Arutz-7's Kobi Sela asked Kiryat Arba Mayor Katzover today about charges that Nati Ozeri and his family actually lived in an "illegal outpost" near the Givat Harsina neighborhood. Katzover explained that the area is under the legal jurisdiction of the Kiryat Arba municipality, "under an order signed in 1981 by none other than Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who was serving then as the IDF military governor of Judea and Samaria... We leased the area from the Civil Administration. There may be a question about some of the structures there, but it cannot be said that the hilltop was illegal. There is no justification, therefore, to call the outpost illegal."
Yesha Council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef said that the neighborhood was built on government land under the legal jurisdiction of Kiryat Arba. "The neighborhood does not appear on the list of outposts slated for evacuation by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak," he said, and concluded: "The State is obligated to defend its citizens in every location, with no connection to questions of legalities." Judea Commander Brig.-Gen. Amos Ben-Avraham concurred: "We see it as our duty to provide protection to every citizen."
Sela also asked Katzover how it happened that the municipality did not provide sufficient security for Hilltop 26. "First of all," Katzover responded with a sigh, "we did take measures. It must be kept in mind that this is a distant and isolated point. Nati was the type who didn't want to be fortified - he objected to bulletproof cars and houses - and to a certain extent, he paid for this with his life. He felt that the best fortification was to proudly demonstrate our presence and our security. At the same time, he was very alert and aware, as evidenced by the fact that he survived there for a number of years. In this case... the terrorists did not succeed in doing what they wanted. I told the widow afterwards that they could have shot through the window and killed everyone inside - but they didn't do this, because they wanted to show that they could come inside our houses and murder freely, so that we should think that we don't have security even inside our own houses. But this, Nati and his friends did not allow them to do. The terrorists' goal was to destroy the entire family, and in this they did not succeed."
"It must be made clear," Katzover continued forcefully. "All the fortifications in the world will do nothing, if there is no deterrence. Terrorism will reach everywhere if we do not stop it. We have long demanded that terrorist homes and orchards be destroyed and uprooted, but for some reason that no one can fathom, the Supreme Court does not allow the IDF to use its power of deterrence. Wherever these measures were instituted, the families of the terrorists themselves did not allow their sons to perpetrate terrorism, for fear that their homes would be destroyed. The IDF Intelligence Chief himself said this. If the army would be allowed more leeway in this area, I am sure that a large share of the attacks would be prevented... Warnings of an impending attack were received this past Friday night, but what more could we have done? We placed armed guards at the synagogues, we warned people… But we can't prevent every single scenario, and we can't keep on fortifying ourselves ad infinitum. Even the most protected bank in the world was broken into… The only thing that can save us is to change over from a defensive mode to an offensive mode, and transmit the message to the Arabs that the period of restraint is over. We must uproot, kill, and expel - it must be made clear to them that every family that has a son involved in terrorism will be immediately picked up and flown right out of here. Then you will see that within a very short time, this terrorism will cease."
Yesha Council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef said that the neighborhood was built on government land under the legal jurisdiction of Kiryat Arba. "The neighborhood does not appear on the list of outposts slated for evacuation by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak," he said, and concluded: "The State is obligated to defend its citizens in every location, with no connection to questions of legalities." Judea Commander Brig.-Gen. Amos Ben-Avraham concurred: "We see it as our duty to provide protection to every citizen."
Sela also asked Katzover how it happened that the municipality did not provide sufficient security for Hilltop 26. "First of all," Katzover responded with a sigh, "we did take measures. It must be kept in mind that this is a distant and isolated point. Nati was the type who didn't want to be fortified - he objected to bulletproof cars and houses - and to a certain extent, he paid for this with his life. He felt that the best fortification was to proudly demonstrate our presence and our security. At the same time, he was very alert and aware, as evidenced by the fact that he survived there for a number of years. In this case... the terrorists did not succeed in doing what they wanted. I told the widow afterwards that they could have shot through the window and killed everyone inside - but they didn't do this, because they wanted to show that they could come inside our houses and murder freely, so that we should think that we don't have security even inside our own houses. But this, Nati and his friends did not allow them to do. The terrorists' goal was to destroy the entire family, and in this they did not succeed."
"It must be made clear," Katzover continued forcefully. "All the fortifications in the world will do nothing, if there is no deterrence. Terrorism will reach everywhere if we do not stop it. We have long demanded that terrorist homes and orchards be destroyed and uprooted, but for some reason that no one can fathom, the Supreme Court does not allow the IDF to use its power of deterrence. Wherever these measures were instituted, the families of the terrorists themselves did not allow their sons to perpetrate terrorism, for fear that their homes would be destroyed. The IDF Intelligence Chief himself said this. If the army would be allowed more leeway in this area, I am sure that a large share of the attacks would be prevented... Warnings of an impending attack were received this past Friday night, but what more could we have done? We placed armed guards at the synagogues, we warned people… But we can't prevent every single scenario, and we can't keep on fortifying ourselves ad infinitum. Even the most protected bank in the world was broken into… The only thing that can save us is to change over from a defensive mode to an offensive mode, and transmit the message to the Arabs that the period of restraint is over. We must uproot, kill, and expel - it must be made clear to them that every family that has a son involved in terrorism will be immediately picked up and flown right out of here. Then you will see that within a very short time, this terrorism will cease."