Israeli media lynched residents of the Maoz Esther outpost on Monday, claiming they “cursed and attacked” a civil administration worker. Those who were there say the story is “a bunch of lies.”
A civil administration worker arrived at the Maoz Esther outpost, located near Kochav HaShachar in Samaria, to measure the houses at the site. He told his superiors afterwards that he could not carry out the task, claiming that six youths “cursed, threatened, and attacked him” as well as “damaged his car and stole official papers.”
Israeli media reported the worker’s claim without checking with the eyewitnesses on the scene, and Judea and Samaria commander Brigadier General Noam Tivon and Civil Administration commander Yoav Mordachai condemned the incident. They said that “justice must be done to those who break the law.” The worker claims he will file a complaint with the police.
“It’s all made up,” Elyashiv Aviyonah, who lives in Maoz Esther with his wife and one year old son, told Israel National News. “He came down to measure the houses so the civil administration can prepare to destroy them. Some of the youth at the outpost asked him what he was doing. They talked for a bit and asked him to leave, and he did. There were no curses, no violence, nothing.”
Nachman, one of the youth who was there, said the same. “It’s ridiculous. We asked him to leave. He realized he wouldn’t be able to work with us there. He left. The rest is made up.”
Emunah Aviyonah, Elyashiv’s wife, gave the same version of events. She worried though. “This is what hurts our image. We want to live peacefully here. The media need a good story, so they report these lies.”
Maoz Esther was founded one and a half years ago only a few hundred meters away from Kochav Hashachar on a barren hilltop. It has since been destroyed three times by the civil administration, the branch of the IDF that governs Judea and Samaria.
The outpost was named for Esther Galiah, Emunah Aviyonah’s mother, who was shot and killed by terrorists while driving home to Kochav Hashachar.
Eitan Ronen, who also lives in Maoz Esther, doesn’t understand why the civil administration is so bothered by a Jewish presence at the site. “On the next hill over, there are hundreds of Bedouin who live in tents. The civil administration doesn’t seem to mind them.”
He promised that Maoz Esther would be rebuilt, no matter what. “We’re here to stay. This is the land G-d gave us and we’ll settle this hilltop, and then the next one, and then the next.”