The immensely popular singer of Mizrahi music, Kobi Peretz, showed his support Wednesday evening for Jews living in Judea and Samaria. Peretz stopped by the Yesha (Judea and Samaria) Council protest tent in Jerusalem and told demonstrators that they are “true heroes.”
“You are the salt of the earth, you are the real heroes,” he said. “The people of Israel love you, without you there would be no state of Israel.”
“We need to settle in the entire land of Israel,” he added.
Peretz's visit took place shortly after dozens of actors and other artists announced that they would boycott Jews in Judea and Samaria by refusing to perform at the soon-to-be-completed Ariel cultural center. The boycott will have little negative impact on the cultural center, as the plays scheduled to take place there did not include the boycotting actors in the first place, but it did provide it with a lot of free publicity.
The Yesha Council is in Jerusalem opposite the home of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in order to counter American and Palestinian Authority pressure on the prime minister to continue freezing construction in Judea and Samaria despite earlier promises not to do so. “Do not give in, build,” read signs at the rally.
Netanyahu met Wednesday with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The two then met with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who has threatened to end negotiations if Israelis resume building in Judea and Samaria.