Yaakov Katz
Yaakov Katzצילום: מתוך האלבום

The writer, former National Union Party Chairman and Member of Knesset Yaakov Katz, known to all as "Ketsele," is a wounded hero of the Yom Kippur war and a key figure in the development of Judea and Samaria, including the founding of the Beit El Yeshiva and Arutz Sheva.

Raviv Drucker is an investigative reporter, journalist and Channel 10 broadcaster whose enmity towards Binyamin Netanyahu, as well as his leftist opinions, are well known. He uncovered several high profile scandals such as Omri Sharon's and Ehud Olmert's misdeeds, but was also implicated in an attempt to falsely accuse religious Zionist Gen.Ofer Winter of killing a Palestinian boy, an incident that never occurred, allegedly to prevent his advancement in the IDF.

Raviv, my dear friend, good morning,

Pursuant to our conversation last night, I think it's important for me to relate to one sentence of yours, one you articulated with particular vehemence and burning faith.

"Ketsale, in all my media investigations," you said, "I have never protected or covered up for anyone, everyone is equal in my eyes." And I want to tell you, Raviv, that in my humble opinion, there is one person whom you protect and cover up for on an ongoing basis and he is none other than Raviv Drucker himself.

I will use the language of our Talmudic Sages to explain myself: 'Mima Nafshach' - In any case - if we are dealing with Arabs who live here, it is of no account to them whether it is Ketsale occupying Beit El or it is the founders of the Bilu establishing settlements in 1882, the Second Aliya pioneers led by Ben Gurion and Ben Tzvi in 1903, and most certainly not Ussishkin and Henkin, who redeemed and purchased land, nor those who drained the swamps of the Jezreel Valley and those, like Dizengoff, who built Tel Aviv.

Even if a minority among them is willing to agree that for practicality's sake they agree to the term "two states for two peoples," - in their hearts, they do not believe the words to which they are giving lip service. For them, you in the Coastal Plain and Ketsale in Samaria are occupiers and conquerors to the same degree. That is what they teach their children, that is what their poets and authors write, all express a longing for and belief in a greater Palestinian State.

And if we are talking about your worries for your Jewish brethren, be advised that most do not see themselves as conquerors or occupiers in the Land of Israel, on either side of the Green Line, but might agree to a practical solution of two states for two people – only from a practical point of view.

Two historical comments.

First of all, to tell the truth, our holy Torah does not mention the Land of Israel. It talks of the Land of Canaan or the Land of the Seven Nations and the words of our greatest Torah commentator, Rashi, are in response to that and explain the first verse of Genesis in this way:

"Rabbi Yitzchak said, etc. ..G-d created the entire world, and by His Will granted lands to peoples and by His Will, took them away and granted them to us."

The Sages had no problems with the word "conquest" - they didn't use the word "occupation" for land that was conquered by G-d's command - and therefore when Joshua entered the Land of Israel at the head of the tribes and his army, the years after that are termed "14 years of conquest and dividing up [of the land].

The Balfour Declaration at the end of WWI reiterated G-d's promise to the Jewish People, without boundary lines and separation fences all across the land of Israel. But you are not the first to call the Jews returning to their homeland by the appellation "conquerors" or "occupiers."

The members of the Gush Shalom Movement in the 1920s and 1930s, treated the pioneers and early Zionists as conquerors and occupiers in the very place you reside in today and consider the legacy of your forebears.

So Raviv, my dear friend, if you are a man of truth, you have two possible paths open before you: One, joining up with the "Neturei Karta sackcloth wearers," the continuation of last century's anti-Zionists, or two, joining BDS, who are at least somewhat more consistent in their opinions, fighting the "occupation" where I live as well as that personified by occupier Drucker living in the lands conquered from the Arabs in Sheikh Munis (now Tel Aviv's Ramat Aviv neighborhood, ed.) and in similar areas.