Reading a recent Haaretz article headlined: “The Settler Behind Shadowy Purchases of Palestinian Land in the West Bank” was stupefying.
One might think that Ha’aretz had discovered a mass scandal worthy of this “shadowy” headline. In reality, the sad truth the newspaper “exposed” was the idealistic Jews who work to purchase homes for Jews to live in – because Arabs won’t, or fear to, sell to Jews.
Sad that Ha’aretz, proudly "exposing" Jewish patriots who buy land, is a headline in the Jewish State – while anywhere else in the world not selling to someone because they are Jewish would be deemed racism.
Unfortunately, in the 21st Century Jews can’t use their real names to purchase homes in Judea and Samaria, because Arabs kill other Arabs if they dare sell to the Jewish infidel.
Reporting the story - Uri Blau (recently charged by Israel’s Attorney General with unauthorized possession of stolen classified documents from the Israel Defense Forces) "proudly" ran the first photo of a Jewish patriot who does the valiant work of ensuring Jews live in all areas of the holy State of Israel.
Blau only wants to harm Jewish residents of these areas by exposing this man, who works quietly without fanfare and thus saves Arab lives while allowing them the opportunity to sell their land if they wish to do so.
Exposing a man who works privately to defeat racism would win awards in many countries - in Ha’aretz, it’s deemed “shadowy” and “mysterious”. What’s glossed over is that every single activity they mention is one hundred per cent legal.
The great Jewish religious leader, Hillel, one of the most important figures in Jewish history said: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am ‘I’? And if not now, when?”
Reading this article, one can only say words of thanks to brave men like Benny Elon, Tzahi Mamo, Chaim Silberstein, Matti Dan, Shlomo Zwickler, and others who work to ensure that Israel remains the Jewish nation and on a daily basis fulfill the words of Hillel. These people act and work tirelessly for the people of Israel. And they do it with tremendous self-sacrifice, facing perpetual negative publicity and threats to their safety.
Surprisingly, assisting Ha’aretz and Blau, which is almost like aiding the enemy, is New Yorker Evelyn Hayes who is very passionate about the Land of Israel and donated a Torah to Rachel 's Tomb in Bethlehem–and a good part of the money to buy the building adjacent to the Tomb, which the Arab owner wished to sell as he could not use it due to security considerations.
From reading the article, one learns that Ms. Haies, who claimed that her donation gave her rights to the building whose extent was disputed by those to whom she donated the funds, refused the agreed-upon nationalist mediators and went to Blau and Haaretz – in an action which can only harm Jewish residents of these areas. Haies' action puts something of a pall on the memorial symposium she is organizing at the Tomb this week, and it is to be hoped that she and the Rachel Imeinu Foundation, who raised the money, will find a way to work together without her collaborating with those in the media fighting the presence of Jews in the area.
Why is it that the media has this sick obsession with Jewish “settlers” – or people who simply work in their people’s best interest? I am yet to read of features of this length exposing the Arab who killed his fellow Arab for being a collaborator – where is that article? Why doesn’t Haaretz publish the first photo of the proud Arab who made a better life for his family financially and sold a home to a Jew in the interest of mutual co-existence?
Indeed, only 70 years after the Holocaust what could be more natural than Jews working to help the Jewish state?
A Jew can buy a home in Kiev or Paris, Chicago or Tokyo – What’s the issue with Jews buying homes anywhere they choose in the Holy Land? Does not the whole world speak of human rights, equality among people and recognize the rights of Jews as equals? The great Zionist leaderZe'ev Jabotinsky declared that settlement of the "land" is the only "law". He declared: "There is no justice, no law, and no God in heaven, only a single law which decides and supercedes all---- [Jewish] settlement [of the land]."
Shame on all those who work against those putting facts on the ground for putting them and their efforts in danger. The next time you see more Jews living in all of Israel we have people like Elon, Mamo, Silberstein, Dan and Zwickler to thank – and worldwide, Jews should stand up and say: “Thank you to all the brave Jewish patriots working to support the land and people of Eretz Israel.”