Shuvoo Newsletter

Issue 3 – February 2, 2006

Thoughts on Ancient Times & Current Events by Ashirah Yosefah

AMONA OUTRAGE

“Close to 6,000 policeman and soldiers entered Amona, near Ofra, Wednesday morning after receiving orders to ‘arrest activists without blinking.’”  (Jerusalem Post, 02/02/06)

In a scene hauntingly evocative of the Crusades, Israeli police moved in

on horseback against unarmed Jews gathered to protest the demolition

of nine homes in Amona on Wednesday, February 1^st, 2006.

(Yediot Acharot Newsphoto)

In a response to an earlier Shuvoo newsletter this week on the topic of Hevron, one of our subscribers offered an appreciated comment.  He noted that the spirit of the Hevron article was one that would have touched the heart of The Lubavitcher Rebbe, but at the same time, he cautioned me that as Jews we must also take care to love our fellow Jews.  With this I agree and each morning as I begin to daven the morning prayers, I take upon myself the commitment “ahavta l’rayacha kamocha” … to love my fellowmen as myself.  However, the Torah also says that “you shall surely rebuke your fellow” when there is a matter that contravenes Torah and justice.  It is in the spirit of this commandment that this article is written.

On Wednesday, February 1^st, Israeli television stations broadcast live the heartbreaking footage of the destruction of Amona and the officially sanctioned attack on its residents and those who had gathered in solidarity with them.  Waiting in line at a bank, I watched in horror at the scenes playing before my eyes, until the bank manager intervened and shut off the courtesy television.  Tragically, the real horrors were playing out off-camera in the worse demonstration of police and military violence of Jews against Jews that this country has every witnessed.  It is unbelievable that these black-garbed and helmeted beings can be Jews.  There must be some cruel mistake.  It simply fails logic.  Erev Rav, yes … mercenaries brought in to perform a horrific mission, perhaps … but, Jews doing this to Jews?  Worse yet, Jews doing this to teenagers, children and Knesset Members?  Words fail me.

There have been many of late who have criticized the passion and the efforts of the religious youth of Israel.  Yesterday, at Amona, their zeal did reach a breaking point and, in truth, some did throw rocks and cinderblocks at the police, but their anger would not have reached this point had it not been for the betrayal of Gush Katif and the lack of any form of supportive therapy to help these young protestors did with the tragedy that they experienced.  This aside, thank G-d, we have them.  They are blazing a trail of courage and action, giving strength to their beleaguered parents, in measures beyond measure.  They leave many shamefaced in the wake of their valiant efforts and their bravery in confronting evil and injustice.  Being a parent, and having experienced my daughter pass through her teenage years, I know the precise, intense, and finite sense of justice that develops in young people at this age as they grow into adults.  As the youth of Gush Katif rallied to the cause of their communities throughout 2005 and especially in the months preceding the Gush Katif expulsion, I was reminded again and again of watching my daughter react and cry out at abuses of human justice during her teenage years.   For the youth of Gush Katif, their sense of justice is being repeatedly trampled upon, this week literally, by policemen on horseback.  It is a slap of shame in the face of the prevailing apathy of the public at large here in Israel.  By and large, it has been the religious youth of Israel who have had the guts, the conviction and the faith to stand their ground despite being crushed by those who are supposed to be the elected guardians of justice.  Their voices cry out against the insanity that continues to unfold around us as Jewish communities are being systematically destroyed along with the lives and livelihood of their residents.  Somehow, for the majority of the adult populace, life flows along, all this horror and blatant injustice is merely a temporary inconvenience.  An Israeli television station, interviewing people on the street on Wednesday evening, asked a woman purchasing flowers on Ben Yehuda Street what she thought of the day’s events in Amona.  Her response?  “Aifo Amona?”  (Where’s Amona?)  Forgive my language, but there is a societal illness in this world that has sterilized women of compassion and castrated men of righteous anger. 

Lest anyone should be aghast at Jews and Israel, be assured that the problem of societal and spiritual disease rests not only in Israel.  Where else in the world could something of this magnitude occur and there not be some form of outcry from human rights organizations?  Yet the world is silent.  The UN, the scores of bleeding heart human rights organizations are mum.  Could it be because we are Jews?  CNN ran a brief segment on the early evening news on Wednesday in which the announcer praised the valiant efforts of Israel in combating “the extremist Jewish settlers” and decried the fact that paintballs and eggs had been thrown at the police.  What about the batons the police used to fracture a 15-year old boy’s skull, leaving him in a coma with an unpromising prognosis?  What about the hundred’s of others who were left bloodied and beaten, so much so that a field infirmary had to be set up on site to treat the wounded, one of which just happened to be MK Ettie Eitam, who was kicked in the head by a policeman’s horse?  Two other MK’s, former tourism minister Benny Elyon and Arieh Eldad, were also injured in the clash.  Apparently, there is no respect amongst the authorities even for those who are supposedly in positions of authority.  Anarchy?  G-d help us.

Israeli MK Ettie Eitam being treated at the Amona field infirmary for a head wound

received during his efforts to show solidarity with the residents of Amona.

(Jerusalem Post photo)

The destruction of Amona is not an isolated incident.  First there was Gush Katif with 10,000 people turned into refugees in their own land, then Sanur in the Shomron, now the looming threat over residents of Hevron, and this week Amona.  Next on the chopping block?  Six permanent homes in Haresha and twelve in Hayovel, according to a front page article in the Jerusalem Post on Thursday.  Both communities are in the Shomron.  What does it take for decent human beings to respond in outrage, or have we lost all sense of decency?

The Jerusalem Post, in a front page article by Rafael D. Frankel on Thursday, February 2^nd, reported that the well-known activist group Peace Now had “successfully petitioned the court to force the [Israeli] government to enforce its own demolition orders in Amona” and “is asking the court to do the same” in respect of the communities of Haresha and Hayovel.  Why is the Israeli justice system acquiescing foreign activists and turning frozen hearts, blind eyes and deaf ears on the people of the State of Israel … well, at least if you happen to be “an extremist Jewish settler”?  Haven’t we enough to deal with combating suicide bombers, Kassam rockets and the recent election of Hamas as the ruling political party of the Palestinians? 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but there are also times when words truly convey the gravity of a situation.  The following paragraph is a quote from an article written by Shlomo Wollins as he was reporting live from Amona at 9:39 pm on Wednesday.  Shlomo, himself, suffered multiple injuries during yesterday’s event, by withstood his own discomfort to maintain his coverage of what he terms “a black day in Jewish history”:

“There are no words to transmit the horror and tragedy that my eyes have witnessed over the last 24 hours in Amona. It was clearly a staged and intensely violent attack on the child-protestors, that at times became complete chaos with settler deaths not out of realm of reality. 250 of the children have been hospitalized (roughly 1 out of 10 of the protestors), with one young boy in a self-induced coma having suffered a fractured skull. Although this was the most severe injury, I personally witnessed and filmed dozens of young man being carried out on stretchers with severely-bleeding, multiple head wounds from the riot batons. It was a scene out of Dante’s Inferno, and radically exceeded the Gush Katif situation in intensity, injury, and violence. Not only children, but Member of Knesset Effie Eitam was kicked in head by horse as soldiers pushed forward, and was carried out on stretcher with profuse head bleeding.” – Shlomo Wallins, in Amona.

Yeicham Eyal, on right, with brothers.  Yeicham Eyal today.

Yeicham Eyal (Yeicham ben Rachel) is fifteen years old.  He lies in hospital today in a coma, unable to breathe without a respirator.  The coma was medically induced in an effort to combat pressure in his brain that can cause permanent brain damage, even death.  His inability to breathe is a frightening symptom.  He received these injuries standing up for justice and human compassion in Amona.  Today he cannot stand at all.  Hundreds of others were injured.  Outside of Israel, most media only gave the demolition of Amona a momentary mention.  Has the world gone mad, or has humanity fallen to such deplorable levels that no one has a moral conscience anymore?  Yeicham’s name means “the nation should live”.  In the merit of his name and his courage on behalf of his land and his people, may he live and recover … and may the nation of Israel live and recover … and may we all wake up and realize that Hashem looks for those who will stand in the breach and make a difference for good.