For anyone who thought that that the Netanyahu government would be good for the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, Thursday morning’s destruction of Maoz Esther should come as an awakening.

Maoz Esther was founded a year and a half ago in memory of Esther Galia, who was shot and killed by terrorists on her way home to Kochav Hashachar. The fledgling community is only a few hundred meters away from Kochav Hashachar, on the side of a hilltop which could be described as “in the middle of nowhere” and has nothing but thorns and more thorns.

Five families currently live in Maoz Esther, and an active synagogue named Shirat Yonadav serves dozens of people every Sabbath. The synagogue is named for Yonadav Hirschfeld, who was murdered in the Merkaz Harav terrorist attack and whose family still lives in Kochav Hashachar.

To the government of Israel and to the nations of the world Maoz Esther is “illegal”. As for the Bedouin encampment on the next hill over, just as “illegal”, nobody seems to mind. It is my guess that if anyone would try to knock that down, every single government in the world would condemn Israel.

The five families who live in Maoz Esther are Jewish, and the Israeli government doesn’t seem to want Jewish families to live in Judea and Samaria, the cradle of Jewish civilization.

Anyone who thinks that the issue is the “illegality” of the site should remember that this isn’t the first time in history people have been opposed to Jews living in the Land of Israel.

In 1900 it was the Ottoman Empire which hindered Jewish efforts to buy land in Israel, in 1918 it was the British, and after 1948 it was the Jordanians who conquered Judea and Samaria during Israel’s War of Independence, preventing Jews from living there.

In 2009, the tables have turned. It is now the Israeli government which hinders the efforts of Jews to purchase land and build homes in the Land of Israel.

It was Ariel Sharon, who would ironically later carry out the Disengagement from Gaza, who originally said, “The status of Gush Katif is the same as the status of Tel Aviv to us.” He was right then and his words are still true now.

The Arabs and the rest of the world don’t want us out of Judea and Samaria. They want us out of Israel. Gush Katif, Hevron, Maoz Esther – they’re all the same. If we don’t fight for them now, we’ll find ourselves fighting for Jerusalem, Haifa, and Tel Aviv next.

G-d brought the Jewish people back to the Land of Israel after 2,000 years. Let’s try and keep what He gave us.