Ateret Cohanim dinner
Ateret Cohanim dinnerAteret Cohanim

Ateret Cohanim, the organization that seeks to buy property in all parts of the Old City and populate it with Jewish families, is not the “colonialist” organization the left and Arabs portray it as. Instead, said Dr. Paul Brody, a member of the Executive Council of Ateret Cohanim, the group is simply seeking to right historical wrongs.

“What they call the Muslim quarter now was called the Kotel Quarter in the old days, so we're not really putting Jews in a place that belonged to Muslims,” said Brody at Wednesday night's annual dinneRr for Ateret Cohanim in New York. “It really always belonged to us, and we are just rejuvenating – I spell it 're-jew-venating' - the Kotel quarter. I want everyone to be aware of that, and I think Ateret Cohanim is doing a heroic job, and everyone is invited to join us,” said Brody, one of the dinner's chairpersons.

Bracha Stein, an avid supporter of the organization and an attendee at the dinner, said that Ateret Cohanim's work was extremely important. “If we believe in our country we have to do our best to keep it,” and the work that Ateret Cohanim does towards reclaiming Jewish homes in the Old City does just that.

She said that the Arabs used to realize that the land of Israel does indeed belong to the Jewish people, but Israeli policy, which kowtows to the radical anti-peace forces in the Arab world, has caused them to forget this. With the work of Ateret Cohanim, she said, “hopefully they are going to realize that this country is ours and nobody is going to take it away from us.”

Ateret Cohanim awarded the Oheiv Yisrael (“Lover of Israel”) Award to Mark Langfan, A7's frequent security writer, along with his father, William K. Langfan, who is an expert on the PLO Charter.

"I am here today in support of Ateret Cohanim because they are at the heart of the battle for Israel and the Jewish people," he added. "If there's one message I have, it's that Am Israel Chai, we are all one. In Israel and the United States, we are one. In Israel, whether you are in Judea and Samaria or 'Israel proper,' we are one. We have to stop fighting with each other and protect each other, because we are all one. And if we allow one part to be destroyed we will all be destroyed.

“All you need to understand is that for the people in Tel Aviv to say there is a green line between Israel and the West Bank is no different than saying that there is a green line between East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem,” he added. “And if we lose East Jerusalem then the entire heart of Israel and the Jewish people will be destroyed. And we will not survive, neither the Israeli Jews nor the American Jews. So we all have to understand we are in this together. There is no escaping it. And we have to stop fighting among ourselves and start fighting against the people who are trying to kill us.”

Dr. Paul Brody sings "Hatikvah"