For the first time, the buyer of the Hevron building from which the government wishes to throw out the Jews speaks out. In this exclusive footage, Morris Abraham speaks from his Brooklyn home, with interviewer David Wilder of the Hevron Jewish Community.
The money changes hands; what about the property?
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Condensed transcript:
Wilder: "You purchased Beit HaShalom in Hevron with your family five years ago, and now we're being threatened with expulsion. What do you intend to do?"
Abraham: "We will continue to fight the government officials, who are illegally throwing us out of our home. We have presented documents, and video recordings showing the payments to the Arab owner for the home, and cassette tapes of the Arab owner saying that he received all the money for the home, and that he has begun to fix it up for us. We will continue to fight for our legal rights for our home. We won't allow the government to throw us out; my family members were thrown out already once before, in 1929 by the Arabs [after the murderous pogrom], and this time we won't allow it. Anywhere in the free world, people are allowed to live in their home - and this is certainly true in our homeland of Israel, where our forefather Abraham bought the land close to 4,000 years ago."
Wilder: "How do you explain this action by the government of Israel?"
Abraham: "It's completely 100% political, and has nothing to do with legality. All the documents were presented, and in any normal legal system, they would have been recognized; in this case, it is totally political, and we are just being used as a pawn, 100%."
Wilder: "You and your family have invested a tremendous amount of money in this building. If you would have known then what you know now, would you have still gone ahead with this?"
Abraham: "I definitely would have, 100%. Because I believe that as Jews, we have a right to occupy all of Israel, anywhere in Israel. Sometimes we have to fight for what is ours; no battle is easy. But yes, I would have done it again, and I have no regrets, and I would also encourage others to try to fund this type of projects, building the Land of Israel."