Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu visits Kida ruin
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu visits Kida ruinShomron Residents' Council

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat, joined the visitors comforting Sagi Kaisler, Director of the Shomron (Samaria) Residents' Committee, his wife Morag and their children. The family's home in the Samaria community of Kida was destroyed by the Civil Administration last Wednesday, despite having a permit.

Kaisler noted Sunday that last weekend Rabbi Eliyahu "and his wife came to strengthen my wife and children." He added that the rabbi's wife told him they would come for the hanukat bayit (housewarming party) of their new home.

"These visits warm the heart," acknowledged Kaisler, who has been visited by MK Orit Struk (Jewish Home), MK Yariv Levin (Likud Beytenu), and many other public figures.

"We went through a crisis that wasn't easy. It's hard for us to explain to the kids why they destroyed our home," reports Kaisler. The Shomron Residents' Committee is planning to have more politicians and rabbis visit the ruins of Kaisler's home to raise awareness of the tragedy, which left the young family with losses of over 1 million shekels (over $283,567).

The Committee noted that "out of tens of houses in the community, the administration chose specifically to demolish Sagi's house. There is no explanation for this other than to say that this was an act of revenge against Sagi, who has worked for years on behalf of the communities of Judea and Samaria."

The accusations of revenge follows on the fact that several weeks ago Kaisler was among a number of activists distributing leaflets near the home of the Chief Inspector of the Civil Administration, in Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi.

The activists were arrested by police, but released the same day by the court, which criticized the police "for not knowing the difference between illegal and legitimate activities like the one they were arrested for."