Rabbi Ronsky
Rabbi RonskyYoni Kempinski

The government is pushing citizens into “price tag” acts targeting Palestinian Authority property, warned Rabbi Avi Ronsky in an interview with Arutz Sheva. While quick to state that he condemns “price tag” activity, the former IDF chief rabbi said recent incidents have led many to feel the state will not protect them, adding, “I understand them.”

Among the actions which Rabbi Ronsky warned had led ordinary citizens to no longer trust the government were the arrest of Rabbi Dov Lior and the false reports regarding the murder of Asher Palmer and his baby son Yonatan.

There have been other incidents as well, he said. Recently several acquaintances of his from the Shomron (Samaria) expressed concern that recent events point to a conspiracy against them.

“I personally don’t think there’s any hand guiding these events, but things are hard… In our community [of Itamar] twenty people have been murdered,” he said.

The government should respect Judea and Samaria Jews instead of turning them into opponents, he added. “This is a community that has stood strong in the face of conflict. It should be strengthened, not stepped on.”

Construction ‘Proof that We are Winning’
Rabbi Ronsky also spoke of the construction of the Torah study hall Mishkan Ehud, which is being built in Itamar in memory of Rabbi Ehud (Udi) Fogel, who was murdered along with his wife and three of his children by Palestinian Authority terrorists.

The floor of the study hall was recently built, said Rabbi Ronsky, who related that the event moved some to tears. Thirty trucks bore supplies up the hill on the same day that Rabbi Hanan Porat, who supported Itamar and its yeshiva, was buried.

The construction of the new study hall feels like a victory over those who murdered the Fogels and the notoriously anti-Semitic village of Awarta as a whole, he said, especially due to the cooperation from various government and military bodies. The unity surrounding the decision to build emphasizes the fact that “they are sinking while we build,” he said.

The construction “is not revenge, rather, it is proof that we are winning,” he added.