MK Orit Strook
MK Orit StrookIsrael news photo: Flash 90

In her first speech as a Knesset member Tuesday, MK Orit Strook (Jewish Home) insisted that U.S. President Barack H. Obama be brought to Hevron when he visits Israel next month. Only then, Strook said, would Obama be able to appreciate what the Land of Israel means to the Jewish people.

“It would be a good idea to take President Obama not just to Mount Herzl and Yad Vashem, but also – actually, mainly – to the Machpelah Cave in Hevron,” Strook said. “We would explain to him that the Land of Israel is not just a refuge for Holocaust survivors, but it is the Promised Land for the Jewish people, the land of our forefathers, who are buried in the Cave.”

Strook also discussed the deteriorating security situation in Judea and Samaria. “I call upon you, my fellow Knesset members, to respect the basic rights of residents of Judea and Samaria, and to protect them. When they are hit attacked with stones as they drive home, or when Arab rioters invade their agricultural plots, each and every one of us must be concerned. And if they and security forces are prevented defending their lives and property in these attacks, all of us must be up in arms over this.”

Residents of Judea and Samaria are entitled to the same rights as all Israelis, she said. “The situation whereby Israelis have to give up a portion of their rights when they cross the 1948 armistice lines is unacceptable,” she said. “And the adoption of the Palestinian vocabulary by the Knesset, where a life-threatening rock attack is a 'demonstration' and 'non-violent resistance' must end,” she added.