Within one day, over 3,500 people have signed a petition addressed to the Prime-Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon in defense of Arutz-7. In six hours alone, over two-and-a-half thousand new signatures were added ? and this is only the first day. The process of signing received a new push in the late afternoon. Instead of 2-5 signatures per minute before 5 p.m., it grew to 10-15 per minute after 6 p.m. and continues to grow. After 10 p.m. the pace started growing by leaps ? about 50 new signatures within every 10-minute interval.



Many people add their comments, some being very unflattering of Sharon, who at the time of his election as a prime minister was still enjoying the reputation of ?the most heroic hero?. Taking into account that Arutz-7 listeners constituted a very high percentage of Sharon voters, and judging by the comments added to the signatures, the closure of the only independent radio channel in Israel may spell a disaster for Sharon, as well as for the Likud as a whole, in the next elections.



Here are but a few examples of what the ?fans? write:



?You sir, are betraying the Israeli people. If you are too old and do not have the strength or character needed to stand against America and the Arab world's attempt to destroy the only moral nation on earth, Israel, then quickly leave office before you do any more damage. Quit doing your damnable ?show? in the Knesset with Peres as well.?



?I am not Jewish and not Israeli, but as an American looking on from afar it is obvious to me that Israel has a left wing of traitors to the Israeli people. The closing of Arutz-7 is such a blatant act of injustice that no honest person could do anything but condemn it. It appears that left wing terrorist lovers are now in charge of part of the Israeli government. Of course, the left has never truly believed in freedom of speech and never will. Having foolish ideas that cannot stand up under the light of truth, they can only win by breaking light bulbs.?



?Without Arutz Sheva the left would have destroyed Israel by now.?



?I learn more about what is going on in Israel from Arutz-7 when I am outside Israel than I learn from the Israeli newspapers when I am visiting Israel. Let their voices be heard.?



?Please reopen Arutz-7 - the voice of sanity.?



?Arutz-7 is a voice which must be heard. Allow it to continue to be heard.?



?Democracies don?t silence the voice of opposition.?



One consequence of this closure is already obvious and leaves little room for a doubt: when Arutz-7 returns ? and it will! ? the number of its grateful listeners will grow many-fold, thanks to this support campaign that has been provoked by the truth-fearing Shinui?s lick-spittles in the government.



In a way, the closure of Arutz-7 and the frontal attack of the Sharon-Shinui government against the autonomy of the religious institutions in the country may be viewed as a positive factor, as they tear off the ?nominally Jewish? mask from the face of the state of Israel.



Taking into account the fundamental contradiction between ?democratic? and ?Jewish? that was built into the foundation of the state in its Declaration of Independence, sooner or later, one of these two contradicting principles had to take the upper hand. The Jews ? not only in Israel, but throughout the Diaspora ? were sooner or later to face the choice: whether they want to have a Jewish state or a formally democratic one, wherein the paramount principle is ?one adult/one vote?, for whose sake all the other democratic norms are ruthlessly trampled. Sooner or later, the Jews were to realize that a state that is not based on Jewish law cannot remain Jewish for long.



Those who deny Israel?s right to exist as a Jewish state living by Jewish law cannot be regarded as Jewish nationalists. For this reason, the notion of a ?secular Jew? (leave alone ?anti-religious Jew?) in the Jewish context is an oxymoron.



The sooner we realize this, the more time we are going to have to get sober from the ?democratic? hang-over, and the higher our chances to save Israel, by way of turning it into an authentic Jewish state. But this cannot be achieved without reforming the present electoral system, which forces on us Left-leaning, anti-Jewish governments trying to transform Israel into ?a state of its citizens?, when an overwhelming majority of the people clearly advocate a Jewish state.



Thanks are due to Shinui and its Likudnik yes-men for clarifying the issue.