Saturday night, the funeral of Rav Yaakov Litman and his son Netanel, hy"d. One after another, people speak to the thousands who came to pay their final respects to those who were murdered in the terror attack that took place immediately before the Shabbat that just ended, but one speech was missing, one speech that was most essential: a speech by the prime minister.
This is what it should have said:
My brothers and friends, on Friday the despicable murder of a father and his son was committed in the presence of their family, which was on its way to a “Shabbat Chatan” to celebrate the upcoming wedding of their daughter. This murder is not a private matter. Yaakov and Netanel were murdered only because they are Jews living in the Land of Israel. They are our symbol of martyrdom. The despicable murderer is not a lone wolf, as some on the Left want to define him.
Let us not confuse the facts – the murderer was indeed the only one who pulled the trigger, but he carried out his act due to the atmosphere created by the society in which he grew up and developed, a society that sanctifies death and turns murder into a tool to be used by its members, a society whose goal is to expel us from here, from the only country that we have on the face of the Earth, from our historic Land, for which we have yearned, generation after generation.
Our armed forces will catch the murderers. There is no doubt of this, but this is not enough. And neither is the severe punishment imposed on the murderer. The score must also be settled with the population that provides such villains with backup as well as practical and moral support, a society that celebrates the murder of Jews with sweets and promises the murderers that emerge from it eternal life in Paradise.
They celebrate with candies and pastries and we will celebrate when we complete another two new communities in the names of the holy martyrs. With the establishment of these new communities we will tell them, both the murderers and those who send them – while you wanted to expel us, the result that you achieve will be the opposite. We now plant a stake even stronger and more deeply into our land. We will expand and “burst forth, to the Sea, to the east, to the north, to the Negev/" (Genesis 28,13-14).
Building in our Land is an obligation and a privilege for us regardless of our neighbors’ cruel, barbaric murderous deeds. Until now, we have not done this because of international pressure from the world, which had not yet internalized the dangers of radical Islam. These days the entire world is paying the price for its blindness and its illusions. We clearly state that from now on, building, new communities and applying Israeli sovereignty are the most effective answer to terror, along with continuing to clearly declare our intentions to hold on to our Land.
The new community, “Yade Ya’akov”, will arise on the piece of land next to Adorayim, in the South Hevron Hills close to where father and son were murdered, and the new community “Hai Netanel” will arise on another piece of land in the South Hevron Hills. Likewise, 1000 residential units will be built in Kiryat Arba- Hevron in their blessed memory.
The government of Israel would approve the gradual application of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria by a large majority. And the first phase would be in South Hevron Hills. This is how we will act from this point on. The enemy will watch and understand that the government of Israel has chosen life. We have chosen to turn our backs on the disastrous Oslo Accords, for which we have paid a steep price in the blood of more than one thousand and five hundred fatalities from among our people.
From now on, the government of Israel is changing from an attitude of despair and absorbing blows to taking initiative and leadership.
From the military standpoint as well, we will change our approach. The IDF has already received instructions to enter areas A and B. Our forces have already begun aggressive and forceful action, whose purpose is a thorough search and collection of weapons that Arabs have accumulated, some of which, catastrophically, we supplied with our own hands.
From now on the diplomatic line that we will pursue vis a vis our colleagues is an Israeli readiness for peace, but only in exchange for peace. The peace that we will offer is immeasurably more valuable in the long run than whatever they could promise us.
From here, we march onward – it is not the UN that will decide our future, but our own deeds. The blood-soaked clods of earth will bloom, and the Land will flourish wondrously. And upon it, a people, a nation and a state will thrive, living according to Divine, eternal ethics and turning away from distorted moral values.
May we be consoled in building the Land!