Dr. Joseph Frager spoke at the Israel Heritage Foundation & Arutz Sheva Summit held this week in New York.
Frager praised Minister of Culture and Sport Miki Zohar as "one of the staunchest supporters of Judea and Samaria there is in the Knesset," crediting him for years of dedication and close alignment with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He recalled a major rally he organized in 2003 in New York's Central Park as a protest against the Oslo Accords. "The last time I actually had the Prime Minister at an event like this was in 2003, at the concert I did in Central Park for 26 years after the Oslo Agreements of September 13, 1993."
Frager noted that “Pete Hegseth, now the Secretary of Defense, was at a lot of those events in Central Park. So we got a real friend, and not only in the White House, but we have a real friend in the Pentagon.”
Turning to domestic realities in Israel, Frager cited Yisrael Ganz, Governor of the Binyamin Regional Council as a symbol of the growing importance of the region. "I keep telling people in the United States, you know, Israel's getting bigger and bigger, thank God, every day. And it's harder and harder to find property, and for a reasonable price. It's almost impossible now for less than a million dollars."
"If we don't have Judea and Samaria, I don't know where I'm going to live when I end up in Israel," he said. "So it's very important that we develop Judea and Samaria, because the diaspora will eventually come to Eretz Yisrael. And that's what we ultimately believe in."
Frager continued, "We have to keep Judea and Samaria, because that's where the land is, and that's where our heartland is... Right now we're dealing with a blip in history, namely Hamas. They will be, of course, in the trash bin of history soon."
He expressed confidence that “President Trump has already made it clear that he will take care of Hamas” and praised the efforts of numerous American Jews who supported Trump’s election, stating, “We got President Trump elected.”
"Don't forget how important America is to Israel. A lot of us stayed here in order to help you over there... Without America right now, Israel would have a very difficult time. And we don't want Israel to ever have a difficult time," Frager stated.
He concluded his remarks with a unifying call: “One mishpacha, one united nation, under God, one Torah, and one Israel.”