Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) spent the Sabbath at Hevron and Kiryat Arba, to show his solidarity with the residents, who have found themselves in the eye of the storm of the ongoing Arab terror wave.
Before the Sabbath began, Edelstein toured "Touching Eternity," the visitors' center at the Jewish Community Museum in Hevron's Beit Hadassah. The exhibition brings Jewish history to life, from the times of the Forefathers to this day, through the eyes of an Israeli family that emerges from a crisis by connecting to its historical roots.
The leaders of the Jewish community told Edelstein that the community is experiencing hard times in recent weeks. The Hevron Agreement – signed by Netanyahu in 1997 – which handed over the city to the PLO, created a new reality, in which a generation of Arabs grew up under nonstop incitement, they explained. This generation is now carrying out terror attacks on a daily basis, in Hevron and elsewhere.
"The continuous terror attacks are intimidating visitors and tourists, who usually fill the tourist sites in the city and the area during Hanukkah," the Hevronites added.
Edelstein offered words of encouragement. "The Nation of Israel has been dealing with great challenges in the recent generations," he said. "The Warriors of Zion in the Soviet Union and in Israel stood with courage against a terrible enemy and defeated it. The story of the settlement of Hevron is one of courage and faith, and it should be an example for every free person in the world. I call upon every Israeli to come to this place, to receive inspiration and a feeling of security."
The visit was accompanied by the Director of the Jewish Community in Hevron, Uri Karzan, and the community spokesman Noam Arnon. Edelstein also visited the home of ex-MK Orit Struk, whose son Yitzhak Was injured this week when he saved an IDF soldier's life from a terrorist stabber. "You are the emissaries of the entire Nation of Israel, in all its generations," Edelstein said, "and you are the ones securing the roots of the national existence for the next generations."