"We are looking for people willing to stand up for Israel, as well as those willing to sit down - in the street," Sackett told Israel National Radio's Eli Stutz and Yishai Fleisher during the Manhigut Mondays segment of their Monday broadcast.
Click to hear the Israel National Radio interview with Shmuel Sackett
In 1995, Sackett co-founded the Zo Artzeinu [This is Our Land] movement with Moshe Feiglin to protest Israel's territorial concessions to Yasser Arafat and galvanize the masses to exercise civil disobedience. Now, 10 years later, Sackett is engaged in similar activity. He is touring the US, explaining the need for a new movement to protest Sharon's disengagement plan and to assist those in Israel who are arrested in the course of the struggle.
The veteran activist admits that civil disobedience may not be for everybody, but insists that people must wake up and know that "right now" is the time to do something, whatever it may be. "Too many Jews are doing nothing," he said. "Whether your thing is civil disobedience, or saying Psalms, sending letters to the editor, calling talk radio shows or learning mishnayot (oral law passages) for the holy Jews of Gush Katif and northern Shomron - the main thing is that you cannot sit home and do nothing. Those days are over - long over."
Manhigut Yehudit Founder Moshe Feiglin, who is interviewed weekly on the Stutz & Fleisher radio program , had one message for listeners this week: "It [civil disobedience] is working."
Feiglin called upon Jews to take part in non-violent disruptions on the local level, saying that this, together with massive refusal to carry out these military orders, is necessary to prevent the expulsion of Israelis from Jewish Gaza and the Northern Shomron.
Sackett agrees, dismissing criticism within the right-wing camp that disruptions such as road-blockings turn the public against the cause.
"I can only tell you that in 1995, when Moshe and I led massive roadblocks under the Zo Artzeinu flag across the country, we turned people on to the cause," Sackett recalled. "I am sure there were people who were upset, but the overwhelming majority of people identified with what we did and realized the importance of it... Most Jews in Netanya and Bat Yam are in their own world - they don't necessarily realize that this plan touches them and will affect them. All of a sudden when their roads are blocked, they realize that it is a local issue for them as well."
"The one thing we have to show the government is that just like it is going to be complicated for us, it is going to be complicated for them," Sackett said. "I therefore advocate civil disobedience and blocking roads, for example, in one's local area. People can't realistically take off from work for three months to move to Gush Katif. If you block the Ayalon expressway, you are held for about 24 hours, and then called back 60 days later for a hearing."
As he watches acts of civil disobedience such as road-blocking and school-lockings sweep through Israel, Sackett says he is worried about what American Jewry is doing. He wants to channel the will of much of the Jews there to help in a constructive manner. "There is mass confusion in America because there is no leadership or direction," Sackett said. "Last week there was a meeting of all of the leaders of the right-wing groups in America. The Hevron Fund, One Israel Fund, Jerusalem Reclamation Project, National Council of Young Israel, Rabbinic Alliance of America, ZOA, Americans For a Safe Israel, Pro-Israel, Manhigut Yehudit - all the groups in one room together, trying to put our heads together as to what we should do to help the Jews of Gush Katif. It was great to see all these Jews, who represent all different people, religious and secular, get together."
At the meeting, Sackett pitched his plan to rally American Jews to support those getting arrested in Israel for their civil disobedience, calling for the creation of a defense fund and full page ads to be taken out in Israeli newspapers supporting refusal of expulsion orders. "It is all fine to call for getting arrested, but once someone gets arrested, there are major financial burdens on that person," Sacket said. "People have to know that they will be covered, that there are people who will cover their financial needs. Joe Israeli in Hadera needs to know that Joe Cohen in Brooklyn will post the 10,000-shekel bail for him after he blocks the Ayalon expressway."
Sackett said the idea was popular with many of those present, but that a sense of confusion was introduced into the meeting by none other than MK Effie Eitam, who happened to be in town as well. "He told people about Gush Katif and how he moved down there," Sackett said. "But he succeeded, I'm sorry to say, in confusing people. He said he is totally against civil disobedience, because Israeli democracy is not strong enough to deal with it. He also said he is against refusing orders, and that what we have to do is bring 500,000 Jews down to Gush Katif."
"So I asked him," Sackett said, "if he is against civil disobedience, what happens when half a million people come down to Gush Katif and the police and soldiers line up and won't let them through - what are you going to do, sing to the soldiers? Throw flowers at them?"
Sackett also cited the writings and actions of Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the thousands of Americans arrested for civil disobedience this past summer in New York City during the Republican national convention, as proof that civil disobedience is the essence of a citizen's right of expression in a democracy.
What was even more alarming, according to Sackett, was that Eitam said he was already negotiating the "terms of surrender" with the government. "People are looking for leadership, so offer an alternative plan," Sackett said. "You don't have to be in favor of civil disobedience - we think it works and has been proven, but tell us what you are in favor of..."
"This is what is confusing people. On the one hand we are fighting for Gush Katif, and on the other hand someone like Effie Eitam, who is a leader of the right-wing, is coming up and both negotiating terms of surrender and is against everything that is working."
"I told Eitam, 'If I look at my watch I could swear it was 1979 and we are looking at the withdrawal from Yamit.' That is what we did in Yamit - we tried to bring down thousands of people, and it simply did not work. This is far more serious, so we have to be far more serious."
Eitam, speaking with Arutz-7 from New York, said that the topic of discussion at the meeting was whether American Jews should support soldiers’ refusal of orders. “I said they shouldn’t be involved in supporting refusal," Eitam said, "because they don’t serve in the army and it would put them in a negative light.” Eitam served for many years in the IDF, reaching the rank of Brig.-Gen and Galilee Formation Commander.
Regarding what Sackett referred to as negotiating the "terms of surrender," Eitam said that his intensive discussions with the army and police were intended to draw red lines and boundaries. “Discussing with them how to handle the Torah scrolls and things like that does not mean we will allow them to do such things, but it is important that they realize the sensitivity of the issues in order to prevent further tragedy.”
Eitam said there is in fact a united front as to how to oppose the expulsion. “There are some people who want to be a little bit out of the consensus - extremists,” Eitam said. “They don’t need my permission to do what they want. But it is not my intention to endorse actions I don’t support.”
What was ultimately decided at the meeting was that this year's annual concert in the park, which follows the annual Israel Day Parade in New York City, would be a rally for the Jews of Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. Sackett said, "This is fine and good - but far from enough. We are talking about June 6th, and the expulsion is [less than] two months later. I think more drastic measures are needed now."
Click to hear the Israel National Radio interview with Shmuel Sackett
In 1995, Sackett co-founded the Zo Artzeinu [This is Our Land] movement with Moshe Feiglin to protest Israel's territorial concessions to Yasser Arafat and galvanize the masses to exercise civil disobedience. Now, 10 years later, Sackett is engaged in similar activity. He is touring the US, explaining the need for a new movement to protest Sharon's disengagement plan and to assist those in Israel who are arrested in the course of the struggle.
The veteran activist admits that civil disobedience may not be for everybody, but insists that people must wake up and know that "right now" is the time to do something, whatever it may be. "Too many Jews are doing nothing," he said. "Whether your thing is civil disobedience, or saying Psalms, sending letters to the editor, calling talk radio shows or learning mishnayot (oral law passages) for the holy Jews of Gush Katif and northern Shomron - the main thing is that you cannot sit home and do nothing. Those days are over - long over."
Manhigut Yehudit Founder Moshe Feiglin, who is interviewed weekly on the Stutz & Fleisher radio program , had one message for listeners this week: "It [civil disobedience] is working."
Feiglin called upon Jews to take part in non-violent disruptions on the local level, saying that this, together with massive refusal to carry out these military orders, is necessary to prevent the expulsion of Israelis from Jewish Gaza and the Northern Shomron.
Sackett agrees, dismissing criticism within the right-wing camp that disruptions such as road-blockings turn the public against the cause.
"I can only tell you that in 1995, when Moshe and I led massive roadblocks under the Zo Artzeinu flag across the country, we turned people on to the cause," Sackett recalled. "I am sure there were people who were upset, but the overwhelming majority of people identified with what we did and realized the importance of it... Most Jews in Netanya and Bat Yam are in their own world - they don't necessarily realize that this plan touches them and will affect them. All of a sudden when their roads are blocked, they realize that it is a local issue for them as well."
"The one thing we have to show the government is that just like it is going to be complicated for us, it is going to be complicated for them," Sackett said. "I therefore advocate civil disobedience and blocking roads, for example, in one's local area. People can't realistically take off from work for three months to move to Gush Katif. If you block the Ayalon expressway, you are held for about 24 hours, and then called back 60 days later for a hearing."
As he watches acts of civil disobedience such as road-blocking and school-lockings sweep through Israel, Sackett says he is worried about what American Jewry is doing. He wants to channel the will of much of the Jews there to help in a constructive manner. "There is mass confusion in America because there is no leadership or direction," Sackett said. "Last week there was a meeting of all of the leaders of the right-wing groups in America. The Hevron Fund, One Israel Fund, Jerusalem Reclamation Project, National Council of Young Israel, Rabbinic Alliance of America, ZOA, Americans For a Safe Israel, Pro-Israel, Manhigut Yehudit - all the groups in one room together, trying to put our heads together as to what we should do to help the Jews of Gush Katif. It was great to see all these Jews, who represent all different people, religious and secular, get together."
At the meeting, Sackett pitched his plan to rally American Jews to support those getting arrested in Israel for their civil disobedience, calling for the creation of a defense fund and full page ads to be taken out in Israeli newspapers supporting refusal of expulsion orders. "It is all fine to call for getting arrested, but once someone gets arrested, there are major financial burdens on that person," Sacket said. "People have to know that they will be covered, that there are people who will cover their financial needs. Joe Israeli in Hadera needs to know that Joe Cohen in Brooklyn will post the 10,000-shekel bail for him after he blocks the Ayalon expressway."
Sackett said the idea was popular with many of those present, but that a sense of confusion was introduced into the meeting by none other than MK Effie Eitam, who happened to be in town as well. "He told people about Gush Katif and how he moved down there," Sackett said. "But he succeeded, I'm sorry to say, in confusing people. He said he is totally against civil disobedience, because Israeli democracy is not strong enough to deal with it. He also said he is against refusing orders, and that what we have to do is bring 500,000 Jews down to Gush Katif."
"So I asked him," Sackett said, "if he is against civil disobedience, what happens when half a million people come down to Gush Katif and the police and soldiers line up and won't let them through - what are you going to do, sing to the soldiers? Throw flowers at them?"
Sackett also cited the writings and actions of Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the thousands of Americans arrested for civil disobedience this past summer in New York City during the Republican national convention, as proof that civil disobedience is the essence of a citizen's right of expression in a democracy.
What was even more alarming, according to Sackett, was that Eitam said he was already negotiating the "terms of surrender" with the government. "People are looking for leadership, so offer an alternative plan," Sackett said. "You don't have to be in favor of civil disobedience - we think it works and has been proven, but tell us what you are in favor of..."
"This is what is confusing people. On the one hand we are fighting for Gush Katif, and on the other hand someone like Effie Eitam, who is a leader of the right-wing, is coming up and both negotiating terms of surrender and is against everything that is working."
"I told Eitam, 'If I look at my watch I could swear it was 1979 and we are looking at the withdrawal from Yamit.' That is what we did in Yamit - we tried to bring down thousands of people, and it simply did not work. This is far more serious, so we have to be far more serious."
Eitam, speaking with Arutz-7 from New York, said that the topic of discussion at the meeting was whether American Jews should support soldiers’ refusal of orders. “I said they shouldn’t be involved in supporting refusal," Eitam said, "because they don’t serve in the army and it would put them in a negative light.” Eitam served for many years in the IDF, reaching the rank of Brig.-Gen and Galilee Formation Commander.
Regarding what Sackett referred to as negotiating the "terms of surrender," Eitam said that his intensive discussions with the army and police were intended to draw red lines and boundaries. “Discussing with them how to handle the Torah scrolls and things like that does not mean we will allow them to do such things, but it is important that they realize the sensitivity of the issues in order to prevent further tragedy.”
Eitam said there is in fact a united front as to how to oppose the expulsion. “There are some people who want to be a little bit out of the consensus - extremists,” Eitam said. “They don’t need my permission to do what they want. But it is not my intention to endorse actions I don’t support.”
What was ultimately decided at the meeting was that this year's annual concert in the park, which follows the annual Israel Day Parade in New York City, would be a rally for the Jews of Gush Katif and the northern Shomron. Sackett said, "This is fine and good - but far from enough. We are talking about June 6th, and the expulsion is [less than] two months later. I think more drastic measures are needed now."