On Sunday, Former Knesset Speaker and Health Minister MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) launched the “Homesh First” Knesset lobby and conducted a tour of the north Samarian community together with six opposition Knesset members as well as Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.
“In order to prevent the next expulsion and the loss of territory in Judea and Samaria and the Negev,” Edelstein said, “I have established this ‘Homesh First’ lobby whose aim is to renew Jewish settlement in northern Samaria and to repopulate the communities that were evacuated. This is the only way to stop the plans for further expulsions – plans that are already being formulated by the current government. I intend to mobilize all our forces to stop further irreversible damage from being done by this government. We must not allow a new disengagement to occur.”
MK Ophir Katz (Likud) added, “It is simply heartbreaking to be here, right after the murder of Yehuda Dimentman, knowing that the government is already awarding a prize to terrorism. After destroying the buildings, the government is planning to destroy the yeshiva that has been functioning here for 15 years. I came here today in order to convey a clear message: We will not back down; we will continue to fight for the settlement enterprise and to strengthen our hold on the land.”
Also speaking in Homesh was Yossi Dagan, who said, “I want to congratulate the over 40 Knesset members who have joined the Homesh First lobby – an expression of strength against this government. We are all horrified to see the destruction here – the destroyed homes, the children’s toys scattered on the ground.” Addressing the Prime Minister directly, Dagan said, “This is your responsibility. You are responsible for the fact that following a terrorist attack, instead of building here, instead of me receiving an email from the Prime Minister saying, ‘Start rebuilding this community,’ you are destroying homes here – this is something unprecedented, something that never happened before – and you, Prime Minister, and also the Defense Minister Benny Gantz – you did this act, one that is interpreted by the terrorists as encouragement.
“I want to tell this government that you should be ashamed of yourselves – ethically, morally, and also in terms of security – that this is your response to terrorism. You can still fix your errors. This yeshiva has been in existence for 15 years and now the time has come to annul the dreadful Expulsion Law, authorize the yeshiva, return the buildings to Homesh, to Sa-Nur, to Kadim and Ganim. The people will not allow the Israeli government to complete the expulsion.”
MK Yoav Kish (Likud), head of the Land of Israel lobby, added, “After the despicable murder of Yehuda Dimentman, we have a moral obligation to regularize the status of Homesh – and indeed, that is our obligation from a security and strategic standpoint as well. We must strengthen Jewish settlements in Samaria, especially now, at a time when the current government wants to evacuate the Homesh yeshiva.”
MK Moshe Abutbul (Shas) noted that, “Despite all our pain at seeing the destruction here, we were greatly encouraged to see the wonderful Torah learning going on at the yeshiva.”
At the end of the Knesset members’ tour of Homesh, MK Michal Waldiger (Religious Zionism) said, “It is so distressing to see such sights – Jewish homes evacuated and destroyed, by our very own government, and such a short while after the horrific murder of Yehuda Dimentman – who at his death commanded us to strengthen the settlements in Judea and Samaria and especially in Homesh. From a security standpoint, as well as strategically and morally, we must view it as a national obligation.”
Waldiger added that, “The genuine right-wing of Israel will not allow this government (which claimed to be ten degrees to the right of the previous one) to desecrate Yehuda’s last will and wishes. We will battle with all our strength against this government’s decrees – decrees to award a prize to terrorism, by uprooting Jewish communities and abandoning swathes of the Land of Israel. “