A translation
BLESSED BE THE RESCUER AND REDEEMER
I wish to dedicate this translation to dear Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan, may
G-d avenge his blood, who was brutally murdered by an Arab terrorist in his home
in Admot Yishai, Hebron, on the 28th of Av 5758 (August 20, 1998), and to Shlomo
Liebman & Harel Bin-Nun, may G'd avenge their blood, who were also murdered
by Arab terrorists in Yitshar (Shechem). These murders were perpetrated while
this book was being translated.
I also wish to dedicate it to my dear
parents, Z"L; the anniversary of their death also fell while I was translating
the book.
The translation is also a memorial to the courageous Dr. Baruch
Goldstein, may G-d avenge his blood, who gave his life to save the Jews of
Hebron.
When I first decided to translate this book, I was motivated by the desire to
clear the memory of Dr. Baruch Goldstein, may G-d avenge his blood. I felt that
it was important for everyone to know the truth about the events surrounding the
massacre, which I had already discovered in 1994, when the media started putting
a "spin" on events and demonizing this brave and devoted man. What I did not
expect to find was twofold:
A. the unbelievable negligence and corruption of
Rabin's Israeli government.
B. most importantly: THE EVENTS DESCRIBED IN
THIS BOOK ARE REPEATING THEMSELVES THESE VERY DAYS, in Hebron in particular, and
all over Yehuda and Shomrom as well. The worst part is seeing that the
government, which was elected in 1996 to CHANGE THE COURSE OF EVENTS, is
following the patterns of the previous one: same abuse of power, same character
assassinations, same lies. That 's why I feel even more urgently the need to
publicize these facts: the more people are made aware of the forces underlying
current events, the stronger they will be in finding the courage to fight
deception and corruption wherever they may be.
Let me end with the words of Psalm 27, which is being read in all the synagogues, so appropriately, during this month of Elul, the month this translation was finished:
"A Psalm of David. The Lord is my light and aid; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers press against me to eat up my flesh - my enemies and my foes - it is they who stumble and fall. Even though, an army were arrayed against me, my heart would not fear; though war should arise against me, still would I be confident. One thing I ask from the Lord, one thing I desire - that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of the Lord, and to meditate in his sanctuary. Surely, he will hide me within his own tabernacle in the day of distress; he will conceal me in the shelter of his tent; he will set me safe upon a rock. Thus my head shall be high above all my foes around me; I will offer sacrifices within his tabernacle to the sound of trumpets; I will sing and chant praises to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, my voice when I call; be gracious to me and answer me. In thy behalf my heart has said: "Seek you my presence"; thy presence, O Lord, I do seek. Hide not thy face from me; turn not thy servant away in anger; thou hast been my help; do not abandon me, forsake me not, O G-d my Savior. Though my father and mother have forsaken me, the Lord will take care of me. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and guide me in a straight path, in spite of my enemies. Deliver me not to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe forth violence. I do believe I shall yet see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Hope in the Lord; and let your heart be brave; yes, hope in the Lord."
David Cohen, 5758 - 1998
In the morning of Purim 1994, all of Israel was stunned to hear the following
report:
"Dr. Baruch Goldstein, one of Kiryat Arba's leading citizens,
grabbed his Galil assault rifle, and with it, massacred dozens of Moslem
worshippers at the Cave of the Patriarchs (in Hebron)."
It is not surprising that the announcement totally shocked Rabin's government, the left-wing politicians, and the Israeli media: after all, they had already gotten used to seeing Jews getting killed in their own cities at the hands of "Arab freedom fighters" . But that a Jew should get up and commit a similar act!? Extremely alarmed, they appointed a national commission of inquiry, headed by Supreme Court Justice Head Meir Shamgar, the goal of which was to "examine and determine the findings and conclusions regarding facts and circumstances relating to the said massacre."
Most of the deliberations of the committee were held under open doors ; 106 people showed up as witnesses, 1140 exhibits were presented, and 2500 pages of legal material were edited. In July of 1994, the report presenting the conclusions of the committee was completed. For many days, Dr. Haim Simons reviewed the wealth of testimonies and exhibits, and they are brought here for the first time to the awareness of the general public. Our thanks to him.
The purpose of this booklet is to reconstruct, with utmost sensitivity and accuracy, the difficult events that Dr. Baruch Goldstein experienced, the intolerable and prolonged abandonment and alienation the Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) settlers suffered at the hands of the ruling authorities, and the circumstances that led (Dr. Goldstein) to perform this extremely shocking act.
These are the days of the arrival of Mashiach, in the middle of the Jubilee year of the State of Israel - the beginning of our redemption. G'd forbid that we should end up despairing about the future of the people of Israel in the Holy Land, just because of the behavior of the ruling elite.On the contrary, the people of Israel are "a wise and intelligent nation" , and that fact should comfort us. It will be impossible for that same ruling class, narrow, dull-minded and self-contained, that comprises at most a thousand people, to disrupt the process of redemption. Even more, through constructive critical analysis, exposing their deeds and failures will allow us to avoid the mistakes of the past and improve our ways.
This booklet would not have been published, were it not for the intensive efforts of the Rabin government's Attorney General, Mr. MICHAEL BEN YAIR, who didn't stop, and couldn't find peace of mind, until he had indicted me and brought me to trial, on charges of being the editor of the book written in memory of my dear and deceased friend, Dr. Baruch Goldstein: "BARUCH HAGEVER" - (Blessed be the Man...). The book was published on the first anniversary of his murder, Purim of 1995 ; I was convicted by the assistant D.A. of the Justice Court "Shalom Yerushalaim" , YAACOV TSABAN. They compelled me to deepen my inquiry, and you are holding the results of this inquiry in your hands.
Of course, the profound hatred and vigorous efforts by Meretz Knesset member RAN COHEN to desecrate the grave of the deceased and vilify his name, greatly increased my motivation to toil for months, day and night, and devote my every waking moment to the gathering, scrutiny and dissemination of this ample material ; all this, to clear the memory of the deceased in the eyes of the general public.
"The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow; to cast down the poor and needy; to slay such as are upright in the way. Their sword will enter into their own hearts, and their bows will be broken... For the Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His pious ones; they are preserved forever. But the seed of the wicked will be cut off." (Psalm 37)
This brochure is published with the blessings of the parents of the deceased- Israel and Miriam Goldstein, as well as with the approval of his widow, Miriam, and his children, Yaakov-Yair, Sarah-Moriah, Eliahu-Menachem, Rachel-Merhaviah. Because it is their wish that this publication reach as many people as possible, it is distributed free of charge* '** to whoever wants it.
Michael Ben-Horin
In the name of the "Friends of Baruch"
Nov, Adar
5758 (March 1998)
THE SECURITY SITUATION IN YESHA
THE ARAB UPRISING (THE
INTIFADA)
The Arab uprising in Judea, Samaria and Gaza* (from now on, abbreviated as "Yesha" , note from the translator) started in the winter of 5748 (December 1987). The Shamgar report summarizes the events of that period:
"From the beginning of the uprising until April 3rd, 1994, many tens of thousands of stones were thrown (to be exact: 154,754 - exhibit 1093), 5,655 Molotov cocktails were also thrown, there were 2,979 assaults and stabbings, 281 shootings, and 256 hand-grenades were thrown. 64 Israelis were killed,and 3, 866 were wounded (by the security forces as well as by civilians). Among the Arab residents in that same period, 33 were killed by Israeli citizens (not counting the dead from the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre), 373 at the hands of their fellow residents, and 10,434 were wounded. In the course of one month alone - February 94- (that is the month of the massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs), in Yesha, there were 2,206 cases of stone throwings, 58 cases of Molotov cocktails, 8 shootings, one thrown hand grenade, and 4 placing of explosives."
"One example among thousands can be found in the case of Yair Lior, a resident of Beit Haggai, who, because of his work in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, has to travel every day through Hebron and the Beit-Kakhil intersection. Between the dates of 1.1.91 and 10.15.93, his car was damaged by stones no less than 47 times, and according to tax and insurance records, he had to file claims for damages to his car 26 times." (1. Shamgar, page 167)
"Ever since the outbreak of the intifada, this population (the Jewish settlers in Yesha) has lived under constant physical threat, especially while on the roads, but also in the settlements per se. In the event that a Jewish settler, for a reason or another, has to pass through a crowded Arab area, the physical threat to him increases even more, and if he does that unarmed, he is taking his life in his own hands." (2.Shamgar, page 152).
The facts presented by Judge Shamgar prove that indeed, during the years of the intifada, ABSOLUTE ANARCHY reigned. Things are even stranger, considering that the Israeli regime is defined as a "lawful state" , and yet, people are brought to trial for mere STATEMENTS declared unlawful by the government. On top of that, people ( "the Jewish underground" ) have been indicted, and even emprisoned for many years, on the basis of CRIMINAL INTENTIONS (e.g. "blowing up the mosques on the Temple Mount" ) that were attributed to them by the regime.
Things get even doubly strange when one realizes that at the head of the
regime stands "the strongest army in the Middle East" . The territories of
Judea, Samaria and Gaza (hence, Yesha) are at the heart of the State of Israel,
and the scene of the disturbances is only a few minutes' drive away from the
urban center of Israel, the Dan region.
We submit, and in fact we shall
prove, that this popular and despicable armed Arab uprising, which claimed the
blood of hundreds of victims, Jewish as well as Arab, was in fact orchestrated
by the official authorities of the state, in order to allow the State of Israel
to withdraw from Yesha while abandoning the local Jewish settlers to their fate.
The leaders of the governmental authorities, knowing that it would be very hard
for them to forcibly remove the Yesha settlers from their legal residences,
AGITATED THE YESHA ARABS in indirect and secret ways, by the establishment of a
system of laws and behaviors full of subliminal messages, so that they would do
their illegal and dirty work for them.
Until the 5th of Iyar 5708 (May 14,1948), the Yesha territories were part of
the British Mandate. From that day on, according to the Partition Plan of the
United Nations adopted on November 29, 1947, the territory of the British
Mandate was divided into two: the Jewish part and the Arab part. The position of
the State of Israel is as follows:
"Because the Gaza strip never
belonged to Egypt, and since at that time the area of Judea and Samaria was
conquered and annexed by force by the Kingdom of Jordan, contrary to the
Partition Plan adopted by the U.N. on November 29, 1947 ; and since, with the
exception of two countries, Great Britain and Pakistan, no country recognized
the sovereignty of Jordan over the West Bank, it is therefore wrong to regard
the State of Israel as having "conquered that territory from its rightful
owner." (3. Amnon Strasnov, "Justice Under Fire" , Yediot Aharonot Publishing,
1994 edition, page 37).
In Yesha the legal situation makes it very easy to declare sovereignty from the point of view of international law, for the following reasons:
1. Yesha is not "occupied territory" .
2. Israel was the victim of a war of aggression by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (4. Prof. Yoram Dienstein, "Laws of War" , Shukan Publishing, page 211: international law "permits the transfer of a conquered territory from the conquered to the conquering nation, provided that the transfer passes from the attacking country to the country that was the victim of aggression." ).
3. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has officially acknowledged that it doesn't claim sovereignty over Yesha.
Despite all this, the State of Israel has refused to proclaim sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and Gaza, even though they are the cradle of Jewish nationhood, and even though for hundreds of years this is where the Kingdoms of Judea and Israel stood. For all practical purposes, the government related to Yesha as occupied territory, and unofficially, de facto, applied to those areas the principles of the Hague and Geneva Conventions, which do apply to occupied territories.
Article 64 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: "The penal laws of the occupied territory will be fully upheld; the occupying power, however, has the right to abolish them if they endanger her security." (5. Strasnov, ibid., p.38)
In Yesha, the emergency rule of self-defense of 1945, which had been declared
in all parts of the Land of Israel-Palestine during the British Mandate, was
established, and didn't get abolished during the time of the Jordanian
jurisdiction over the West Bank either, and so it has become part of local law.
(6. Strasnov, ibid. p.38)
By the power of these harsh laws, the goverment of
the British Mandate was able to sentence to death by hanging Shlomo Ben Yosef,
for the offense of carrying an illegal firearm and ATTEMPTED murder. It is easy
to understand that the Israeli government had in its hands a legal tool (from
the international point of view) with which to control the murderous acts of the
intifada, and thus to efficiently protect peace lovers of both the Jewish and
Arab camps. A similar incident happened after World War II, when Germany was
placed under United States occupation: some German citizens filed an appeal with
the American Supreme Court, requesting to be tried according to United States
law . The American court immediately refused to grant their request, turned them
over to the American military courts on German soil, and even ordered the latter
to try them according to German laws, which are less liberal. (7. Dienstein,
ibid., p. 220 ). The Israeli Government under Menachem Begin STRUCK THE PEOPLE
OF ISRAEL TWICE. On one hand it refused to assert its sovereignty over Yesha, on
the other hand it enabled the Yesha Arabs to exploit the laws of the Stof Israel
and its Supreme Court in order to defend their rights. Needless to say that the
emergency laws of the British Mandate in effect in Yesha by the power of
international law, are more appropriate to the war against terror, than the
liberal laws of the State of Israel.
The intifada,which broke out at the beginning of 1987, found the State of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) completely unprepared. At first, the soldiers got equipped with batons in order to fight back. But within three months, the Army Chief of Staff, Dan Shomron, and the chief military prosecutor, Amnon Strasnov, managed to create a system of laws and behavioral guidelines that hindered the soldiers' ability to quell the uprising, in effect permitting its existence for good. (Strasnov, ibid. p.189)
The understanding that stood behind those laws was that "there is no military solution to the intifada, only a political one" . With other words - withdrawal from Yesha and establishment of a Palestinian State.
At a General Staff meeting, the Chief of Staff distributed the book "Barbaric War for Peace" , published in "Maarachot" at the beginning of the intifada. His aim was to convince the IDF commanders that there is no point in trying to suppress the intifada ; because, even in case of military success, one has to learn from the French precedent, in which "although the French won militarily, they were still forced to evacuate Algeria." (Strasnov, ibid., p.288. Chief of Staff Dan Shomron got rewarded very nicely by the political system for the political services he provided at the expense of the Army, and at the end of his duty was appointed director of the security industries. There too he failed and was removed in disgrace.) In his view, the lands of Yesha, the heart of the State of Israel, are morally and territorially equivalent to settlements across the ocean. As if Algeria is as important to France as Hebron, Shechem and Jerusalem, our historic capitals, are to us, and as if five minutes from the Dan region is equidistant to Algeria that lies across the sea, in the far continent of Africa. As if the demand of the Algerians for an independent state is equivalent to the expressed desire by the Palestinians to destroy the State of Israel itself. As if the settlers returning to their historical homeland, the land of the Bible, from which they were expelled by the Arabs, have the same motivation as French farmers ( "Pieds Noirs" ) who moved to Algeria SOLELY FOR ECONOMIC REASONS, in the context of French imperialistic policy!
According to the Shamgar report, it appears that the biggest problem was the occurrence of stone, cinder bloc and Molotov cocktail throwings toward the passing cars of civilians and soldiers. It became absolutely forbidden for soldiers as well as for civilians, to shoot in the direction of stone throwers, even in the midst of an actual barrage of stones. Neither soldiers nor civilians were permitted to carry weapons such as hunting guns that only fire live ammunition. If this had been permitted, every stone thrower would have been in danger of getting wounded, WHICH IS WHAT HE WANTED TO INFLICT ON HIS VICTIM in the first place, and in any event he would have been prevented from throwing stones. Instead, the army equipped a small amount of officers and underlings with rubber bullets, which they were only permitted to shoot from a range of above 70 meters (10. Strasnov, ibid. page 148) ; So what should a soldier do when he gets attacked (as is usually the case) from a shorter distance? He'll flee. And what will a civilian do when he has no rubber bullets in his Beretta handgun? He'll get hit, with an shattered window and a wounded wife at his side.
It was always forbidden for a settler to stop his car and shoot at the stone throwers. Any settler that did that and hurt a stone thrower,was immediately arrested and kept in jail until the end of the legal proceedings, on the charges of murder or attempted murder, and his weapon confiscated. All he was "allowed" to do was to run away from the stone throwers on his way to work... until next time, that is, until his return from work that evening.
This policy emprisoned the settlers in modern ghettos. The Jew received the settlement in which he lives, and the road leading to the big city ; the rest of the territory surrounding it was de facto given over to the Arabs. Any group of settlers that would dare to get out of the boundaries of their cramped settlement and tour the expanse of Yesha would endanger their lives ; and whoever would react by SHOOTING IN THE AIR in order to frighten the attackers would soon be brought to jail.
Murderers from inside the Arab camp drew a lot of sympathizers. Capital
punishment for murderers, which exists in Yesha according to the Geneva
Convention, was never ever imposed. It was forbidden to shoot purposefully at
someone carrying a weapon, and it was forbidden to shoot at a murderer from the
moment he stopped killing. The only thing that was allowed was to apprehend the
murderer and bring him to the authorities for justice.
In his camp, the
arrested perpetrator was treated like a king by his friends; after all, he
"attained the honor of killing a Jew" , and at any rate, pretty soon he would
quickly be released, as an act of mercy, for the Moslem holidays. Indeed, from
the Jewish public as well came OPEN ENCOURAGEMENTS for the despicable killers ,
without those responsible being brought to trial for "supporting a terror
organization" , unlike the writer of this work (11. Sari Tsuriel, broadcaster on
National Public Television, hostess for the Children's Channel, came with her
friends to the gates of Camp Ans'ar 2 in Tsehilim, where murderers are
emprisoned, and sang songs of praise in their honor.She was not fired from her
government position.).
All these assassins received the honorable treatment
reserved for prisoners of war, in complete opposition to the Geneva Convention,
which specifically denies them any privileges of war prisoners (12 *), instead
demanding their execution. (13**) ( *12. Geneva Convention, regarding treatment
of prisoners of war, Article 4A ) (**13. Dienstein, ibid. p.96 and al.)
It goes without saying that soldiers, who travelled in groups and were armed,
equipped with all their heavy gear, were less exposed to the danger of attack
than Israeli citizens who moved about in the areas of Yesha, en route to their
homes.
The aim that took shape was clear: to get the soldiers of the IDF out
of this "game" in Yesha, and to expose the settlers to the threats of the
intifada, so as to make them despair, and compel them to abandon their homes, or
at the very least to create such a tense security situation that it would
prevent the natural development of a community in the territories of Yesha. The
armed forces, whose purpose it is to go out and face the enemy, turned their
back (on the population), - and the civilian rear, against their wish, were
placed in the front of the battle. Witness and proof to this is the fact that,
even though the conflict was waged face to face, during the years of the
intifada, more than 60 civilians were killed and many hundreds were wounded, yet
from all the IDF soldiers, less than ten got killed (thank G-d)
In order to support these severe words of criticism, we shall review two violent incidents that occurred in Yesha, and let the reader see and judge for himself:
1. On the 19th day of Nissan 5748 ( April 6, 1988), during the intermediary days of Passover, a group of teenage boys and girls from Elon Moreh went on a holiday trip. During this spring excursion, when they were more than a kilometer away from Beitah, a group of Arab youths warned them, called for reinforcements from the village, and by the hundreds attacked the Jewish tourists. They were taken prisoners, forced to come to the center of the village. Once in the center of Beitah, they were attacked. One girl, an innocent victim, Tirza Porat, may G'd avenge her blood, was killed, and some crushed the skull of the saintly Romem Aldovi - founder of the Yeshiva "Od Yosef Chai" in the holy city of Shechem.
Below are the reactions of the authorities: the chief military prosecutor,
Amnon Strasnov, (at present judge in a district court), came to the defense of
the murderess from Beitah because she acted "in the heat of passion" . (14.
Strasnov, ibid., p. 111. The same Strasnov argues that he fought for the defense
of that same abject murderess, because she was the mother of the youth who got
shot and killed while attacking the visitors. Since when does the legal system
permit revenge and vendetta?! Why does the Prosecution decide that what is
forbidden to us, is permitted to the Arabs? Isn't there, in the usual argument
of the leftists, that "we will not descend to their level" , a definite element
of racism? ) She was only accused of throwing stones and causing a serious act
of terror, and received a total of eight months in prison. (15. the same
sentence that the writer of this book got - for the "crime" of publishing the
book "Baruch Hagever" !) Against the organizers of the trip, a complaint was
filed for the offense of "excursion without army authorization" . Because
apparently, going on a trip outside of the confines of the ghetto without
permission is considered a criminal offense by the army prosecutors! Despite
their great efforts, the authorities were unable to bring the security guard of
the trip - the saintly pioneer, Romem Aldovi, - to justice, as he lay for two
years like a vegetable, clinically dead and unable to stand on his feet, in Beit
Loewenstein.
(16. I visited him in the hospital, in the intensive care unit,
and at Beit Loewenstein, a number of times. Thanks to the devoted care and
superhuman efforts of his beloved mother, the tsaddik came back to life. These
days he is staying in the Yeshiva "Mercaz Harav" in Jerusalem.)
2.On the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5791 (September 20,1990), Amnon
Pomerantz, an army sergeant, got lost, and ended up on the main road of the
El-Buridj refugee camp, which is in the vicinity of Gaza. Children in the camp
threw stones at him, and in a panic, he turned his car around and tried to exit
the camp, following the army guidelines. In his great panic, he ran over two
children. An angry mob attacked his car, pelted it with stones, and after he was
wounded put him and his car on fire. Below is the reaction of the authorities.
The legal authorities describe the incident in the following words: "This was an
unheard of, abominable act, probably the worst that occurred during the intifada
against any soldier or Israeli citizen. This kind of lynching, which was
performed by a riotous and wild mob, deserves an appropriate, sharp and painful
response. It has been obvious to all that one cannot overlook a wicked and
unrestrained plot of this nature. ( 17. Strasnov, ibid. p. 122 )
This time,
since we are talking about an IDF soldier who lives in the center of the
country, the punishment meted out to the hooligans matched the severity of the
crime:" Dozens of those that participated directly in the crime, whether by
throwing stones of by setting the car on fire, were arrested, brought to trial,
and put in jail for a long period of time. "
(18. Strasnov, ibid, page 136 )
In any normal country, attackers of innocent children, - specially tourists- would be punished a lot more severely than attackers of soldiers in full battle gear representing the occupying army; not to mention that the tourists were actually walking far away from the Arab village, whereas soldier Pomerantz (may G'd avenge his blood), of his own free will, albeit unintentionally, found himself in the midst of the Arab mob.
The chief army prosecutor reveals the racist bias of the authorities, who
discriminate between blood and blood, by the title he gave to the chapter of his
book dealing with the attack on the tourists of Elon Moreh, and the murder of
Tirza Porat, (may G'd avenge her blood): "The Woman from Beitah" - and not, "The
Murderess from Beitah" , as opposed to the title of the chapter that deals with
the attack on soldier Pomerantz (may G'd avenge his blood): "Murder in
El-Buridj" - (19*). End of example (20*). (19. Strasnov, ibid. page 122. To
thank him for his support of the Arab uprising, the authorities honored him
greatly, and he was awarded a highly esteemed governmental post with a matching
salary: that of District Attorney of Tel-Aviv, a post that no military
prosecutor had ever attained, not since the founding of the State.) (20. pun on
the words only understandable in Hebrew)
Despite the steady deterioration in the individual security level of the
Yesha residents, the State of Israel didn't deem it necessary to increase police
coverage. It states in the Shamgar report: "Despite the increase in
responsibilities that were imposed on them, a majority of the local police force
were dismissed, and from 1300 policemen that were in Yesha in 1967, by 1993 only
500 remained, and by the middle of 93 there were 750 policemen, in other words,
0.4 policeman for every 1000 residents." (21. Shamgar report, page 198).
Inside the Green Line, there are about 20,000 policemen on duty, or 40 times
as many! The Palestinian Authority received permission to hire 30,000 policemen
for their internal security - or 60 times as many, while they didn't have the
extra duty imposed on them to protect against a popular uprising.
At any rate, the sentences that were actually imposed on the stone throwers who got caught (a violation of the statute that forbids endangering traffic areas, which is punishable by up to 20 years in jail ) were so light, that they in fact ENCOURAGED the Arab rioters in continuing their war. Before the Yesha conquest, local law had stated that the minimal age of responsibility for a criminal act was 9. However, the State of Israel decided to increase the age of delinquency to 12, (22. Strasnov, ibid, page 31 ), so that it became impossible to punish the stone throwers, as they were usually below the age of 12. One has to remember that most of the lethal blocs were hurled from tall buildings, so that even with little strength, it was possible to kill, as in the case of the soldier Benny Meisner, (may G'd avenge his blood). A stone that was shoved from the roof of a building crushed his skull.
The State of Israel opened a very profitable economic venue for the stone throwers, called: "Come, Stone us!" (It went like this): a stone thrower that got caught had to deposit 1000 NIS with the court. If he didn't get caught again throwing stones for a whole year from the time of his arraignment, he would get his money back LINKED TO THE PRICE INDEX (23. Strasnov, ibid, page 31). No bank in Israel has a better saving plan than this.
Despite the continuous state of war in Yesha, the security forces ( army and police) and the residents were forbidden to use weapons to repel the bloody attacks of the intifada.The use of a weapon was permitted only AFTER the Arab side had ACTUALLY opened FIRE, that is, only after being wounded or, G'd forbid, killed. Then, and only then, was it allowed to shoot in the direction of the firing party, and only on CONDITION THAT THEY STILL BE SHOOTING.
Every resident that would use his weapon, even if only to shoot in the air as a deterrent, would have his private weapon (that he bought with his precious money to defend his family), confiscated, and he himself would stand trial. HUNDREDS OF SOLDIERS WERE BROUGHT TO TRIAL for the crime of using their weapons against Arab stone throwers, whereas no soldier, not even one, was ever brought to trial for failure, while serving, to fulfill his duty and suppress the intifada.
For comparison's sake, let's review what happened in the "greatest and oldest democracy in the world" , the United States, a country renowned for its liberal laws. In 1993, in Los Angeles, California, there was widespread LOOTING AND DOF PROPERTY following the acquittal of four policemen accused of the severe beating of a black resident. Los Angeles business owners stood guard in front of their stores, and if any black man as much as APPROACHED their store in order to loot, he was shot to death. In the course of two days, in this example, 48 black men were killed. No shooter was indicted, because American law allows a citizen to protect HIS PROPERTY, even at the price of the life of the robber.
In Israel, according to the law instituted in Yesha by the State of Israel, any citizen who chose to defend his property in this manner was convicted of murder, THE PUNISHMENT FOR WHICH IS LIFE IN PRISON. After all, it wasn't even allowed to shoot at someone throwing stones at a passing car, WHICH CAN CLEARLY CAUSE DEATH. The massive military forces that were sent to Yesha were only a bluff! The Chief of Staff and his generals drafted orders that MADE A MOCKERY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, which categorically states: "Any law, international or national, that prohibits the use of force, is limited by the right to self-defense." (24. Dienstein, ibid. page 67)
These laws of anarchy ENCOURAGED the slow-burning continuation of the uprising: heated enough to compel submission to terror, but not so hot as to create bitter antipathy among the Jewish citizens of the State. With these orders, the army took away from its soldiers any possibility of DETERRENCE, and gave the Yesha Arabs THE ABILITY TO ATTACK WITHOUT ANY DISTURBANCE.
The journalists Zeev Schiff and Ehud Yaari, in their book "Intifada" ( 1990 edition, Shukan Publishing ), on page 165, describe the situation as follows:
"From a practical point of view, the IDF didn't succeed in
accomplishing its goal of fighting the uprising ; even if one accepts the
argument that the solution to the intifada must eventually be found by political
means, it is impossible to deceive oneself about the fact that the army did not
succeed in realizing the goals it had assigned to itself, and those were limited
from the outset. In a letter signed by O.C. Central Command Major-General, Amram
Mitzna, that was sent to tens of thousands of soldiers and security people in
the West Bank, it said among others:" Our goal is to stop the riots, reestablish
order, and create a normal way of life, so as to leave in the hands of the
Israeli government and of its citizens the greatest potential for making proper
political decisions, in a democratic manner, regarding the future of these
territories. "
TWO YEARS after the eruption of the uprising, NOT EVEN ONE
PART of these goals was achieved. The riots didn't stop, in the territories
there is no regular way of life. In a party get-together of the General Staff,
on the eve of Independence Day, in the presence of Prime Minister Yitshak
Shamir, Rabin said that the IDF still hadn't reached its assigned goal in the
intifada. And the goal, according to Rabin's definition at the same event, was:
to reduce the violence, to establish calm, and to allow the resumption of
civilian rule."
In many cases the army enabled the Arabs to throw stones at Jews, and prevented the Jews from responding in kind. The Dehaisha refugee camp is adjacent to the Jerusalem-Gush Etzion - Hebron Highway.From there, for years, tens of thousands of stones, cinder blocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown, causing many injuries and great damage to thousands of passing cars every day. In the winter of 1990-91, after two Kiryat Arba residents had been injured by these stones, the residents of the Kirya held a demonstration on the road next to the camp. During the demonstration, rioters from Dehaisha threw a barrage of stones at the participants.The army forces that were standing by, true to the orders they had received, fled for their life.The demonstrating Jews entered the camp and broke the glass of some solar heaters. During this outburst by the Jews, not one resident from the Arab camp was wounded, and the damage caused TO PROPERTY was a total of 2500 NIS, about the price of two broken windshields. O.C. Central Command Major-General, Amram Mitzna, paid a courtesy and condolence visit to the camp of the hooligans, and sat with the camp elders (fighters in the murderous gangs of Hassan Samaleh, Kaukadji and Al-Kassem). On his appearance in the Israeli media, he termed this obvious act of self-defense "a pogrom, the likes of which the elders of Hebron cannot recall" . This evil wretch of a general (25*) had already forgiven them the 1929 massacre! As is to be expected, all the Jews that participated in the demonstration were arrested, investigated, and had charge sheets written against them. (25. General Amram Mitzna was rewarded by the Labor Party for his extreme hostility to the settlers, and right after his discharge from the army was chosen as their candidate for mayor of the city of Haifa "the red" . A pretty secure election, as it so happened. This wretched general, while serving as head of advanced education for staff commanders, asked to be released from the IDF because of his opposition to the encirclement tactics it adopted against Fatah - the Palestinian terror organization - in besieged Beirut. At the outbreak of the intifada, Chief of Staff Dan Shomron awarded him the rank of general and appointed him O.C. Central Command Major-General, apparently, so that he should be in charge of the defeatist policies of the General Staff. ) .
The GSS (General Security Service) "filled its mouth with water" and kept quiet in the face of the cruel murders that were the fate of some of its agents. It agreed, in a silent agreement, to the murder of those Arabs that wanted peace with Israel and who helped the residents of Yesha in their struggle against the riotous gangs, who killed a lot more people in the Arab community than among the settlers ( 26. In the first three years of the intifada 360 Arabs got murdered by their own people ).
At the eruption of the Arab uprising, Arab residents of the village of
Kabatiah besieged the house of an Arab, seeker of peace with Israel, a member of
the "Association of Villages" . While they were attacking his home for a full
four hours, the above-mentioned commander Amram Mitzna prevented the army forces
THAT WERE PARKED AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE VILLAGE from repulsing the deadly
attack. He was afraid that the entry of IDF forces into the village would lead
to the "unnecessary bloodshed" of those hundreds of men that were attacking the
house of the GSS agent, intent on killing him. That poor Arab died of severe
torture, was hanged in the village square and his house set on fire. His
daughter went insane from the intensity of the suffering she endured. During the
years of the intifada, over 600 peace-seeking Arabs were killed by their own
brothers, suspected of assisting the authorities in the capture of Arab
murderers.
Not one Arab was sentenced to death for these homicides. On the
contrary, all of them were freed in the framework of the Oslo agreement, and
they obtained coveted positions in the Palestinian Authority. It is with them
that members of the security forces conduct negotiations, associate, and even
hang out in coffee shops and restaurants.
THE BEHAVIOR OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
More than anyone fanning the flames of the intifada, making sure they wouldn't end, were the legal authorities in Israel: - the military and civilian prosecutors, and the courts.
(27. We learnt that from the religious law of Egla Arufa - the
decapitated heifer, Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah, verse 9, law 6: "Our hands didn't
spill (his blood)" .
Our Rabbis in Israel explain the reading as "KILLER" ,
and our Rabbis in Babylon as "KILLED" . Our Rabbis in Israel read the sentence
as "KILLER" , TO MEAN: HE DIDN'T COME TO US ASKING FOR HELP AND WE TURNED HIM
AWAY, WE DIDN'T KILL HIM, WE DIDN'T SEE HIM, WE DIDN'T ABANDON HIM, AND WE
DIDN'T STAY SILENT ABOUT HIS VERDICT. And our Rabbis in Babylon read the
sentence as "killed" , to mean, he didn't come askus for help and we turned him
away and didn't accompany him on his way, and we didn't see him and left him
without sustenance, (and he was killed because he was forced to rob someone in
order to survive). )
The Chief Army Prosecutor - Amnon Strasnov of Tel- Aviv, explained his position very clearly: "There is a famous saying that goes: when cannons rumble, Muses disappear . However, when stones fly and tires burn, judges don't stay silent. On the contrary, it is then that they have to raise their voices the loudest." (28. Strasnov, "Justice Under Fire" , page 11. He just forgot to mention that it is not he who is under fire, but the soldiers in the field and the settlers. That is why it is so easy for him to speak about "law enforcement" ; after all, it is not he who will suffer from the wicked laws of his invention. The leftists scorn the Yeshivah students, saying about them: "They get killed in the tents of Torah" . How is that different from "Justice Under Fire" ? )
The legal system made its job very easy, in that both the media and the Supreme Court encouraged a liberal policy towards the Arab rioters. After all, what could be easier than to disregard the suffering of the "pogromist" settlers and the soldiers of the army, and to "feel the pain" of the Palestinian freedom fighters? The fact is that right after his discharge from the army, the chief military prosecutor obtained a very honored position with a commensurate salary - serving as district judge of Tel-Aviv, a golden parachute without precedent in the annals of the IDF 's chief military prosecutors.
The bans that the army imposed on its soldiers don't conform at all to
international law because, according to the latter ( i.e. Geneva and Hague
Conventions):
1. It is permitted to shoot live ammunition from any distance
at a crowd throwing stones.
2. It is permitted to shoot to the center of a
crowd throwing Molotov cocktails.
3. It is allowed to sentence a child aged
9 or older (29. Strasnov himself remarks in his book, page 34: "In other
countries as well, it is possible to make parents pay for damages caused by
their children." Nevertheless, parents of children who threw stones were not
assessed damages.).
4. It is allowed to hold parents responsible for any
damage their child may cause, even if he is younger than the age of punishment.
5. It is permitted to impose collective punishment on a village or
neighborhood where crimes are committed in broad daylight and in public, such as
stone throwings, or an attempt to free by force a person arrested by the police
. (30. Dienstein, ibid. page 239: "Article 50 of the
regulations states that
in conquered territory, collective punishment, monetary or otherwise, cannot be
administered to a whole group for the private actions of some people, as the
entire community cannot be held responsible for individual acts." Can public
stone and Molotov cocktail throwings in the village center really be considered
"individual acts" ? No way! )
6. It is permitted to destroy or seal any
house from which stones are thrown. (31. Strasnov, ibid. page 76, according to
rule 119 (1).)
7. It is permitted to execute a man who performs a terrorist
act (32. Strasnov, ibid. page 108.
"It appears that if Israel decided
to apply the death penalty to residents of the territories who committed serious
terrorist acts, the United States would understand this decision better than the
act of deportation." ).
8. It is permitted to take hostages and kill them in
the case of a murder. Obviously it is permitted to apply this law toward
prisoners convicted of murder, after the authorities announce that for every
kidnapping or slaying of a soldier or citizen, they would be put to death. (33.
Dienstein , ibid. page 221 ).
9. It would be possible to circumvent the
Supreme Court, as the law applied in Yesha is carried over from the British
Mandate, and accordingly the only courts obligated to function in Yesha are the
Arab courts for civil lawsuits, and the military ones for criminal offenses. (
34.
Strasnov, ibid, page 38).
10. A defendant convicted in a military
court doesn't have the right of appeal, certainly not in the Supreme Court ( 35.
Strasnov, ibid. page 57).
It is certain that, had the army utilized even a small portion of the above-mentioned legal means permitted according to international law, it would have been able to attain absolute peace and quiet from the very outset of the intifada, and probably even avoid it altogether. The trouble is that the heads of the military and legal authorities were upholding "the high moral ground of the IDF that distinguishes it from other armies in the world" (31. see above )
Isn't that great! Little, immature "Yisrulik" , will, all by himself, teach the world how to conduct war. He won't learn from anyone how to win a battle. Not Halacha (Jewish law) that maintained the life of our people for thousands of years, and not laws of the nations ; no, only Yisrulik on his own.
So what if his fighting methods cause needless deaths and injuries among his fellow soldiers and civilians ? So what if these methods turn an entire army into a spineless bunch that children with runny noses can put to shame and ridicule? So what if all his best units put together cannot defeat 300 Hezbollah fighters? And what is this American army, that he should learn war ethics from it? The main thing is that his "advanced" fighting methods find the approval of the select groups important to the ruling elite: the national media, the court system, and Meretz. (36. Alexander Weissberg , "The Conspiracy of Silence" , Dror Publishing, 1953, page 436. In the expanses of communist Russia, an atheist country, after World War II, gangs of thugs wandered among the "esprisornia" (villagers). They terrorized even the bravest villages. Even the officers of the GPO, the tough guys of the tyrant Stalin, were unable to overcome them, because they had established their own morality, which was devoid of any binding tradition.) The intifada doesn't affect them, after all, their people don't want that. You will never find them on buses. So who gets blown up? Plain folks, "pickle eaters" . They, however, did their military service in the Army Radio, and they reserve a place for their sons in the military prosecutor' s office. ( 37. Knesset member Yossi Sarid, the head of Meretz, member of the subcommittee for the Secret Service, did his army service as writer for the Army Radio, and his son served in the military court system, at present in the General Prosecutor's office.)
The truth has to be told: if the stones were being thrown at some authority figure, such as the president of the Supreme Court, or the chief military prosecutor, Strasnov himself, the behavior code of the army WOULD BE COMPLETELY MODIFIED.. But what can you do... settlers are being wounded? That's their problem! One chief of staff and honorable minister has already said about the settlers: "If they weren't there, they wouldn't get killed!" (38. Those are the words of former Chief of Staff and minister of the Israeli Government, Haim Barlev, after the massacre of the "Beit Hadassah" worshippers in 1980. The finger of God! Those very hundreds of soldiers that got massacred after being stationed at the "Barlev Line" really wouldn't have gotten killed if they hadn't been there, in complete opposition, incidentally, to the recommendation of the greatest commander of our time, General Arik Sharon. The writer of these lines saw with his own eyes , as officer in the "Line of Blood" , during the Sinai experience of the Yom Kippur War, the tragic consequences of the foolish policies of the "Barlev Line" : thousands of holy martyrs, may G'd avenge their blood.)
Conclusion: it is very easy to be generous, enlightened and "ethical" at the
expense of others,
just like King Shaul in his time, who was merciful to
the, and ended up being cruel to the merciful. Because of their great empathy
with the Palestinian side and its demand for an additional country of its own,
their attitude towards the acts of aggression of the Yesha Arabs and the acts of
self-defense of the Jews was identical. In their eyes, both sides are equally
aggressive; not only that: according to their view, the Palestinian is in a
conquered territory, he is fighting for his civil rights, and the only thing he
has in his hands is a stone ; whereas the "messianic" , fascistic and
belligerent Jewish settler is quick to pull the trigger of his M-16. They put
the attacker and the defender in the same boat, and a large part of their
efforts were invested in convicting Jews who found the courage to defend
themselves.
On March 20, 1988, a few months after the start of the intifada, an international judge writes IN THE NAME OF THE CHIEF MILITARY PROSECUTOR, AMNON STRASNOV: I believe there is no need to stress how strictly one has to deal with Israeli citizens who use punishment and violence against local residents in the context of "taking the law in their own hands."
That same Supreme Court - which evidently objected to, and had to repeatedly be petitioned to finally accept the Rabin government's decision to deport 400 Hamas terrorists over the border, if only for a year - absolutely refused to make a ruling and look into the legality of the government's decision to release 1150 terrorists and murderers in 1985 (the Jibril deal) who constituted the founding nucleus and leadership of the intifada. (39. Schiff and Yaari, "Intifada" , ibid. page 198: "This deal practically emptied the prisons of security prisoners, and sent back to the territories hundreds of trained and recognized activists. There is no doubt that the prisoners released in that deal, which went by the code name 'New Songs' , played a central role in the intifada." According to the name given to the deal, it seems that already in the summer of 1985 the then Minister of Defense, Yitshak Rabin, was planning the strategy that would lead to the Oslo agreements.) After that, in 1993, the Supreme Court again permitted that treachery, and released from prison more than 10,000 terrorists and assassins who had been convicted of homicide or attempted murder . (40. The Supreme Court justified its lack of intervention with the argument that "This is a political deal and we are not authorized to get involved" . It would be interesting to find out how this Supreme Court would react if, for instance, a government arose in Israel which would decide, in a deal with a country like Micronesia, that we have to dismantle the Supreme Court and transfer its authority to a Council of Sages working in conjunction with the Rabbinate. Would it remain silent then too?
How is a family supposed to react after one of their sons gets cruelly murdered at the hands of Arab rioters, his only crime being that of having been born Jewish, when on one hand the court forbids them to punish the murderers privately - since in a lawful state it is the authorities who judge and punish criminals ( "the rule of law" ) - yet on the other hand it releases those same thousands of sentenced terrorists to freedom? To our sorrow, we have to conclude that this is NOT THE RULE OF LAW BUT THE RULE OF LAUGH. The murderers return to their homes and rejoice at the sight of the victim's family's grief, because, after all, "Al Dawla Maana" ( "The government is on our side" - the cry of the Hebron rioters in 1929, as they were slaughtering the Jewish Community of Hebron).
The murderer of Yeshiva student Aharon Gross, may G'd avenge his blood, sat in jail for only three years before being released. At present, since returning to Hebron, he works as a tour guide. He brings tourists to Gross Plaza, which is between Beit Hadassah and Avraham Avinu, , and brags to them: "It is here that I killed the Jew" . What a disgrace! The blood of your brothers is crying out! "Like murder in my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day: where is your God?" (Psalm 42)
Not once did the prosecution demand, and /or the court allow, the death
penalty for any of the hundreds of Arab assassins who BOASTED about the murder
of Jewish women and children, whose only crime was that of being born Jewish.
How wise it would have been on the part of the Supreme Court of Israel , to turn
to the Israeli Government at the outset of the intifada, and offer to renounce
the privilege it had been granted by the Begin Government, that is, to judge
cases in the conquered territories of Yesha as well. It would have acted with
modesty, just as the Supreme Court of the United States did after the occupation
of Germany, when it gave back the authority to judge to the military courts,
which are bound by international law. Instead The Israeli Supreme Court provided
an alibi to the cop-outs and politicking of the IDF, which is lazy anyway. How
much anarchy and unnecessary bloodshed was caused by the unrestrained arrogance
of the heads of the Israeli courts, and of the Supreme Court. May we soon see
the actualization of the verse "And I shall restore your judges as in the days
of old" .
Despite the daily violence experienced by the Yesha settlers, they continued their usual routine, adopting a policy of self-restraint, and never tried to fill the security void deliberately created by the authorities in an organized manner. International law states: "The conqueror is obligated (to the extent that it depends on him) to insure that anarchy shouldn't reign in the conquered territory, and that life should not come to a complete standstill. The conqueror cannot sit back and do nothing while terrorist gangs roam the area and slaughter local residents." (protocol, page 1656). As much as they could, the authorities expressly interpreted the phrase "local residents" in need of protection , to mean the Yesha Arabs, from whom and among whom sprang up terrorist gangs, whereas those isolated settlers who decided to defend themselves were characterized as "terrorist gangs" . The Arab terrorist gang members obtained prisoner of war status (against the Geneva Convention) and were therefore freed by the thousands without having fulfilled their sentence ; whereas Jewish settlers who acted in self -defense (which is illegal) are rotting in jail for many years now.
An Arab holding a knife and a hand-grenade in order to slaughter the children of Sussia, got caught by people from the settlement . According to both Torah and international law it is permitted to kill him.
But... Israel is an enlightened country:... Mr. Yoram Skolnik , a settler from Maalei Hever, a bus driver who, for many years, had transported children amidst rocks, blocs, Molotov cocktails, barricades and demolition charges, whose very life was hanging in the balance dozens of times, killed the assassin after he was caught. He was sentenced to life, and to this day is sitting in an Israeli jail. And this, despite the fact that, in the framework of the Oslo Accords, many thousands of Arab murderers got freed.
Many settlers testified in front of the Shamgar Commission about the horrors of the intifada and the failings of the army. Following are some of the testimonies recorded in the Shamgar Report.
Zvi Katzover - Mayor of Kiryat Arba (page 195 of the Shamgar Report): "And therefore this atmosphere that our blood is expendable, that the Arabs can massacre us, shoot at us, throw rocks at us in Halhul, is totally inbearable. Therefore I am saying, this is the foundation that creates this atmosphere of our abandonment. And when someone is abandoned and pushed into a corner, he says, so what do I have to lose? I am better off living in jail than in a cemetery! And the more the army holds their fire, I mean, not to kill, I mean to hurt those who throw blocs at us from their mosques ; the more the army shrestraint, the more the Arab on the street shows brazenness, and then he dares to go to the middle of the street and throw, without even running away. There are times when he throws a bloc in your face, stands there, and smiles. Why? He knows that you are not allowed to shoot. He knows that the army got the order to hold its fire - and therefore his insolence grows."
And then it is no wonder that some Jew will come and say: "I had enough, I cannot tolerate this any more, I prefer to commit some act that will awaken the army and the government and get them to do what they are supposed to do. I want that the commission, I am asking the commission of inquiry to get into all the finest details and find out why they are abandoning our lives. We are talking about the life centers ; we are not talking about some inner city neighborhoods like Seir, Shaiakh, Idana, were no Jew ever sets foot. No, we are talking about life centers, where the army doesn't show its presence ; and to my opinion, acts of desperation of a few are to be expected because, after all, how much can a man suffer? And how much can a man absorb? How much can a man take until he finally says: What is this? What is this?"
Mr. David Lior, a Beit-Haggai resident, made similar comments (42. Shamgar report page 195, exhibit 1080): "When I look at the actions of the government, it is clear to me that there are positive feelings towards the distress of Jews all over the world (look at the rescue of the Ethiopian Jews!). Yet they don't make any real effort to defend the Jews of the Land of Israel 40 kilometers away from Jerusalem! I get the impression that our blood is quite expendable and that nobody really cares. It appears that nowadays there are two nations living in Israel: the one that lives inside the Green Line, and the one outside of it. There is no reason in the world why a Jew like myself, who was born and grew up here, served in the army, fought in the war and raised a family, should find himself in such a humiliating situation when they throw a stone at him. After all, it is possible to react by throwing a stone back - without killing the one who threw the stone."
This is what attorney Oded Ben Ami (Shamgar report page 196, exhibit 982) has
to say:
"As a lawyer who represents quite a few people in Judea and
Samaria, I can state that the legal system as we know it in Israel doesn't exist
in the territories: at times, there is even the distinct impression that there
is no law at all. On my way to and from Efrat, more than once I got hit by a few
stones. This is an offense of traffic endangerment, which carries a penalty of
up to 20 years in prison. Not in a single instance was a soldier or a policeman
able to exercise his authority ; if such a situation existed in Israel (within
the Green Line), they would immediately arrest the stone thrower and bring him
to justice. What legal options does a person who gets hit by stones have? If he
shoots, he will have his weapon confiscated right away, and will be left without
protection. Besides which he will undergo investigation for a long time - to
decide whether his decision to shoot was correct.Therefore, everybody prefers to
absorb the blows, continue to drive, and not to shoot.
The committee asks: Did you file a complaint with the police? Answer: A complaint, that means travelling to the police station in Beit Lechem and getting hit by a few more stones! Besides, I don't have the name of the defendant ; against whom should I file a complaint? I assure you, it is impossible to judge the whole legal situation in the territories with Israeli eyes!"
Despite the dangerous and intolerable situation that continued for seven long years, the settler population stayed loyal to the laws of the State of Israel, which forbade taking action against their tormentors. They gritted their teeth and kept hoping that the government and the army would think things over and decide to put an end to the numerous assaults. O.C. Central Command General Danny Yatom testified in front of the Shamgar Commission: "The majority of the settler population is quite disciplined, even in the very difficult conditions of being under repeated attack. There were instances in which some individuals, and at times large groups of Jews, acted against the law, but for the most part this was categorized as breach of the peace ; and it happened in almost every, if not all cases, after Jews got killed by terrorists." (44. Protocol page 58, Shamgar report page 194)
Colonel Meif Kalifi, Commander of Judea, also testified in front of the
Shamgar Commission:
"This is a community which is on the whole
sensible and responsible, and not everyone takes part in disturbing the peace."
(45. Protocol page 157, Shamgar report page 195)
Despite the superhuman level of restraint of the Yesha settlers, when General Amram Mitzna was asked what the most dangerous part of the Arab uprising is, he replied: "The most troublesome is that those Jewish residents are capable of taking the law in their own hands and causing a provocation, which is a blueprint for loss of control." (46. Zeev Schiff and Ehud Yaari, "Intifada" , Shukan Publishing 1990, page 164) Of all things, not the dozens of murders and the tens of thousands of stones and Molotov cocktails: no, it is the acts of retaliation, few and far between, that constitute "a blueprint for loss of control" . Nonsense!
True to his word, the same Mitzna held a task meeting in his office, in which it was concluded that the IDF, as one of its main policing responsibilities, would take measures for the arrest, primary evidence, list of witnesses, etc., against the settlers. ( 47. Shamgar report page 181)
This policy of the army led to the following ROUTINE SITUATION: relaxed settlers in their vehicle are travelling home with their children. On their way they stumble upon a stone barricade and a Molotov cocktail-throwing mob. Soldiers standing nearby watch the scene without doing a thing, since, after all, they are not in a "life-threatening situation" . Left with no other option, the threatened settler gets out of his car and shoots in the air, in order to deter the assailants from hurting him or his children. Right away, the captain of the soldiers who is present approaches him and arrests him for the crime of "illegal rioting and shooting in a built-in area" , and brings him to the nearest police station for detention. These are the laws that the State of Israel enacted in the territories of Judea, Samaria and Gaza in order to "maintain the peace" .
Two years after the outbreak of the intifada which had already exacted a
heavy price in blood among the settlers, two years during which the army and the
goverment had demonstrated their helplessness and lack of willingness to
suppress the uprising, after no policeman would dare enter into many Arab towns
and villages without being escorted by a detachment of soldiers,
the
assistant to the Chief Prosecutor of the State of Israel, Mrs. Yehudit Karp, was
motivated to start defending law and order in Yesha. In her eyes, of course, the
root of the evil lies in the settlers. This is what she writes to the Attorney
General and to the Minister of Justice: "The organized riots of the Israelis in
Yesha against Arab villages, which occurred last month without any apparent
reaction from law enforcement agencies, puts into question not only the
relevance of the work of the investigative team, but also the actual ability of
the State of Israel to establish law and order in the territories it controls."
(48. Shamgar report page 180)
The Attorney General, Mr. Michael Ben-Yair, was also alarmed by the lack of law enforcement in the territories of Yesha (accusing the settlers, of course). In his letter to the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Yitshak Rabin, and to the Security and Justice Ministers, he complains about "the activity of certain elements among the Jewish settlers, which has gotten worlately, and is very worrisome. One must emphasize that the persistence of such activity could lead to counteraction (49. as though it is the settlers who started the violence ) and grave deterioration in the general conditions of the territories." (50, Shamgar report, page 189)
Once again, it is not the numerous murders committed by the Arabs that cause
the "deterioration in the territories" , but the non-violent acts of protests by
the settlers! It is important to remember that the majority of these acts by
"certain elements" were in fact performed, under the guidance of the Israeli
government, by GSS (General Security Service) agent Avishai Raviv. And so it is
that the Israeli government, under the premiership of Yitshak Rabin, initiated,
organized and financed illegal operations, was even responsible for the MURDER
OF ARABS, and framed the entire community of settlers for these acts.With the
enthusiastic help of the national media, the settlers were all depicted as a
bunch of violent gang members. Through the open acts of violence committed by
GSS agent Avishai Raviv,
- under the instructions of GSS head Yaakov
Perry (CEO and founder of the company "Cellcom" , which received a franchise
during the time of the Rabin Government),
- of his successor Carmi
Gillon (52. CEO of the government-owned car underwriting company "Avner" ),
- under the direction and control of Israeli Prime Minister Yitshak
Rabin ,
- with the knowledge of the Minister of Justice - David Libai
(53. He deceived the Labor Party voters ; since Labor didn't win the elections
and he despised the role of Knesset member, he returned to his practice as a
private lawyer. He represents government figures.),
- the Attorney
General - Michael Ben Yair,
- the General Prosecution headed by Dorit
Beinisch (54. Because of her "good" services, she was promoted to the post of
Supreme Court Judge. These are your judges, oh Israel. Maybe for just such an
instance did the prophet Isaiah prophesize "Your hands are covered with blood"
!),
- and the Minister of Internal Security - Moshe Shahal (55. Since
the Labor Party didn't win the elections, he returned to his private affairs as
a lawyer. He also represents government figures),
(their names will
forever be remembered as those of Jew-haters), the Israeli government succeeded
in portraying the settlers as a bunch of "pogromists" who could only benefit
humanity by disappearing from the world. In this nefarious way the government
established laws and rules that made subduing terror impossible, causing the
slaughter of many Jews, and turning the lives of settlers into pure hell.
A POLITICAL ASSASSINATION IN ISRAEL (56 *)
(56 * Definition of a political assassination: "premeditated killing of a political personality by someone sent by a political figure, with the intent of reaching a political goal" . (Zeev Iwinski: "Private Terror" , United Kibbutz Publishing, 1977). The Left spread the disinformation that the Rabin assassination in 1995 was "the first political assassination" (in the Land of Israel). It is an outrageous lie: the first political assassination was the elimination order issued in 1917 by the leadership of the "Shomer" movement - made up of Bolsheviks, immigrants from the Second Aliyah -, against Commander "Nili" , Yosef Lishinski, may G'd avenge his blood, in order to seize power in the Jewish settlement of Palestine, and deprive the people of the first Aliyah of their historic birthright. Following orders by Yosef Nachmani ( a member of the "Shai" - the intelligence service - in those days), Shabtai Ehrlich and Schneurson took Lishinski to Mapal Hatanur in Metulla, where Shabtai (Shapsil) shot him in the chest.
The Left also wants us to forget the assassination of Yaakov De Haan, carried out by Avraham Tehomi, ordered by the heads of the "Haganah" movement in Jerusalem for the purpose of eliminating the religious community 's political option.
In 1945, "the Season" against the Irgun meant the kidnapping and handing over to the British of more than a thousand Irgun fighters. At times, the kidnap victims were severely tortured before being handed over to the British. A youth, Zvi Segal, who was kidnapped by the "Grey Socks" ( nickname given to the team of Jewish kidnappers ), was found dead on Mount Carmel.
The sinking of the "Altalena" and shooting of the immigrants getting off the ship, even though they weren't threatening Palmach fighters with weapons: during this action, 16 Irgun fighters were killed (two Palmach fighters got shot and killed as well, apparently by friends firing from the shore). The commander of the "operation" was Yitshak Rabin, who, with his own hands, murdered four Irgun fighters, and even bragged about it at an Independence Day party, while ambassador in Washington: "We beat them at the shore, we beat them in the sea....!"
The assassination of Schlomi Assulin, and the prolonged emprisonment , for many years, of Rabbi Uzi Meshulam, in order to silence him, because he was requesting the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate the disappearance of hundreds, if not thousands, of Yemenite children: this affair cast a heavy shadow on the Mapai establishment, which did everything it could to cover it up for 45 years. On the 29th of Iyar, the Israeli police, under the responsibility of Minister of Internal Security Moshe Shahal, opened fire on a student of Rav Uzi Meshulam, Golani Soldier Schlomi Assulin, z " l. This was a cold-blooded murder, since he got shot in the back and wasn't presenting a threat to anyone. In fact, even this bloodshed is Rabin's responsibility, because he CATEGORICALLY REFUSED "to submit to Rav Uzi Meshulam's request to set up a commission of inquiry." . As if the kidnapping and sale of hundreds of children was only an insignificant matter! And the Torah says: "Whoever steals a man and sells him - shall die." It is only thanks to the total dedication of Rabbi Uzi Meshulam that the government finally decided to set up a state commission of inquiry. That same wretched committee has been sitting on this for more than three years, and still hasn't come up with any conclusion (the report of the Shamgar commission was made public four months after the work was started), for the simple reason that it is headed by a judge older than 80 years! Apparently the government hopes that soon before he finishes writing his report, the judge will be called to the next world, and then the whole process can be started from scratch. Another three years...)
The government of Israel was totally taken by surprise by the outbreak of the intifada.This is how Zeev Schiff and Ehud Yaari describe it: "Israel was even more surprised by the intifada than by the Yom Kippur War. In 1973, Israel wasn't able to discern the rumblings in Cairo and Damascus, - whereas in 1987, Israel wasn't able to perceive what was happening right at home. In 1973 the intelligence services and the leadership didn't succeed in decoding one military move by the Arabs, - whereas in 1987 the Israeli leadership, and with it the whole intelligence apparatus, failed to understand a lenghty process taking place in a society living among us, in our midst, and under our jurisdiction" (57. Zeev Schiff and Ehud Yaari, "Intifada" , Shukan Publishing, 1990, page 32.).
The IDF lacked preparedness not only in terms of deployment tactics and strategy, but also in terms of equipment suitable for this development. (58. Schiff and Yaari, ibid. page 26. Today as well, 11 years after the outbreak of the intifada, the army still doesn't have a bullet that only injures, such as a hunting bullet, and that can be fired from any range. Obviously, nowadays it is much harder to open fire solely for injury, as the Palestinians have 40,000 guns, compliments of Yitshak Rabin.The events of the eve of Succoth 1996 prove it.)
The government's failure to suppress the intifada caused tremendous bitterness among the nation. So it searched for leaders who would help deliver it from the dread of the Arabs. From heaven, a great leader was sent to the people of Israel, a man unique in his generation - Rabbi Meir Kahane, of blessed memory, may G'd avenge his blood. His great love of Israel , his fear of Heaven, his outstanding erudition, his determination, his public honesty, and most of all his great courage, were all symbolic of a new kind of leadership, and had the ability to redress the shaking vessel of the Jewish people and carry it to still waters. The very fact that he was an outsider to the establishment qualified him in the eyes of the public. After all, both the right and the left of the establishment, together, had failed to understand reality and had brought the people to the edge of the abyss.
Rabbi Kahane was elected to the 11th Knesset in 1984.Unlike other Knesset
members, he and his group didn't know a quiet moment . Dozens of rallies in the
whole country, home gatherings, street proclamations, flyers in private post
office boxes, posters, and field operations brought word about the "Kach"
movement to every man and woman in Israel. Rav Kahane and the members of his
crew were forced to work very hard to break through the ban imposed on him by
the media. The motto that guided Rav Kahane was the saying of our sages in
Sanhedrin: "I, (G-d), in its due time, will hasten the redemption - if you merit
, I will hasten the redemption ; if you don't merit, (it will come) in its due
time."
Unfortunately, "in its time" has been filled with great and terrible
torments. Therefore the rabbi was constantly saying: "There is no time!" The
majority of "Kach" operations in Israel were shouldered by dozens of activists
loyal to Rav Kahane and the Jewish idea who, day and night, performed arduous
field work in order to awaken the people of Israel to the reality they faced ;
in fact, just like prophets of old used to do. Rav Kahane himself devoted most
of his time and energy to Torah writings (59. His books: The Jewish Idea - a
basic book about Jewish thought, arranged according to topics, contains 560
pages, and is a must in every Jewish home. "Peirush Hamaccabi" - on the book of
the Exodus, 460 pages, on Deuteronomy, 587 pages, on the book of Samuel, 400
pages, on the book of Isaiah, 575 pages. Our Challenge - on the destiny of the
people of Israel, 107 pages. They Must Go - on the Arab problem in Israel, and
the moral solution it demands, 245 pages. It was written while he was sitting in
administrative detention in the Ramle prison. Forty years - on the future of the
State of Israel, 75 pages. Of Faith and Redemption - about our era, 120 pages.
Also written while in prison. From the Podium of the Knesset - hundreds of
speeches given by the Rabbi in the Knesset, 640 pages. Lectures of the Rabbi -
lectures that he gave in his "Yeshivah of the Jewish Idea" in Jerusalem ), to
lectures, and fund-raising for the "Kach" movement in America. There he
performed holy work by introducing Jewish consciousness and explaining to Jews
the need to make Aliyah to Israel.
In America, among many who were profoundly influenced by Rabbi Kahane's views was Dr. Baruch Goldstein; this is how the latter expresses himself in the newsletter of the residents of Southern Mount Hebron - "Daromah" -: "When I was in the United States, I received some basic Zionism from home, from school, however, matters were a little bit shaky. It is mostly though the writings of Rav Meir Kahane, with whom I got acquainted when I started studying in college, that I reached the conclusion that for Jews, Israel is the only place to be, and Torah the only way to live. Obviously I studied in Yeshivah, but everybody has various degrees of faith, and Rabbi Kahane had a positive influence on me. I was active in the Jewish Defense League, whose goals were, on a spiritual plane, to strengthen Jewish consciousness among Jews , and on the physical plane, to defend Jews against the aggression and cruelty of the non-Jews.This was my first interaction, and after I arrived in Israel I established contact with the movement. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be as active in it as I should have been, but there are constraints such as my medical profession." (60. Baruch Hagever, page 336). His important activism in America for many years in the Jewish Defense League, and his weekly writings in the Jewish Press, the largest Jewish newspaper in America and in the world , resulted in the Aliyah of hundreds, even thousands of Jews to Israel. As it goes, they continued to be faithful to the "Jewish Idea" , even when living in Israel. By the time of the elections to the 12th Knesset, (which took place one year after the outbreak of the intifada, at the end of 1988), sympathy for the "Kach" movement was mounting.
Here are the results of a poll done by the newspaper "Chadashot" about two
months before the elections. This is how the poll was performed: "voting booths"
were erected in a place bustling with people, and passers-by were asked to enter
past the curtain and drop their vote in the ballot box. People didn't identify
themselves. The results of the survey were published successively, every Friday,
in the newspaper "Chadashot" .The breakdown of the votes was done by veteran
journalist Niro Tsror (61. A picture of one of the polls is in the appendix ).
The advantage of this poll was that people revealed their opinion in a
completely ANONYMOUS fashion, without any suspicion of someone finding out who
they voted for,
contrarily to what happened in TELEPHONE SURVEYS, where all
the other pollsters edited their findings. From a sample of 5516 people (in a
usual poll the sample population comprises only 500 people), 10.9% VOTED FOR
"KACH" , WHICH REPRESENTS 13 SEATS! This, before the beginning of the official
election campaign, and before the movement had any chance to appear in the state
media!
HERE SHOULD BE A MISSING TABLE WITH RESULTS OF THE POLLS,
WHICH WILL BE PUBLISHED WHEN IN BOOK FORM
In line 3 appear the votes of soldiers - 19.1%! These findings bring to light the fact that soldiers, who find themselves in the front of the battle, feel in their own flesh the injustice of the regime, and pay with their blood because of the obtuseness of the government.This immense popularity was not lost to the eyes of the government establishment , which worried about the political earthquake that would stir after the elections, in view of the powerful growth of the "Kach" movement. The elite feared that the success of "Kach" in the elections would grant a Jewish character to Israel democracy. ALL THE PARTIES attacked the "Kach" movement, the parties of the right for electoral reasons, the parties of the left and the Arabs for ideological reasons, with the goal of committing a political assassination.Their battle took place on a few simultaneous levels:
2. ABSOLUTE BAN IN THE ISRAELI MEDIA. Rabbi Kahane made Aliyah in 1972. Radio and TV never broadcasted any of his speeches ; he was never interviewed in the Israeli newspapers. Even though his name was mentioned in the media innumerable times, things were always said in his name, but he was never given an opportunity to respond to the harsh accusations thrown at him.
When the director- general of "Kach" , Moshe Neuman, filed a petition with the Supreme Court against this ban, the court ruled that, indeed, Rav Kahane was entitled to broadcasting time. The value of this court order was nil, howas were all the other rulings of the Supreme Court regarding the ascent to the Temple Mount, since from the beginning the Supreme Court did not make these rulings binding injunctions.The broadcasting authorities, under the direction of Micha Yanon, a member of the NRP, continued their media ban under the pretext that "this is a verdict the public cannot accept" .
3. CHARACTER ASSASSINATION. Rabbi Kahane was
portrayed as an evil man, G'd forbid, and the "Kach" movement was depicted as
the Jewish version of Nazi storm troops, may their name be obliterated. Kahane
and fascism were literally labeled as synonyms.
(63. The GSS hired the
services of journalist Yair Kutler, who received tips and money from them to
publish his disgusting book "Heil Kahane!" The cover of the book is brown (like
the color of the Nazi storm troops), and on the title of the book appears a
photomontage showing Rabbi Kahane making the Nazi salute! Obscenity knows no
bounds, as the book itself tells that in the U.S A., Rabbi Kahane, at great
risk, infiltrated the neo-Nazis on behalf of the F.B.I. in order to help
eradicate them).The Rabbi' s friends were represented as a bunch of hot-headed
thugs, stutterers filled with hatred for all creatures. (64. In this respect
they didn't show any creativity: all they did was copy what the newspaper
"Davar" had written against Jabotinski and the members of "Herut" , in the first
days of the state. Thanks to that character assassination, it was easy for
Yitshak Rabin to brag about the sinking of the "Altalena" and the massacre of
its immigrants!).
4. PERSECUTION AND DENIAL OF FREEDOM OF "KACH" ACTIVISTS: Directives were given from above (from the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Justice and Internal Security) to harass active members of the movement in every way possible. Every major activist was followed, his phone tapped, and he was brought to trial and emprisoned for the slightest things. They didn't even refrain from applying administrative detention, which is reserved for the worst assassins, to Rav Kahane and his supporters.
5. EXPULSION OF THE "KACH" MOVEMENT FROM THE KNESSET: when they came to the realization , following the above - mentioned poll, that in the "Kach" movement, the verse "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread" was finding actualization, they chose the most brutal way yet: political assassination, (65*), expulsion of "Kach" from the Knesset (66*). (65. I used the word political assassination, because from the moment one destroys the ability of a public figure such as Rabbi Kahane to bring to fruition his political potential among the Israeli people, there is in fact no difference between this and death. Of what "use" would Moshe Rabbeinu ( Moses) have been to us, had he been allowed to do everything, except to give the Torah to Israel?)
(66. The Knesset passed "the law of racism" , which declared that any
movement that contains, explicitely or implicitely, incitement to racism, is not
permitted to be a part of the Knesset. This is how the Knesset defined "racism"
(law 144 A): "Persecution, humiliation, disrespect, hatred, hostility, or
violence, or quarrel with a community or part of a community, arising from
belonging to another skin color, race or ethnicity" . The Knesset deliberately
introduced a RESTRICTIVE CLAUSE which states that if the hostility, etc. does
not result from another skin color, but from a bloody war focused on us, this
DOES NOT CONSTITUTE RACISM. The trouble is that the Supreme Court bypassed the
Knesset law and ruled unjustly and arbitrarily . I am holding the ruling of the
Supreme Court in my hands, and whoever looks at it can attest that any beginning
law clerk could have made a more proper decision. They didn't furnish a single
fact proving that the "Kach" movement is racist, ACCORDING TO THE KNESSET
DEFINITION. That same Supreme Court, in the very same hour, rejected a petition
to delegitimize Arab movements that publicly identified with the PLO (a fact
which then was illegal ), going so far as to give assistance to the intifada
fighters, because after all, "Israel is a democratic country" .)
From the
time "Kach" was thrown out of the Knesset, the moral standards of the regime
slackened, and it abused the settlers and their sympathizers to its heart's
content, because the settlers didn't have a political alternative that would
force the government to suppress the intifada. "Kach" sympathizers were made
like a mute who can't speak with his mouth, so he speaks with his hands. The
"Kach" movement found itself in a predicament: on one hand, it was prevented
from expressing itself in a political, non-violent way ; on the other hand, if
its members committed any kind of violent act, its opponents would claim "We
told you so!" .
In essence, they strangled Rabbi Kahane to death. (67. Rabbi
Kahane continued to be active, full of excessive energy, for another three
years. On the 18th of Cheshvan, he was assassinated by a Moslem, right in front
of dozens of followers, while on a lecture tour in the United States.
Surprisingly, the security guards of the hotel were prevented from checking all
the guests, according to their usual procedure. The assassin, Muhammad El-Said
Nosair, may he rot in hell, one of the blind sheik' s sect members who were
commissioned by the C.I.A. as Mujaheddins in Afghanistan (there is a tight
connection between the security services of Israel and those of the U.S. A.),
was acquitted of the murder of Rabbi Kahane, and only sentenced to two years in
jail for shooting in the direction of an American postal worker fleeing the
scene of the crime. EXACTLY five years later, same date, same hour, (11.4.95),
Yitshak Rabin was assassinated.).
Similarly, the successors of the Rabbi, the "Kahane Chai" movement under the
leadership of his son Binyamin Kahane, and "Kach" , headed by Baruch Marzel,
were not given a chance to run for the Knesset to this day. (68. And after this
they dare call the "democtatorship" that exists in Israel, a democracy! It is
real impudence on the part of those same "enlightened" people, who forcefully
removed Rabbi Kahane and his followers from the Knesset, to expect "Kach"
sympathizers to respect at all the laws passed by the Knesset, when "Kach" is
not given a chance to participate in their formulation. They have not learned,
let alone internalized, the FOUNDATIONS of democracy. America, the first and
largest democracy in the world, BEGAN with the decision of the Boston Tea Party
in 1773, two hundred years ago: "No taxation without representation" . On that
basis, three years later, the Declaration of Independence was written (not the
American Constitution, symbol of true democracy, which was drawn up a decade
after America attained independence. An argument against those who want to grant
the "Proclamation of Statehood" of the State of Israel of May 1948
constitutional significance, in imitation of America: if they want to copy
America - fine ; "Declaration of Independence" , separately, and "Constitution"
separately.) See Charles and Mary Bird -
History of the United States,
published in 1963, page 107. Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America,
Bialik Foundation Publishing, 1970. )
It is not hard to understand the feelings of Dr. Baruch Goldstein, may G'd
avenge his blood, who left the promising career of an outstanding physician in
the United States, went to Israel as a pioneer, in order to take part in, and
realize the prophecy of, the beginning of the flowering of our redemption ; only
to determine that, when all was said and done, despite the tremendous, infinite
dedication of his brilliant Rav, of his friends and his own, they were in fact
surrounded by a pack of wolves in search of a prey, that there was no way to
escape the torments, and that the only reality was, sooner or later, death.
CHARACTER ASSASSIOF THE SETTLERS
On the eve of Shavuot 5749 (June 6, 1989), the court writer of the powers of
the Left, Mr. Amos Oz, stood on the speakers ' platform in Kikar Malchei Israel,
at a "Peace Now" rally, and gave a speech in front of his fans. This is how he
described the settlers:
"A stupid and cruel messianic sect, a band of
armed gangsters, criminals against humanity, sadists, pogromists and murderers,
that emerged from some dark corner of Judaism...from the cellars of brutality
and defilement...in order to establish a blood-thirsty and insane cult."
The next day, June 7, 1989, he published these words in the newspaper "Yediot
Acharonot" , in the holiday supplement of Shavuot. The purpose of these words
was to prepare people's hearts for the abandonment of the Yesha settlers. The
destruction of European Jewry by the Nazi oppressor was also preceded by a
"preparation for the slaughter of a nation" ;
(69. Like the name of Norman
Cohen's book "Preparing for the Extermination of a Nation" ,
Am Oved
Publishing, 1972) this gave motivation to the German people to do their utmost
to save the world, which depended on the extermination of the Jewish people.
From the moment the Jewish people's character had been assassinated, whoever
killed a Jew did a great favor to the whole world (70. Lucy Davidovitch "The War
against the Jews" , Zamora, Bitan, Modan Publishing, 1982, page 39).
Already that year Mr. Avishai Raviv was enlisted as an agent of the "Jewish
Section" (71*) of the GSS, and planted in the "Kach" movement (71*. Same name as
the "Yivsektsiah" , the infamous Jewish department of Stalin's O.G.P.U.). This
looks like the innocuous appointment of a man whose job it is, in due time, to
report to his superiors the terrorist operations the movement is planning.
Things start to look less kosher if one examines the extensive record of the
"Kach" movement during the decade preceding his appointment, when NOT ONE
activist of the movement was ever caught, indicted or convicted of any terrorist
act.
Not one gram of explosive, not one illegal weapon was found in the
hands of any member of "Kach" . No one, Jew or Arab, was ever injured, let alone
killed, by any "Kach" member. So why plant an agent on behalf of the Security
Services, whose only duty it is to ensure the security of the country and its
inhabitants? (72. The Bolshevik system sees the government as the ultimate
concept. Therefore anyone who contests or criticizes the government of the
Bolsheviks, in a democratic manner of course, is thought of as an insurgent who,
with his comments, essentially means to overthrow the government, which is a
serious crime. From the moment these Bolsheviks, products of the Second Aliyah,
came to power in the Yishuv at the end of the World War I, every public figure
representing a significant challenge to their absolute power was seen as an
illegal enemy whom they had to destroy. This is the understanding that motivated
the boycott of Jabotinsky and the "Betar" movement. This is the reason for the
beatings received by "Betar" youth, on the seventh day of Passover 1935, by the
"Labor Battalions" organized by "Rosa the Red" , the mother of Yitshak Rabin.
This is the motive for the "Great Season" in 1945, and for the indiscriminate
shootings on the immigrants and the wounded of the "Altalena" as they were
paddling to shore on life boats after having raised a white flag. The shooters,
under the command of Yitshak Rabin, tried to hit and kill Menachem Begin who was
on the boat, with the objective of excluding him and his movement from the
democratic political office that was opening up to them with the establishment
of the state.)
The writer of this book right away suspected, when he first got to know Avishai Raviv in 1989, that his motives were not pure and that he was a GSS agent. I turned to Rav Kahane, may G'd avenge his blood, and complained to him that the man was not to be trusted, and that maybe it would be a good idea to ask him to leave the movement. Rav Kahane, with his usual nobility of spirit, decided and said: "We are not allowed to distrust one another - after all, that is the goal of the Secret Service. We are acting in a legal and democratic way, in the open. If they planted agents in our midst, that is a proof of their depravity, and we will not be dragged down by them." (73. In a conversation with Rav Kahane, in the Mahane Yehuda market, outside the "Kach" offices on Agrippas Street.)
In the group Avishai Raviv was simply thought of as one of the boys, even
though he had already graduated from the army, was a stutterer, and lacked
initiative and original thinking. He hung posters and distributed announcements.
(74. His speech, which appears in "Baruch Hagever" , on page 486, is a poor
recycling of the eulogy I gave in honor of my friend Dr. Baruch Goldstein, may
G-d avenge his blood, at Yeshivat Nir, in Kiryat Arba. Its words were reused,
although poorly arranged and on a low level, but he gave the hesped in order to
comply with the instructions of the rabbi, and also to have a decent alibi, so
we wouldn't know he was a GSS agent. He "rewarded" us by stealing dozens of the
books "Baruch Hagever" , selling them, and pocketing the profits. The agent
betrayed his senders! Today they are protecting him desperately so he won't
expose their naked criminality.)
It was known to the head of the
"Yivsektsiah" (the Jewish section) in the GSS, Mr. Carmi Gillon, that Avishai
liked to read books about subversion in terrorist organizations, such as
"The Provocators" (75. Dr. J. Rubin, "The Provocators" , Mitzpeh
Publishing, 1933), and that he imagined himself to be some sort of modern
"Zuvtov" who brilliantly takes on the role of "Azaf" , in order to entrap the
revolutionaries trying to kill the Czar. Of course the whole thing is
"Israbluff" . No one in "Kach" was trying to kill the "Czar" of Israel. (76.
Even in the one and only case when Avishai Raviv did, in fact, report to Carmi
Gillon about Yigal Amir 's EXPRESSED desire to make an attempt on Yitshak
Rabin's life, they didn't try to stop him. This critical information was
exploited in a sinister way by the head of the GSS, Mr. Carmi Gillon, and, with
a high degree of probability, with the knowledge of its main beneficiary
himself, Yitshak Rabin, in order to stage an assassination attempt, in the hope
of acquiring political capital at the expense of his political adversaries,
Benjamin Netanyahu and the "Likud" party, and the National Religious Party. It
is easy to see that Yigal Amir' s action was totally "anti-political" , since
until the attack, Mr. Benyamin Netanyahu had been consistently leading in all
the polls, with a lead of about 10% over his opponent, Yitshak Rabin.
Immediately after the assassination, Peres's lead rose to 80%, while Netanyahu
was viewed as a "political casualty" . (Ben Caspit, Krystal, Kefir "The Suicide"
, Maariv Publishing, 1996, page 37). Following the attack, Mr. Shimon Peres and
his supporters in the leftist parties created an atmosphere of lynching against
their political opponents, with the full and expressed collaboration of the
Israeli national media. At the entrance to Ichilov Hospital, as soon as Rabin's
death became known, Mr. Yossi Sarid, head of Meretz (and political supervisor of
Carmi Gillon) stood up and declared: "They killed Rabin, the same way they
killed Arlozorov!" Mr. Sarid repeated with these words David Ben-Gurion 's story
in 1933, after Arlozorov's assassination. Despite the fact that Arlozorov, head
of the political department of the Zionist Organization, was murdered by Jewish
Communists, members of the Communist Party (Shmuel Dotan "Reds" , Shebana
Hasofer Publishing, 1991, page 187), Arlozorov's widow (does it remind you of
something?), Ben-Gurion and the Mapai attributed the murder to Jabotinsky and
his men, in order to gain command of the Zionist movement bythis character
assassination. Hostility toward Netanyahu was so virulent and burning that the
widow Leah Rabin, who, eagerly and with open emotion, had shaken the hand of the
worst murderer of Jews since Hitler - may his memory be obliterated - refused to
shake the hand of Netanyahu, which was extended for "peace among Jews" .
Shimon Peres "danced over the blood of Rabin" , advanced the date of the
elections, and, thank G'd,- lost.)
In total contrast to the agent of Czarist "Ukraine" Azaf, who, for a few days, became the leader of the revolutionaries of the Social Revolution (S.R.), and only assisted in the execution of the murderous plans of hundreds of its members, GSS agent Avishai Raviv founded an organization named "Eyal" , which, as was obvious from day one, no one would join. His organization comprised only two people: him himself, and his second-in-command, Erin Ujalbo, who also had a blemished record.
Already in 1992, the year after Eyal's founding, it became clear that Mr. Raviv wasn't able to come up with any "merchandise" worth any kind of intelligence or security significance. So why did the GSS continue to use him for four more years? In order to kill three birds with one stone.
THE FIRST BIRD: Mr Raviv carried out operations against the Arabs in the Hebron - Kiryat Arba area. Thus he gave the community of settlers of Hebron and Kiryat Arba the reputation of "pogromists" , who fit the above description by Amos Oz. Every incident, however insignificant, was blown out of proportion by the media, and forced the leadership of the settlers into a corner. The GSS pushed the most sensitive button of the settlers and of their supporters: being a persecuted minority who lacked security, and because of their obsessive desire to be accepted by the media and to be connected to "all of Israel" in the name of "national unity" , they rushed to apologize for every action that was attributed to them.
This is how the GSS eroded the endurance of the settlers. This was a concerted effort on the part of the secret services and the national media outlets, in the best Bolshevik tradition. For example: on Thursday night, September 7, 1995, three Arabs were killed in Halhoul.The next day, Friday, Mr. Raviv contacted the Israeli media and announced to them: "The Eyal organization is taking responsibility for the murders" (77. Emunah Elon, "Changing Dossier" , no publishing name, 1995, page 75).
Everybody knows who Eyal is; after all, Avishai appears in public, in the
open, as head of the organization, but isn't it amazing, no one in the media
asks for the arrest and investigation of Avishai for the murder that he himself
is admitting to! Mr. Raviv enjoyed that whole Shabbat comfortably, knowing that
this time, he would deserve a special bonus from his bosses, the GSS. To blame
the murder of three innocent Arabs on the settlers, whow!
Already on Sunday,
in a cabinet session, Mr. Yitshak Rabin (ultimately in charge of GSS), points an
accusing finger at the settlers : "Whoever thinks that attacks on innocent
Palestinians will stop the political process is completely mistaken." ( 78.
Changing Dossier, ibid. page 81). As though he didn't know that Eyal is in fact
his very own organization! Minister Yossi Sarid, the political "head" of the
GSS, uses the proper words to describe Eyal, his agent: "Until Kiryat Arba and
the Jewish settlement of Hebron were established, and those who are there
gathered there, we never imagined that Jews, in the name of Judaism, could sink
to such a low level." (79. Changing Dossier, ibid. page 78). His intention is
clear: "If it is a Mitzvah to reestablish the Jewish settlement of Hebron, what
an even greater Mitzva it is to remove them from there!" (80. Changing Dossier,
ibid., page 85). These official announcements signal the beginning of a terrible
crusade against the Jewish residents of Yesha in general, and of Hebron in
particular. Sharp and hateful cries were heard to forcibly remove the Hebron
inhabitants from their homes.The media forced us to listen to the tongue
lashings of the renowned preacher from Ofra, Rav Yoel Bin-Nun - not honorable,
for a man of his stature, to get involved in such a fertile mixture of lashing
out at "the extremist settlers" . This is how the settlers are hit twice: they
are abandoned to the plunder of Arab murderers, who, since the Oslo Accords, are
entitled to refuge in the Arab cities of Yesha ; and they are also depicted,
despite their enormous restraint, as terrorists whose only wish it is to spill
blood.
The honorable reader, I am sure, is curious to know the end of the story. So anyway, the murderers of the three Arabs - a gang of Arab robbers -, were caught and confessed. So why did they "think" that those were Jews from Kiryat Arba? Because the bandits were disguised as IDF soldiers and spoke Hebrew among themselves. So why didn't they suspect IDF soldiers? Come on, now really, for what reason did they create Eyal? Does anyone expect Minister Sarid to apologize for the blood libel (that's right) he smeared on the Hebron settlers? What do you mean? After all, "There were those elements who accepted responsibility for the action" (81. Changing Dossier, ibid. page 85), - Eyal, of the GSS !
THE SECOND BIRD: From the nature of things, since
the settlers were the pioneering force of the "National Camp" , all the
political bodies behind them (the Likud, The National Religious Party, Tsomet,
and Moledet), were made directly, fully and automatically responsible for any
act or omission on the part of any settler. This is how the GSS - the direct
successor of "Shai" , (82 *), returned to fulfilling the purpose of its
foundation - the recruitement of votes for the Labor party and Meretz.
(82*.
Shai - "Intelligence Services" of the Haganah,was founded to gather intelligence
about the Israeli Arabs. On that front, it was a total failure . It didn't even
anticipate the large rebellion of 1936 (Yoav Gelber, "The Root of the Lily" ,
Misrad Habitachon Publishing, 1992). It reminds us of the total failure of the
GSS to forecast the intifada. Most of its successes were on the Israeli front -
against the "Irgun" and the "Lechi" . It is the "Shai" that planned, organized
and directed the persecution ( "the Season" ) against them. Hostility toward the
right was part and parcel of it. Shai 's men used to torture Irgun members
horribly, without any operational or intelligence justification, simply for the
sake of increasing their suffering. (Yaakov Shavit, "Hunting Time - the Season,
Hadar Publishing,1976, page 108). With the establishment of the State, "Shai"
changed its name and became the GSS ( "Shabak" , General Security Service ); all
its human and individual elements stayed the same . Just like every secret
society, this is a "family" operation, totally hermetic, and new members join
the society only by recommendation of close contacts who, themselves, already
belong to it.This is how it MAINTAINS ITS CHARACTER, unlike open organizations
that one joins through merit, not through personal ties.).
At the birth of
the State, their absolute power was used to force the Israeli Arabs to vote for
Mapai. (83. Ben-Gurion engineered this through a twofold process: on one hand he
put all the Arabs of Israel under strict MILITARY RULE, which completely locked
them into their area of residence, stripping them of their most basic right -
the right to earn a living. This draconian step was justified by the argument,
in and of itself correct, that they had fought a war of extermination against us
and had massacred us mercilessly, and therefore weren't to be trusted. On the
other hand he granted them full political rights, including the right of
election to the Knesset - a right that, in the whole democratic world, is only
given to citizens loyal to the state: obviously not to an INSURGENT MINORITY
that opposes tcreation of the Jewish State with all its might, and claims that
it was dispossessed from its land. In addition to these two regulations, he gave
unlimited power to the State of Israel under Mapai government to direct, with
the help of the GSS (and its collaborators in the Arab sector ) the Arab votes
to the party in office - the Mapai party. All Israeli Arabs who wanted to
improve their economic condition, and there were quite a few of them, were
obligated to collaborate with the GSS and vote for Mapai. This is how, for 20
years, all Israeli Arabs ended up voting for Mapai alone. According to Jewish
law as well as the laws of democratic nations, insurgent minorities are granted
specific private rights, but never political rights. In the State of Israel,
Mapai did the opposite in order to consolidate its political power, and to allow
the perpetuation of its absolute rule.)
And nowadays, this secret state
stratagem is being used to "persuade" the mass of Jewish voters to distance
themselves as much as possible from the "Nationalist Camp" . The goal stays the
same, only the methods change.
(84. Yitshak Rabin, head of the Labor party
and its candidate for the post of prime minister during the 1992 elections, used
a similar tactic. The whole sequence of events is told in great detail in the
excellent book by the head of "Zo Artzeinu" , Mr. Moshe Feiglin, "Where There
Are No Men" , Metsuda Publishing, 1998, page 37. Before the 1992 elections,
Rabin established contact with Arafat and promised him that, if he instructed
the Israeli Arabs (who identify themselves as Palestinians, loyal to Arafat,
even while living in Israel) to vote for the Labor Party, the party would reward
him, when coming to power, with very tempting political currency: 1.
cancellation of the law that forbids contact with members of Palestinian
terrorist organizations, 2.automatic and full autonomy for the Yesha Arabs,
including a strong police force, 3. beginning of the fulfillment of the claim to
right of return for the Palestinians. In any normal democratic country , the
results of such elections would be annulled ; all parties to this political deal
would be brought to justice for the crime of treason and association with a
terrorist, murderous organization whose tenets include destruction of the State
of Israel and of its inhabitants, and they would be sitting in jail for the rest
of their lives, if lucky. Only in "democtatorial" Israel, such a treasonous deal
doesn't even call for the beginning of an investigation, and, of course, no
charge sheet! MEANWHILE, this treasonous elective scam cost the Israeli people
250 sacrificed lives, billions of Shekalim, and a real existential threat due to
40,000 men armed with automatic weapons. In the 1996 elections, the Arab
population was also enlisted, through the national media, to elect Shimon Peres
for prime minister.
The leftist parties, Labor and Meretz, know very well
that they don't STAND A CHANCE of coming to power, if it wasn't for the Arab
vote, one fifth of the voting public. It is clear that the vote of the Arabs has
to be bought for a very steep price: massive support for the Palestinian
Authority, despite its avowed and recognized goal to destroy the State of Israel
and its Jewish inhabitants.)
THE THIRD BIRD: The exhibitionistic actions of Avishai Raviv enabled the head of the Jewish Section of the GSS (who subsequently became head of the GSS), "to prove that there exists a very real danger on the part of the 'extreme right-wing movements'" . This way, he managed to draw a large budget to his department and blow it out of proportion to the size of the threat: a light, comfortable job, with a cushy salary, lots of respect, and most of all, without any danger, unlike the "Arab Section" ! The head of the GSS himself, Yaakov Perry, also gained from the activities of Eyal: many perks from his friends in Meretz, pats on the shoulder that he really was able to eliminate the "terror organizations of the extreme-right" . This fraudulent deed administered a mortal blow to the internal security of the state. Because with the development of the "threat" from the Jewish side, the center of gravity of the GSS (its people and its resources) moved from the Arab sector to the Jewish sector. At any rate, because of the "change of tune" resulting from the Oslo Accords, the GSS saw the Arab sector as somewhat superfluous, since the responsibility to foil terror attacks by the Yesha Arabs had been transferred to Jibril Rajoub and his men, of the "security apparatus" of the Palestinian Authority. After all, for this purpose, the GSS gave them information and lots of money, and the ability to liquidate, without any trouble, the whole intelligence infrastructure that had been established in Yesha at great cost in the past. Who knows how many dear souls of Israel were slaughtered on bus # 18, in the A-Propos Cafe, at the Beit-Lid Junction, on bus line #5, in the Machane Yehuda market, in Jerusalem streets... because of this criminal and treasonous behavior!
It would not have been possible to operate Avishai Raviv in this devilish
manner without the full and continuous collaboration of the following agents and
individuals:
1. Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin, responsible for the GSS
on behalf of the State of Israel.
(85. Statement by Yaakov Perry, head of
the GSS, in a televised interview: in order to exempt Avishai Raviv from
standing trial for his criminal acts, the permission of Yitshak Rabin would have
been needed.)
2. Minister of Justice David Libai - responsible for the
General Prosecution on behalf of the government.
3.The head of the General
Prosecution, Dorit Bainisch. Her job was to submit charge sheets, and only she
had the authority to overrule them. Under her direction, all the investigative
files against Avishai Raviv were closed.
4. The Attorney General, Michael
Ben Yair: every indictment for "incitement to racism" had to receive his
authorization, before arriving to a court of law.
5. Minister of Internal
Security Moshe Shahal, responsible, on behalf of the governent, for
investigations by the police - the body which recommends to the Prosecution
whether to serve warrants.
6. The directors of national media (radio and
television) who knew that Eyal and Raviv were one and the same, and yet who not
once asked why he was not made to stand trial.
7.The head of the GSS, Yaakov
Perry, and the head of the Jewish Section, Carmi Gillon (nowadays head of the
GSS).
8. The member of the Secret Service Committee on behalf of the
Knesset, Yossi Sarid.
The Shamgar Commission, which investigated the activities of Avishai Raviv,
did not exclude the possibility of him being made to stand trial for his
criminal acts which, the GSS claims, were done of his own initiative, and not
under their instructions. In a sinister way, this explicit recommendation was
kept hidden from the public, for two years, by the above-mentioned persons
involved in the Avishai Raviv affair, under the guise of "security
considerations" . To this day, these same high-ranking government
representatives are exerting every effort to prevent Avishai Raviv from standing
trial, so he won't reveal their criminal conduct in public.
TERRORIST ACTS AND THE MASSACRE OF JEWS BY ARABS AT THE MACHPELAH
CAVE (the Mearah)
It is easy for critics to rely on the argument "innocent Moslem worshippers" . In their imagination they envision a gothic cathedral adorned by columns, enveloped in silence and peace, where a tranquil congregation of monks walk lightly in unhurried steps, whispering soft chants, surrounded by fragrant curls of incense, their faces radiating light, superbly serene, full of gentleness and compassion. What can you do, "dreams are deceiving" .
Is it for naught that every Friday during the month of Ramadan, when the
"Moslem worshippers" exit from their mosques, security forces have to be
prepared with thousanof reinforcements? The piles of stones that accumulated on
the platform of the Western Wall after being thrown at the Jews, weren't they
hurled from the Temple Mount by "innocent Moslem worshippers" ? And why did the
security forces have to kill 18 (!) "innocent Moslem worshippers" on the Temple
Mount? There is no choice but to come out of this daydream.
These visions of
a "New Middle East" only bring death and sorrow to our homes. So let' s say that
their architects make a good living from them, but why should we who suffer be
dragged after them?
Here below are paragraphs from the report by the head of the Supreme Court,
MEIR SHAMGAR, (the Shamgar report, pages 135 and continued):
"The
Arabs saw themselves, after the Six Day War, as having been dispossessed of
their exclusive hold on the whole Cave of the Patriarchs, where, until then,
non-Moslems were absolutely forbidden to enter, whether as worshippers or as
visitors. Jews were allowed to go only up to the seventh outdoor step of the
southeastern staircase. The Moslems were afraid of any further erosion of what
was obviously theirs, according to Moslem law. This was expressed openly by the
witness Rafat Faami Al Karki (on page 1244):" According to our faith, according
to our religion, the Charam belongs only to the Moslem and not to the Jews "."
In addition to that, one has to include the attacks IN THE COMPOUND OF
THE MEARAH AND IN THE IMMEDIATE SURROUNDING AREA, that were carried out by ARABS
in the context of the "general" Arab-Jewish conflict, and that also raised the
tension level inside the Mearah.
These incidents, which occurred between October 9, 1968 and January 16, 1994, included terrorist acts, stabbings, assaults and 41 Molotov cocktails thrown, some of them past the entrance to the Mearah and towards positions of the IDF soldiers in the compound. As a result, during those years, seven Jewish citizens and one soldier were killed, and 67 citizens and one soldier were wounded. Among the worst incidents, we shall recall the case of:
The throwing of a hand-grenade into the middle of a crowd gathered on the
stairway of the eastern gate to the Mearah. This event caused injury to 45 Jews.
The explosion of a demolition charge left next to the latrines by the
Mearah, as a result of which two Jews and four Arabs were injured.
Jews
coming home from Mearat Hamachpelah were attacked. Six of them were killed, and
twenty got injured.
One soldier was stabbed at the entrance to the Mearah.
A bomb exploded in the hands of an Arab next to the Mearah.
Shots were
fired towards the "generator post" that is in the area of the Mearah, one
soldier was killed and another was wounded.
One Hesder Yeshivah student was
stabbed to death in the "axis of the worshippers" , on the other side of the
Mearah.
One Jew was stabbed on his way to the Mearah.
One Jew was struck
with an axe on his way to the Mearah.
"On the eve of Yom Kippur 1976,
dozens of Arab youths burst into Mearat Hamachpelah, tore eight Torah scrolls to
shreds, desecrated Jewish holy objects, and caused damage to furniture."
In the course of Friday prayers at Mearat Hamachpelah, Sheik Taysar
Temimi gave speeches that were taped by the Civil Administration. Among other
things, he said: "Those who raise the flag and the slogan of the armed struggle
and WHO KILL, will have their deeds recorded in golden letters as sublime and
transcendent acts, in the battle between the faithful and the infidels...in this
protracted battle that will continue until judgment day...and the infidels of
the world will continue to live in a continuous strife against the faithful, who
will kill the infidels..."
Following those words, a complaint against Sheik
Taysar Tamimi was filed by an officer of the Hebron Civil Administration with
the police.
(86. No warrant was issued against this inciting sheik for the
offense of "racial incitement" , or for "support of a terror organization" ,
such as was issued against the writer of this book for the "crime" of publishing
the book "Baruch Hagever" , which is in fact a memorial book for a holy and dear
man. This kind of official abandonment is the normal behavior of the government
toward the inciting words of Moslem sheiks: hundreds of speeches inciting to
murder, after which "Moslem worshippers" go and massacre Jews, are said
publicly, without anyone ever opening their mouths or blowing the whistle.)
" The Mearah reflected the tension that prevailed in the city,
especially during the intifada. Whether because of the actual settlement of the
Jews in the city, or because of the scheming by the Jews (such as overturning
their stands), or because of the attacks on the part of the Arabs, between the
dates of 12.21.90 to 11.30.93, there were 361 INCIDENTS IN HEBRON ALONE.
In
1993 alone, there were 10 shootings, 6 demolition charges, 2 handgrenades
thrown, 7 assaults, 3 stabbings, 111 Molotov cocktails, a total of 139
incidents.
Also the number of Jews attacked in Hebron went from 124 in 1991 to 164
in1993, of which 6 were killed ."
"His words -sharp and full of truth - were always said with an AMAZING EQUANIMITY that he was able to attain and maintain at all times. He never screamed, never raised his voice or lost his patience, even though placed under constant, endless, almost superhuman tension, which stemmed from being permanently on call, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year after year, waiting to save lives." This is the testimony of Baruch's acquaintance and close friend, Dr. Roni Segal, who lives these days in Maalei Chever. (87. Baruch Hagever, page 386, testimony of Dr. Roni Segal)
But hard days were coming upon the residents of Kiryat Arba and Hebron, right
after "the peace accords" between Rabin and Arafat, Yemach Shemo. Then murders
became more and more frequent:
An IDF officer on Shalom Road in Hebron, and
a soldier as he stood by near the Mearah.
Ephraim Ayoubi, a man from Kfar
Darom (he was killed at the entrance to Hebron).
And the shocking murders of
Mordechai Lapid, his friend who was like a brother to him, and of his son
Shalom.
Every murder of these holy people was covered-up by Rabin with the words "These are sacrifices for peace" . Since Baruch was a great lover of Israel and sensitive to their hardships, he took all these blows very personally and extremely hard. "In the last times, it seemed that every attack took another piece of his zest for life away, his stature got bent, and the sadness in his eyes refused to go away. We were standing there, and couldn't save." This is the account of the nurse Ronit Keller from Sussia, who worked with Baruch as a nurse for a long period of time. (88. Baruch Hagever, page 382, testimony of the nurse from the clinic, Ronit Keller.)
Chava Levanon, a resident of Sussia: "Once, after the murder of a Jew, I went into the clinic and I found him there, crying. I remember that he told me: -I don't understand how it is possible that Jewish blood is being spilled, and there is a government that does nothing about it! He was very angry and hurt. Only after a few minutes did he turn back to us, his patients, to take care of us." (89. Baruch Hagever, page 389, testimony of Chava Levanon.)
Rav Yoezer Ariel, Rabbi of the Chevra Kadisha (burial society) of the holy city of Hebron, tells the following story (Baruch Hagever, page 394): "I was once teaching members of the Chevra Kadisha that according to many commentators, there is no obligation to rend one's garments when the soul of someone who is not a relative leaves the body, because otherwise people would refrain from visiting and supporting a person sick in bed. Rav Baruch asked if it is permissible for an individual to be stricter with himself, and whether this would not impose a stricture upon others. Knowing that Rav Baruch was always very demanding of himself, never loosening his standards, but didn't want to give others the impression that they were lby not behaving like himself, I advised him that it is permitted to tear one' s garments, and that is what he did." (Testimony of the writer: we found in his home a closet full of shirts that were torn on the right side).
Despite the tremendous suffering this sensitive man experienced, he didn't stop the holy work he was doing even for a minute. "The day after the murder of Mordechai and Shalom Lapid, a day of Torah study had been planned, which Dr. Goldstein used to organize for the members of the medical circle of Kiryat Arba and the surrounding communities. That very morning, I turned to him and asked him to postpone the lecture ; who can concentrate and pay attention in such a moment? However, Dr. Goldstein, who appeared very broken and depressed, answered: No! Especially today we are obligated to hold the lecture, to learn lessons. And I told him: We, the medical workers, have to control ourselves in every situation and continue. He answered: ' Yasher Koach! ' (may we go from strength to strength) (90. Baruch Hagever, page 384, testimony of a nurse from the clinic)
The assassination of his master and Rabbi by an Arab hater of Israel, the
frequent calamities, the murders of Mordechai Lapid who was like a brother to
him and of his son Shalom, the protests against expected massacres by Arabs, and
the alienation of the authorities ( "enemies of peace" , would the Rabin
government call him and his friends), all incubated in his soul until, on Purim
night, after the horrible death screams of the Moslem worshippers at Mearat
Hamachpelah, the decision to do something ( ~ "I cannot tolerate this any
longer!" ) matured in his heart. (91. Baruch Hagever, page 441, testimony of
Nechamah Muchnik, a resident of Beit Hadassah in Hebron. "On the steps leading
to the Yitshak Hall , I bumped into a crowd of agitated Arabs who were
screaming: 'Etbach el Yahud!' (kill the Jews). They were banging on the doors,
spitting inside. At the same instant Dr. Baruch Goldstein came out from the
room, shaken, crying:" I cannot tolerate this any more!" )
WARNINGS ABOUT A MASSACRE BY ARABS OF JEWS COMING TO PRAY AT
MEARAT HAMACHPELAH ON PURIM 1994
Right after the massacre perpetrated by Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a commission of inquiry was established, overseen by the head of the Supreme Court, Judge Meir Shamgar, in order to "investigate and come to conclusions regarding the facts and circumstances relating to the said massacre." (92. Shamgar report, page 9). The committee sat during 31 sessions, heard 106 witnesses, and gathered 1,140 exhibits. (93. Shamgar report, page 13).
In the course of the sessions of the committee, it became clear that the
intelligence sources of the IDF and of the GSS had reported on an expected
attack by Arabs on Jews, during Purim.
No less than NINE OFFICERS testified
to that effect, and among them Colonel Moshe Tsin, officer second- in- command
of the Central Command (94. Protocol of the Shamgar Commission, pages 69-70 ),
Colonel Amnon Sofrin, Intelligence Officer of the Central Command (95. Protocol
of the Shamgar Commission, pages 83-84), Major Dov Stellman, Captain of the
Mearat Hamachpelah Area (96. Protocol, page 125), Lieutenant - Colonel Ami
Burger, Operation Officer of the Central Command (97. Protocol, page 136), Major
Dan Reshef, Intelligence Officer of the Hebron Regiment (98. Protocol, page
198), Colonel Shalom Goldstein, Military Governor of Hebron (99. Protocol, page
242), Sergeant Ilan Biton, Commanding Officer of the Mearat Hamachpelah area
(100. Protocol, page 453), Sergeant Yitshak Chamudot, Commander of the Armored
Forces (101. Protocol, page 926),
and Colonel Yoav Gallant (102. Protocol,
pages 2052, 2010). According to these testimonies, already two and a half weeks
before the event, clear reports streamed to the security system about a massive
attack against Jews.These reports became more and more frequent as Purim
approached, and Major Stellman even testified about loud intelligence reports
regarding a planned massacre of Jews on their way to Mearat Hamachpelah on
Purim. (103. exhibit 1081).
Two people from the GSS asked to make a more specific report on the subject, in a deliberation that took place under closed doors (104. Protocol, pages 84, 199). Mr.Israel Ben Aharon served in "Hamal" , that logged the security operations of the security forces. He reports to the Shamgar Commission about incidents that were recorded in the "Hamal" the week before Purim. Among others: a wanted terrorist armed with a automatic Kalachnikov assault rifle sidestepped an IDF barricade on his way to Hebron. In the city a car bomb was planted, and in the city as well, three stolen vehicles with yellow license plates were circulating, containing armed wanted terrorists. (105. Baruch Hagever, page 446, exhibit 1137).
The warnings multiply, increase more and more until the morning of Purim Day itself, when, year after year, hundreds of Jews gather at Mearat Hamachpelah. Sergeant Yitshak Chamudot, who is reponsible for the military unit guarding the Mearat Hamachpelah area, says in his testimony to the Shamgar commission that all the warnings, orders and accounts that were distributed by the senior echelon in the days preceding Purim, all pointed to an attack against Jews planned FOR THE TIME OF THEIR PRAYER AT MEARAT HAMACHPELAH ON PURIM, AT SEVEN THIRTY IN THE MORNING. (106. Protocol of the Shamgar Commission, page 927, testimony of Sergeant Yitshak Chamudot: "All the warnings and all the explanations that were given on sheets and in orders were to deploy special units for the prayers of the holiday of the Jews, at seven-thirty AM.)"
Journalists Yigal Amiti and Yitshak Keinan also report, coming from senior
intelligence sources, that Hamas was planning a huge attack against the Jews in
Mearat Hamachpelah on Purim day. (107. Newspaper - Yom Leyom, 4/1/94, first
page). Sergeant Kobi Yosef, who guarded the entrance to the Mearah, also
testified before the Shamgar Commission that in the days preceding Purim, his
crew was alerted to show extreme vigilance, and to carefully check everyone
going in, because there was a "hot tip" that Arab terrorists would try to
introduce explosives into the halls of the Mearah. (108. Protocol of the Shamgar
Commission, page 518, Shamgar report, page 28). In the daily journal of the room
of operations of the Civil Administration, Hebron District, it is written that
on Thursday, the 13th of Adar (February 24), at nine thirty AM, a flyer was
distributed on behalf of Hamas, stating that on Friday, the 25th of February,
(that is, Purim), there would be a massive attack by Hamas in Hebron. (109.
Shamgar report, pages 79, 223).The story about the posters came to the attention
of the Israeli media, and in the newspaper "Yediot Acharonot" , which was
printed on Thursday night, (that is, six hours BEFORE THE EVENT IN THE MEARAH,),
it was written:
"Fugitives from Az-Al-Din Al Kassem warned residents
of the city, by means of posters, microphones announcements and graffiti, to
stock up on food for a prolonged curfew, as they were planning to perpetrate a
LARGE ATTACK." (110. Yediot Acharonot, 2/25/98, Shabbat supplement, page 6.
Exhibit 680. Baruch Hagever page 448)
The Arabs of Hebron and its surroundings, most of them Hamas supporters who
identify with extreme and violent groups, (111. Protocol of the Shamgar
Commission, page 1537, testimony of General Danny Rothschild, coodinator of
operations in the territories. Protocol of the Shamgar Commission,, page 1368,
testimony of Major Ail Ziv, advisor for Arab Affairs in Hebron), took these
announcements very seriously. The Hebron market got flooded by trucks loaded
with food, (112. Protocol, page 1895, #42. Baruch Hagever, page 446, testimony
of Israel Ben Aharon), and the Arab residents rushed to grab agricultural
products, even before they gotoff the trucks (113. Baruch Hagever, page 441,
testimony of Nechama Muchnik, Beit Hadassah resident), (114. Baruch Hagever,
page 445, testimony of Ruthie Moshe, Kiryat Arba resident). Three days before
Purim, Monday the 10th of Adar, 2/21/94, the Commander of Yesha, General Shaul
Mofaz (!), and Colonel Meir Kalifi, Commander of the Hebron regiment, summoned
to an urgent meeting, in a great hurry, and warning them only hours in advance,
the members of the Council of Kiryat Arba and of the Council of the Southern Har
Hebron District. They reported an "acute warning" and solid information to the
effect that Hamas was planning to execute a massive attack on Jews in the days
to come (115. Report of Zvi Katsover to the Shamgar commission on 4/20/94,
exhibit 678. Baruch Hagever page 437.) (116. Baruch Hagever, page 438, testimony
of Rav Shimon Ben-Tsion, before the Shamgar Commission).Therefore, the members
were asked to act with double caution, and were warned against leaving the
Kiryah (117. Baruch Hagever, page 440, testimony of Bella Gonen, member of the
Kiryat Arba Council). There never had been a call for such an urgent and special
meeting with a general of the IDF, and this alone attested to the seriousness of
the situation (118. exhibit 678). - For comparison's sake, let 's note that
before the murder of Mordechai Lapid and his son Shalom, may G-d avenge their
blood, no warning was given by the security forces (119. Protocol, page 125,
testimony of Major Dov Stellman) -.
The dignitaries asked the officers to
"at least place a curfew on Hebron, until the fury subsides."
The IDF men
answered: "There is absolutely no chance that the political echelon will honor
such a request, it disturbs the atmosphere of peace of the Oslo Accords."
Yitshak Boinisch, Director of the Security Department in the Kiryah, testifies
that right at the end of the meeting, readiness orders were given to the
security and medical teams in the Kiryah. (120. Protocol, page 5, exhibit 217).
This is also the testimony of Mrs. Bella Gonen, member of the Kiryat Arba
Council (121. Presentation of Bella Gonen to the Shamgar Commission, on 1/2/95),
and of Mr. Schlomo Edelstein, who served, during that period, in the "Hamal" in
Kiryat Arba.(122. transcript of the taped conversation of Schlomo Edelstein with
journalist Amit Gurvitz, exhibit 208). At the top of the medical organization
and of the emergency team in Kiryat Arba stood, since its inception, Dr. Baruch
Goldstein.They put at his disposal a trauma unit for emergency care, an
ambulance crew, and paramedics. Dr. Goldstein's superiority was so obvious that
when soldiers got injured in the Hebron area as a result of terrorist acts, even
when army physicians were present, he was their leader, calling and welcoming
the helicopter, and deciding what to do. (126. Baruch Hagever, page 416,
testimony of Akiva London, Sussia)
BEHAVIOR OF THE ARABS IN MEARAT HAMACHPELAH BEFORE THE
MASSACRE
During the week preceding Purim, one could see great excitement among the
Arabs who came to Mearat Hamachpelah. Five days before Purim, at the exit of
Shabbat the 9th of Adar - 2/19/94-, a group of 120 Jews from America came to
pray in Mearat Hamachpelah.Despite the fact that this time had been assigned to
the prayer of the Jews, about 100 Arabs managed to enter into the Mearah.While
the Jews were praying quietly, the Arabs in the Mearah started shouting horrible
screams in their directions: "Etbach el Yahud!" (kill the Jews - the same scream
that was heard at the time of the Hebron massacre in 1929) (127. Entry of Carl
Bishop to the Shamgar commission, exhibit 23 ; he was not invited to testify
before the Commission.
Entry of Ruben Margolis to the Commission, exhibit
68, and entry of Joseph Gottlieb, exhibit 1137.). Mr. Carl Bishop reports three
additional times, in the week before Purim, when he went to pray to the Mearah,
and there he encountered the screams "Etbach el Yahud" ; he was even hit and
terrorized by Arabs.
The week before Purim, at the height of the month of Ramadan, an agreement was made between the military governor of Hebron, and the Sheik of Mearat Hamachpelah and Moslem Wakf representative, Sheik Ataf Chamori, that the Jews would pray in the Yitshak Hall on Purim night until 8:00 PM, and that in the morning, they would pray from 7:00 AM until 9:30 AM. (128. Purim 1994 - prayer arrangements in Mearat Hamachpelah, Protocol of the Shamgar Commission, page 218).
On Purim night, on Thursday, at 7:15 PM, about 250 Arabs crowded in the
corridor adjacent to the Yitshak Hall, where the Jewish worshippers were reading
the Scroll of Esther.The Arabs demanded to immediately enter into the Yitshak
Hall by force, and started with their awful screams of "Etbach el Yahud" . (129.
Protocol, page 218). The screams were so horrible that Private Niv Drori
testified that they travelled through the thick stone walls of the Mearah
compound, and could be heard very well in the outdoor courtyard of the compound.
(130.Potocol, pages 550, 559.) Matters are described as follows in the Shamgar
report, page 235:
The night before, there was tension in the Mearah,which
brought a large raging crowd of numerous Moslem worshippers. The cause of the
tension was embedded in the arrangement between the military governor and the
Wakf, which didn't please part of the Moslem worshippers. In the above
agreement, it was decided that because of the holiday of Purim and the Megillah
reading in the Yitshak Hall, the prayer of the Moslems on Thursday night would
only begin at 8:00 PM in the Yitshak Hall.
Due to a recent incident in Abu-Dis which ended with the death of a few
members of the Az-Al- Din Al Kassem squad, tempers flared among the group of
Moslem worshippers, (almost two hundred people), and from the Moslem side
exploded convulsive screams: ( "Kassem" ,
"Etbach el Yahud!" ) that
alarmed the IDF forces and the Border Police. The Jewish worshippers evacuated
the Yitshak Hall at the previously arranged hour, and the Moslem prayer started
at about 8:00 PM."
Mrs. Nechamah Mutchnik describes the events, and Dr. Baruch Goldstein's reaction, as follows: "In the stairway leading to the Yitshak Hall, I encountered a crowd of enraged Arabs who screamed:" Etbach el Yahud ". They banged on the doors, they spit inside. At that very moment Dr. Baruch Goldstein, may G'd avenge his blood, came out, shaken, from the room and called out:" I cannot tolerate this any more! "(131. Baruch Hagever, testimony of Nechamah Mutchnik, Beit-Hadassash, Hebron. In fact, holy Dr. Baruch Goldstein actualized by himself the words of the song" Maoz Tsur "(Rock of Ages), that we sing on Hanukkah:" In due time you will prepare trouble for the enemy that barks at us" .)
The rioting of the Arabs didn't stop with the exit of the Jews at exactly 8:00 PM, but continued for another three hours. (132. Entry #42 of the Shamgar Commission). Despite the fact that there had been many clashes between Jews and Moslems in Mearat Hamachpelah because of religion, since, the Moslems believe: "According to our belief, according to our religion, the Charam (Mearat Hamachpelah) belongs only to Moslems and not to Jews." (133. Shamgar report, page 135, testimony of Rafat Al-Karki. Protocol of the Shamgar Commission, page 1244.), somehow, though, calls to murder like these had never been heard in the Mearat Hamachpelah. That is the testimony of Commander Fardi Kuskas, operations officer of the Border Police detachment in Hebron, (134. Protocol, page 892), and of Colonel Moshe Givati, captain of the Hebron regiment (135. Protocol, page 1599). The "Tarpat events" - the 1929 massacre -, when sixty-six Jews were massacred, in the middle of screams of "Etbach el Yahud" , and "Al Davla Maana" (the government is with us), also followed the rumor, spread in Hebron, that a few Arabs had been killed in Jerusal. (136. Rehavam Zeevi, "the 1929 Hebron Massacre" , page 11.) The military governor of Hebron, Colonel Shlomo Goldstein, testified that the previous Purim also fell during the Ramadan, and then also similar prayer schedules had been arranged, so that Jews would pray in the Yitshak Hall, and the arrangement was honored without any incident. Then, the Arabs waited patiently outside the Mearah and didn't riot. (137. Protocol, page 266)
ASSESSMENT BY THE SECURITY FORCES OF THE "ACUTE
WARNINGS"
In both entrances to Mearat Hamachpelah, two metal detectors were positioned, through which everyone going into the Mearah had to pass. Both detectors were old and unreliable models. (138, Protocol, page 428). For more than one year, the Jews had asked to have them replaced by more reliable ones, but their request was denied under the pretext of "lack of funds" . Sergeant Kobi Yosef testified that the metal detector at the Eastern Gate was defective for many months before the event ; and the detector in the main entrance, which usually was functional, wasn't working on Purim morning. (140.Protocol, page 203, Shamgar report, page 229). In the journal of the "Hamal" of the Judea district, and of the "Hamal" of Yesha, it is recorded that at the time of the riots by the Arabs on Purim night, some Moslem worshippers tinkered with the metal detector of the eastern gate, which already hadn't been working before.
Right at the cry of the muezzin at dawn on Purim, at 4:52 AM, all at once, a very large crowd of Moslem worshippers arrived to the eastern gate of the Mearah, where the metal detector had already been damaged ; the fact is that the Arabs were already surpassing in number their previous visits to the Mearah. The group consisted of 500 men and 300 women. (141. Shamgar report, pages 15, 17).
Since the crowd was hurrying to get in, on purpose, through the eastern gate, they were let in by the soldiers within a very short time - in about a quarter of an hour (exhibit 14, essential data and logs surrounding the event). From the minutes of the Commission, it is evident that, even though there was absolutely nothing to stop them from entering the main gate, and that way, the Moslem worshippers could have spared themselves waiting time, only very few chose to do so (143. Protocol, page 203). Although the metal detector at the main gate wasn't functioning either that morning, there is no proof that the Moslem worshippers were aware of that. Because of the great pressure caused by the hundreds of people pushing through the eastern gate, the soldiers did a check, personal or corporal, on only 10% of the men. (144. Shamgar report, page 18). According to the words of Commanding Officer Rotem Ravivi, the captain responsible for the morning guard, a search was done only on those who appeared suspicious to the guards. (145. Protocol, page 509). No search whatsoever, personal or corporal, was done on any of the 300 women who entered in a great hurry through the eastern gate; not only that, there weren't even female soldiers present, who are the only ones authorized to perform such a search. (146. Shamgar report, page 18). The guidelines forbade the search of women (147. protocol, page 203), even though, according to the point made by Mr. Ilan Tor BEFORE the commission, Moslem women wear long clothes, under which it is possible to hide anything, including weapons. (148. Protocol, page 758). According to the words of Moslem guard Hadj Ahmed Nasser (149. Protocol, page 2235), and of the two worshippers Mohamed Sari Al-Jibri and Melicha Jabari, since the Six Day War, there had never been such a large crowd of worshippers in the early hours of the morning.
This is how Judge Shamgar describes the security situation, in the report of the Commission, page 229: " As a result of the defect in the metal detectors, and despite the seriousness of the warnings about the possibility of a terror attack by Hamas, only a minimal amount of Moslem worshippers in the critical ages (from ages 15 till 45, according to the rules) passed a bodily inspection to prevent the introduction of a terrorist object ; the women weren't checked at all.
The soldiers functioned as usual, without having been told to change their methods. Nevertheless, there is no way to avoid reality: soldiers are stationed there, among others, in order to check the entrants, and if the metal detectors were defective, it was their obligation to reinforce the troups at the gates in order to perform a reasonable examination, that is, a personal check on everyone entering ; no one was authorized to give up the inspection of the entrants to the Mearah, SPECIALLY AT A TIME WHEN THERE WAS A WARNING ABOUT A POSSIBLE ATTACK BY HAMAS.
The absence of an effective inspection of the Moslem worshippers who squeezed into the Mearah is at the limit of allowed security guidelines."
Mr. Margi, chairman of the religious council of Kiryat Arba and Hebron,
testified that inside the compound of the Mearah, there were storage rooms, the
keys to which were in the possession of the Wakf alone, and into which the
soldiers were not allowed to enter.(152. Protocol, page 1715). It is unnecessary
to explain the importance of permitting the army to inspect these storage rooms.
DID THE ARABS SMUGGLE WEAPONS INTO THE MEARAH?
In light of all of the above, it becomes apparent that the Molsem worshippers intentionally behaved in a way that would allow them to smuggle all sorts of weapons into the Mearah. The inspection procedures were so lax that there were no obstacles to their doing so. Mr. Mordechai Said, a resident of Kiryat Arba, was standing at 6:00 AM next to a military jeep parked in the parking lot in front of Mearat Hamachpelah. At that very moment he heard a military transmission, that in the Yitshak Hall there was an M-16 assault rifle, wrapped IN A KEFFIAH. (153. Presentation of Mordechai Said to the Shamgar Commission, #52, exhibit 1137).That was not the gun of Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who carried a GALILON assault rifle which was wrapped IN A BROWN BLANKET. (154. Shamgar report, page 48).
Rabbi Shimon Ben Zion talked with both senior and junior officers, and they
related to him
that in the Mearah, three automatic weapons, IN ADDITION TO
DR. GOLDSTEIN'S WEAPON, were found: an M-16 assault rifle , an AK- 47 assault
rifle , and a Karl Gustav submachine gun . (155. Presentation of Rabbi Shimon
Ben Zion # 1, exhibit 1137. Baruch Hagever page 438). The daily logs of the
military room of operations also report the presence of an M-16 assault rifle in
the Yitshak Hall. (156. Daily logs of operations there). All the Jewish
worshippers who were in the Mearah were checked, and none of them carried an
M-16 and /or a Galilon (157 Shamgar report, page 223) ; so that this weapon was,
without a doubt, brought into the Mearah by the Moslem worshippers.
(158.
The "Shamgar Report" - accounts and verdicts of the commission of inquiry
regarding the massacre in Mearat Hamachpelah in Hebron, in 1994, was published
by the Israeli Government in Jerusalem in 1994.
The "Protocol (minutes) of
the Shamgar Commission" - memorandum of the testimonies that were heard, and the
exhibits that were brought, before the Commission of Inquiry, upon which the
Committee based itself when writing the report. The archived material of the
Shamgar Commission can be found in the State Archives, Mekor Chaim Street 35,
Jerusalem.
That material includes the MINUTES of the Committee's sessions,
and the EXHIBITS that it collected. Everything can be found in Volume 7648/3.
"Baruch Hagever" - testimonies that were recorded in the book "Baruch
Hagever" in its first edition ; the editor is Michael Ben Horin. It was
published in Jerusalem on Purim 1995.)
1. The authorities of the State of Israel (the government, the Knesset and the justice system), conducted a policy of abandonment of the set.
2. The above authorities had the ability to control the intifada, both from the point of view of international law, and from an operational point of view, without having to cause many casualties.
3. The reactions of the settler population were extremely restrained, even more so than in the general Israeli population.
4. The settlers and the "national religious camp" were the subject of a systematic character assassination on the part of the Israeli government, the Israeli Knesset, and the justice system. The enforcement arms entrusted to them took an active part in this character assassination, namely: the GSS, the army, the police, the Attorney General, the General Prosecution, the courts, and the national media.
5. The majority of Hebron Arabs identify with Hamas, and the number of murders and acts of violence perpetrated by them against Jews is higher than the average in Yesha.
6. There were many cases of attacks on Jews (murders, stabbings, handgrenades thrown,etc.) by Moslem worshippers in the Mearat Hamachpelah and its immediate surroundings.
7. There were acute warnings about an impending massacre by Arabs of the Hebron and Kiryat Arba Jews, in the middle of Purim, at 7:30 AM.
8.The Hebron Arabs were notified that a massacre of Jews was about to take place, and they prepared themselves for a prolonged curfew in their usual manner.
9. The Moslem worshippers fired themselves up for the massacre they had planned with the cries of "Etbach el Yahud" , in the Mearat Hamachpelah, at the time of the prayer of the Jews on Purim Eve.
10. Despite the "acute warning" and the exceptionally violent activity of the Moslem worshippers, the authorities did not take any preventive measures (curfew, inspections, etc) appropriate for the emergency of such a grave situation.
11. Despite the "acute warning" , the guarding and inspection systems of the Moslem worshippers on Purim morning were more lax than usual.
12. The Moslem worshippers smuggled at least three automatic weapons into the Mearah.
13. The action of the late Dr. Baruch Goldstein on Purim 1994 prevented a large massacre of the Jews of Hebron and Kiryat Arba, it was in fact a real act of rescue.
For the sake of justice, those who bear the guilt, will be proven guilty, will confess to their many crimes, will willingly come to personal conclusions, and will be released from their governmental posts. If they don't , we recommend the following course of action:
1. The establishment of a court free of appeals. It will NOT DEPEND ON the three institutions vested with authority in a democratic system: the judiciary, the legislative, and the executive branches. It will be called "Judgment by the Jewish People" .
2. The Judgment by the Jewish People will determine the following:
A. The legitimacy of the governent of the State of Israel, and in
particular, since the
beginning of the Arab uprising.
B. The
legitimacy of the Knesset and its rulings
C. The legitimacy of the
justice system of the State of Israel, and its rulings.
3. Because of the enormous spilling of innocent blood brought about by the
above governmental bodies, all those involved in the matter will be brought to
justice, in a public trial.
They are being warned of this. They will have an
opportunity to defend themselves, according to Halachah (Jewish Law).
4. Until such time as paragraph #1 is being realized, THE ENTIRE
RESPONSIBILITY, past, present and future, for the spilling of innocent blood,
rests on the above governmental bodies ALONE, and we ask, pray, and plead that
this guilt not be viewed as being shared by the people of Israel.
In our
hearts, we pray to the G-d of Israel that He speedily bring our torments to an
end, and not hurt the people of Israel. "And the month which had been
transformed from sorrow to joy, from mourning to festivity, these were to be
days of feasting and joy, of sending portions one to another, and of gifts to
the poor."