Evacuation of Amona, February 2017
Evacuation of Amona, February 2017Flash90

Chaim Falk, one of the leaders of the campaign to prevent the demolition of the town of Amona, sat down with Arutz Sheva to discuss the campaign shortly before the Supreme Court allowed the demolition of nine homes in the town of Ofra to be delayed by one month.

Falk said that the movement would hold a rally Sunday against what he termed the "ignorant" Supreme Court, which "treats us unfairly" an acted "unjustly" in ordering the eviction of the residents of Amona.

"We cry out with a cry of injustice...for the foolishness of the destruction of homes [in Amona] because of the whim of an organization funded by foreign countries, which only wants to destroy settlements, as stated by the mayor of the village of nearby Silwad, which petitioned against Amona and sent [its petition] to Europe. That is the secret of the 'cooperation' with the Supreme Court." he said.

When asked if the campaign was damaged by the images of violent resistance during the evacuation of the entire community of Amona last week, Falk said: "There is no doubt that these difficult images do not help the struggle."

However, he said that the instances of violence were limited and deliberately blown out of proportion by the media. "The focus on the Synagogue in Amona shows the iniquity of the media. The media saw each and every evacuation from the homes in Amona, scenes which were sad, but not violent. But [the media] chose to focus on a group of youngsters who are pained [by the evictions and the destruction] and perhaps suffer from a lack of education, and who acted in a way which we do not condone."

He praised the conduct of the policemen who carried out the evictions as professional and courteous towards the residents who were losing their homes. "Their behavior was as different as east is from west if one compares it to how they acted 11 years ago [when Amona was evacuated]. You cannot take that away from them."