheres of national life. Our society must encompass scholars, doctors, farmers, pilots, accountants, lawmakers, firefighters and sanitation workers, all serving HaShem and working in unison to build His kingdom in our physical world – a kingdom that will provide material expression to all of our Torah’s highest spiritual values. Not as a “religion” or philosophy but rather as a living reality – a kingdom who’s very life force and national culture is the Divine Ideal being fully expressed in every field of human endeavor. A kingdom of priests and holy nation – where even the bus drivers drive their buses and the merchants sell their wares in such a way that manifests HaShem’s Ideal in their specific spheres of life – is the way in which Israel brings the world to know HaShem.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzḥak HaKohen Kook writes at length on the topic of Israel’s Segula. In Letter 555, he explains that the holiness and Divine connection ofAm Yisrael is made up of two main components – the Segula and free will. TheSegula is our nation’s absolute inner essence that transcends the behavior or personal consciousness of any individual Jew. It is the eternal national Covenant between the Kadosh Barukh Hu and Israel and the intrinsic kedushainfused into the nature of Knesset Yisrael – Israel’s collective soul – that cannot be altered or negated, thereby upholding the Mishnaic teaching that all Israel have a share in the world to come. Just by virtue of being substantially linked to the Divine, every Hebrew enjoys an eternal connection to HaShem.

Despite the objective kedusha of Israel’s inner Segula independent of the thoughts or deeds of individuals, its expression is generally revealed only to the extent that a Jew’s free will facilitates. Its manifestation is therefore normally dependent on a person’s conscious relationship with HaShem, emersion in Torah and fulfillment of mitzvot.

Because Israel possesses this consecrated Segula and the potential to bring great blessing to the world, we must strive to express it through our individual and collective conduct. The Hebrew Nation was created with the ability to shine a tremendous light to the world that will elevate Creation to its loftiest ideal state. While all Jews possess this unique Segula regardless of whether or not we ever actualize our potential, a healthy person who understands this responsibility will naturally strive to live up to his true self. The more we appreciate our national mission and connection to HaShem, the more we desire to reveal the Segula in our lives. This manifestation of Divine energy and blessing is essentially accomplished through the performance of the mitzvot.

Although Rabbi Kook teaches that there are historic periods in which theSegula is able to override personal choice and subconsciously propel Israel forward (such as the Zionist movement’s initial stages), the role of Israel’s free will is to recognize and reveal the Segula’s innate kedusha by conducting our personal lives and national life in accordance with the statutes of our Torah. By properly utilizing our power of choice, we open valves that bring Divine content into our world. Each mitzvah performed in Eretz Yisrael is a finite vehicle that infuses immense light into our reality, like a faucet connected to a pipe full of blessing that enters the world through each precept carried out. This Divine energy then raises the world to a higher plane of existence, measurably improving and illuminating it through the Jewish people properly expressing our inner essence. Every time a Jew learns a verse of Torah, gives money to the needy or plants a tree in his homeland, a surge of Divine blessing enters the world, causing the forces of evil and human suffering to be diminished.

For much of the time that Jews were in exile from our homeland, the world was trapped in what is often referred to as “dark ages.” Advancement in the fields of medicine, culture and technology was halted as senseless violence and disease plagued civilization. But as soon as the Hebrew Nation began to trickle home to our native soil, a world of wisdom and idealism began to open up and flourish. Science and technology began to rapidly advance as mankind’s sensibilities grew increasingly more humane. For the first time in history, warfare – rather than glorified – became viewed as a negative (although often necessary) historic occurrence. Mass movements were formed and revolutions took place geared towards rectifying the ills of human civilization.

History’s ultimate goal of universal fulfillment and total blessing necessitates exposing the Divine Ideal that manifests itself through Israel’s national life ofkedusha. While the Segula of Israel is eternal and unchangeable, the Hebrew mission is to reveal it on the highest level possible in order to drive humanity closer to achieving a perfect world.

The Torah is not a “religion” relegated to the houses of study or prayer. Nor is it a set of rules meant to coercively modify human behavior. The Torah is the Divine Ideal from before Creation lowered into our world in order to guide Israel in successfully exposing our inner Segula and actualizing our potential of bringing humankind to the awareness of its unique relationship with the infinite Whole we call HaShem. Each word and precept found within our Torah only serves to instruct us in properly revealing our inherent kedusha and behaving according to our authentic nature.

The Torah ideal of Israel becoming “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” necessitates the sanctification of every element of nationhood, from commerce and social services to warfare and diplomacy. This is the Divine Ideal – revealed to us even before the Ten Commandments – that constitutes the essence of Israel’s spiritual composition and illustrates the perfection of the Torah as our constitution. The Kingdom of Israel, now advancing towards fulfillment, will revolutionize human values and shine blessing to mankind as we establish a model society that will set an example of Divine perfection and bring history to its ultimate goal.

Is Israel Smashing Freedom of Speech?

The hypocrisy of the Left knows no bounds.  The current legislation written by MK Miri Regev  to make government funding for cultural endeavors conditional on loyalty to the state may seem a bit much to the casual observer, but the Left knows far well that it has grossly overreached in terms of tapping into government coffers to fund these artists in order to inculcate a post-Zionist outlook in the youth.  The Left coupled a cultural take over here in Israel by smashing artists with alternate political viewpoints as fringe or radical.

The Left cannot come to terms with the fact that Israel is a far more traditionally right leaning country than their European interlocutors would like them to believe.

“The beauty of Israeli artistic creation will always continue,” Isaac Herzog the head of the Zionist Union vowed on Facebook. “The Israeli McCarthyism and the zeros who are leading it will disappear just as they disappeared in the United States. The question is when and how much it will cost us?”

Once again the Left would like everyone to think the government is trying to shut down Israeli artists, but that is not the case. Regev and non-Profits like Im Tirtzu who are helping to promote the bill, just don’t want tax payer funds to prop up otherwise failing post-Zionist artists. All artists and performers in Israel have an unalienable right to freedom of speech and expression, but we the tax payer should not be required to fund the very people that seek to undermine our right to live here.

Yes Orly, We Do Care About Dead Palestinians

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ommentator and Left wing activist Orly Noy of the far Left 972 Mag wrote an article entitled: When do Israelis care about dead Palestinians? She asserts that the current outrage against far Left Agitator Ezra Nawi over his bragging of getting Palestinians killed by the PA over their property sales is pure politics. She compares this to the lack of outrage over hunger striking Muhammad al-Qiq a Palestinian journalist arrested by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority because he criticized PA policies.

Orly says the following: “All of a sudden the entire country has come together, concerned about the possible wrongdoing to a Palestinian from the occupied territories. All of a sudden Abu Khalil’s life — and death — have become meaningful for Israelis. All of a sudden the Israeli public cares about a dead Palestinian.”

Israeli society is outraged about what occurred with Ezra Nawi, because it is at its core hypocritical. There is one thing to say you support Palestinian rights . I may disagree with that, but it is part of discourse. Yet, using your stature as a Palestinian rights activist to turn trusting Palestinians over to an abusive leadership simply because one disagrees with Jewish Land purchases is patently hypocritical and sick.

Orly is right though, the Israeli government should stop working to prop up the Ramallah regime.  The only difference between Orly and myself is what should replace it.  Land of Israel activists believe the best and most humane solution is to annex Judea and Samaria, which will end the occupation.  The result of this would actually give the Palestinian Arabs that are law abiding the chance to have a far better life as part of the Israeli civil society.

Something tells me Orly Noy would disagree.

Jewish Hunger Striker in Danger

Administrative Detainee Meir Ettinger has reportedly lost consciousness due to his hunger strike.  Meir Ettinger was placed in administrative detention with no charges or evidence over 6 months ago in relation to the Duma fire, which killed a young Arab family. Ettinger was in Sefat at the time, but the Defense Minister used a controversial power to place him in prison indefinitely.

Meir Ettinger is the grandson of Rav Meir Kahane and is considered a young leader of the growing hilltop movement in Judea and Samaria.

Moriah Ettinger, Meir’s wife, told Hakol Hayehudi, “The only one with power is God. He put Meir in jail and he will release him, and we are certain He will release him.” She cited Psalms 32:10, “Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving-kindness will surround the man who trusts in God.”

Two other detainees were arrested along with Ettinger without charge. One of them Mordechai Meir was released after five months after it was proven the evidence the Shabak (internal security services) presented was proven false. Administrative detention is often used to extra-judicially hold Palestinian prisoners during security sweeps if they are suspected of involvement in  broader terrorist activities in order to gain more information or protect Israel from attacks in real time.  The last time administrative detention was used against Jews was during the British Mandate period.

IDF to Hamas: Please Stop Hating Us

The war of words continues today between Hamas and Israel.  Of course it should be assumed that Hamas who has never heeded any warning from the IDF will keep their tradition of running straight into a wall. In the tradition of the IDF’s war of stern warnings Major General Yoav Mordechai Poli threatened Hamas saying that unless they cease coercion and incitement of those who cross over into Israel, Israel will have no choice but to close the crossings.

2000px-Gaza_Strip_map2.svg[1]
Gaza Strip – Crossings
This is analogous to Jews pleading with Hitler to stop murdering us. Hamas doesn’t care about land crossings or the residents of the strip. Any closure will feed into their propaganda.  That being said, if we don’t want violent enemies entering Israel then don’t let them in, but don’t pretend to use it as a weapon against an enemy force steeped in the ideology of global Jihad.

Preparing for War Means Be Prepared

If Hamas is truly preparing for another round of fighting then the IDF needs to be prepared as well.  No slogan or warnings will do. Making sure the enemy is severely destroyed is the only real solution to the conflict.  This requires killing Hamas leaders and the eventual reconquering of the strip in order to finally flush out the Jihadist vipers that are busy readying themselves for Israel’s destruction.