Tzvi Succot is a resident of Yitzhar and studies in the town's Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva. He is bewildered as to why the Defense Ministry plans on taking over the Yeshiva in response to alleged recent violence, when no such violence has occurred.
"There haven't been any serious incidents of violence recently" Succot told Arutz Sheva. "I'm in shock. I have lived here for many years, and this is the first time where I truly do not understand why they are doing this."
The Defense Ministry has been reportedly making plans to seize the 'Od Yosef Chai' Yeshiva in Yitzhar and turn it into a base for a company of Border Police. This would not be the first time this has happened; the Yeshiva was previously seized from May 2014 until July 2015. The Defense Ministry claims that such measures are required due to a recent wave of anti-Arab violence emanating from the Yeshiva.
Succot dismisses those claims out of hand. "There have not been any incidents" he said. There was stone throwing on an ambulance two months ago, but the person who did that wasn't from Yitzhar. The proof is that only one of 30 people recently given retraining orders by the Shin Bet was a Yitzhar resident.
Succot wonders why Od Yosef Chai has been singled out for special treatment. "It would be interesting to see how many mosques and Arab schools that incite have been seized. The mosque in Umm al-Fahm, where the Temple Mount murderers came from, praises terrorists, yet nothing happens to them," he mused.
MK Betzalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) agreed. In a letter he fired off Wednesday to Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu),he protested the collective punishment against the Yitzhar Yeshiva, asking if "perhaps the closure of religious institutions for acts or statements is reserved for Jews only?"