Ketzaleh: Beleaguered Hilltop Pioneers Deserve Israel Prize

 by Hillel Fendel, editor, author and translator.

The contrast is acute: While the newest generation of hilltop "settlers" has gained a bad name because of media reports of alleged violence against Bedouin shepherds, they are in fact saving the Land of Israel for the State of Israel.

Not only do recent reports by left-leaning media outlets omit the Arab violence of which the young Jewish pioneers have been the victims, but they do not showcase the tremendous contribution they are making on behalf of the Jewish People's hold on vast areas of our Biblical homeland and strategic security expanses of Judea and Samaria.

A long article in Haaretz last week, for instance, makes essentially one point: Extremist Jewish settlers are harassing Bedouin farmers, sometimes violently, and the latter are either forced to leave their homes, or have no place to leave to. In fact, however, these tear-jerking stories are the tiny exception to the rule – which is that Jewish pioneers are frequently violently attacked, and then are often arrested to boot.

A year ago, 14-year-old Binyamin Achimeir was found murdered after taking a flock of sheep out to graze from Malachei HaShalom, an outpost in the Binyamin region. PM Netanyahu called Achimeir's death a "heinous murder."

But let us focus on the positive. Elisha Yered, 25, formerly of Disengagement-destroyed Sa-Nur and now of Ramat Migron between Beit El and Psagot, explained the concept of the new farms and hilltops:

"Simply speaking, we're saving the Land of Israel for the Jewish People. Even those who don't buy into the Divine promise of the Land and the like, certainly comprehend that, security-wise and politically speaking, we have a very simple axiom: It's either them – the Arabs – or us."

"If we allow them to build here and spread out over the plains and mountains, a Palestinian state can actually be established here – and then the cities and towns in next-door Israel will be directly endangered, just as we saw in Gaza a year and a half ago."

Yered notes with enthusiasm that "there are many large areas throughout Samaria, and elsewhere, that have been illegally commandeered by Arabs, or are in danger of being so taken over. What we do is locate a hilltop, send a family or some youths, or both, to live there, with a flock of sheep or the like – and thus we can control thousands of dunams [quarter-acres] at a time. This prevents Bedouins and other Arabs from taking over this land. Little by little, the outpost becomes a 'young neighborhood,'" and can be on its way, even if it takes years, to becoming a full-fledged community."

There has been great success over the past two years. Traveling along the north-south Alon Highway, east of the Judean/Shomron Mountains, one can see, with sharp eyes, the major change that has come over the area. No fewer than 30 new young farms and hilltops form Jewish territorial contiguity all the way from Shaar Binyamin (on the well-traveled Route 60 between Beit El and Jerusalem), to the northern Jordan Valley.

This has been the below-the-radar Jewish response to the PA's Fayad Plan to isolate Jewish communities in Yesha by surrounding them with Arab farms and structures. In total, some 290,000 new dunams are in Jewish hands.

I mention to Yered that there is a truly huge area outside the new Jewish hilltop named A'ira Shachar [I Will Awaken the Dawn] that appears to be empty of Bedouin. Yered laughs: "Hah! Now there are over 20 families in A'ira Shachar, but when I got there about eight years ago, we went through tough times with the Bedouin there. They used to come up and attack us, while we grazed our sheep in the expanse and caused them, little by little, to leave. That's why it looks like the whole area is empty!"

Another of the new outposts is Sdei Yonatan, not far from Maaleh Michmash, overlooking and safeguarding the all-important intersection of Route 60 and the Alon Highway. It was started by Oz Yehuda Rom when he was single, and he now lives there with his new wife, Tamar. "When we first came," he told the Srugim website, "there were two Arab encampments [whose residents] used to cross Route 60 on a regular basis – and they even attacked a few Jewish youths. Ever since we’re here, they realize that something has changed."

But he emphasizes: "Even if the Arabs leave, we’re staying to settle the area. It's not just a question of security. We want this area to be farmed by Jews even 200 years from now."

Oz Yehuda said that the Israeli authorities were very rough on them, "destroying what we built here and taking our stuff" no fewer than 12 times in the course of 18 months. The situation has improved somewhat, and Arabs have largely stopped attacking them with gunfire and the like - but it's still not simple: "What motivates us is the desire to settle our Land; if we don't do it, no one else will. We're here for the same reason that motivated all the generations of Jewish settlers in the Land of Israel."

Articles like the above-mentioned Haaretz piece do not report, for instance, that late last month a Jewish shepherd was grazing his sheep in the Gush Etzion area when he was attacked by Arabs with clubs and was taken to the hospital. The attackers were six Arabs from the illegal encampment Um Shabin in eastern Gush Etzion. Many other similar attacks also go largely unreported.

The Israel Prize, No Less

Yaakov Ketzaleh Katz, Chairman of the Board of Bet El Institution, who himself has taken a foremost role in helping to found Beit El and building up Judea and Samaria, specifically when he served as Deputy to the Housing Minister in the early 90's, says simply: "I love the new hilltop settlers, they are our true heroes."

He said that there are no fewer than 82 new farms and hilltops in Judea and Samaria, "all because of their fearless dedication to live there with their families, and of course with their flocks of sheep. This grants our security forces control over huge expanses of land. Even the IDF now recognizes their importance."

Ketzaleh adds: "While the anti-Semites of the European Union invest billions to encourage the Arabs to build illegally in these areas, even in Areas B [under Israeli security control] and C [Israeli civilian control], often leading to additional centers of terrorist activity – our young men and women on the hilltops are making every effort to thwart them, and are succeeding. Unlike in the past, when even our own public did not appreciate these brave pioneers, there is now a real understanding of the importance of their actions. Yesha leaders such as Yossi Dagan, Yisrael Ganz, and many other municipality heads are supporting them."

Bottom line, according to Ketzaleh: "These pioneers deserve to be awarded the Israel Prize [considered Israel's most significant cultural honor]."

Are We Finally Setting Forth on Our Own?

by Nadav Gedaliah, Indipendent Journalist, translated by Hillel Fendel.

There was once a man who was very afraid of dogs. He was afraid of small dogs, large dogs, cute dogs, and dangerous dogs alike. He could not even stand to be near a dog. But one day he boarded a crowded train – and so did a blind woman, accompanied by her seeing-eye dog. Before he knew it, he couldn't move left or right because of the crowdedness, and, to his own utter shock, he spent a half-hour standing next to a dog! And afterwards he realized that he was no longer afraid of dogs.

Was this a true happy ending? Not really, because he knew that the real test would be the next time he found himself next to a dog: would he feel compelled to run away, or not?

For years now we have been told that we can't meaningfully fight terrorism, and that our only option is to build protective walls and the like, no matter how scared we continue to be. Then came Trump – and he laid out on the table a totally new type of solution. It could be that forced, or voluntary, mass Arab emigration from Gaza is not the best idea ever, but never mind that; what's more intriguing is that suddenly, with one announcement, the world saw that what we had been afraid of for years was really just a figment of our imagination. We were always being told us that we can't act on our own because of "America," and that we must always be coordinated with the Americans and follow their dictates. And here, all a sudden, that same America says out loud what we didn't allow ourselves to even think – even if it was the most obvious and indicated plan of action.

In a certain sense, the dog was placed next to our legs, and we had no choice but to go along with the situation, even if we were shivering with fear. At this point, we would be well advised to acknowledge out loud our past mistakes. Let us admit that our fear of America, enveloped in the thick smoke of wild imagination, smothered us for years, while America itself didn't really know what to make of the Middle East.

Now, it appears that we are pushing ahead. The hope is that the important decisions will be made by us, on our own initiative, with self-confidence that we know what is best for us.

The past decades have proven that, despite all of our advantages, we have been captive to a sense of helplessness that forced us, absurdly, to pay shameful and painful prices – instead of simply doing what anyone can see that we had to do.

The recent waves of pain that we have suffered are, finally, forcing us to develop a clear sense of self-confidence about what is good and right for us. Our lack of confidence is surprising and difficult to understand, but its roots can be found in the course of Israeli history.

With our amazing victories in Israel's first wars, we began, most unfortunately, believing in "My might and My strength" [as opposed to faith in G-d]. It gave us tremendous strength, economic abundance, and a sense of pride. But it was missing something big: faith – without which it is impossible to win even simple wars against a thong-wearing enemy. The way to free ourselves from our lack of self-confidence in our path is to do a U-turn and go back. We must neutralize our thoughts of "My might and My might," and bow our heads to Heaven in the face of this miracle called the "State of Israel" and its every security-political-economic success.

The 8th and 9th Fronts

by Orit Strook, Israeli Cabinet Minister, translated by Hillel Fendel.

We've long been talking about the "seven-front" war that Israel is facing, referring to Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran, the Shi'ites in Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, and terrorists in Judea/Samaria and Iraq. But in truth, there are at least two other fronts as well, and both are being waged against us by the Palestinian Authority. (While we're asking if Qatar is an enemy state, we'd be well advised to consider that the PA is an enemy entity right here on our doorstep.)

The first of the two - front #8 in the current war - is the legal-political one, being waged against us in the international courts such as the UN in general and its daughter bodies as well: the Security Council, the Civil Rights Council, UNESCO, of course UNRWA, and others.

Actually, on that front Israel scored a victory this week: We were able to block and thwart a PA-proposed resolution to establish an "effective and binding" mechanism to investigate Israel's "crimes" in the "Palestinian territories." The resolution declared that the findings would be forwarded not only to international courts, but also to various national courts around the world so that they could initiate criminal proceedings against Israelis.

If that resolution had been accepted, it would have placed Israel in the same category as countries like Assad's Syria and Myanmar, where civil rights are practically nil. It would have also endangered every Israeli soldier who ever served in Gaza or Judea/Samaria and then toured abroad. It would also, by the same token, have cramped and weakened any future Israeli offensive in these areas, thus lessening our chances to actually win this or any other war.

But with G-d's help and some smart and energetic diplomacy led by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, this terrible decision was averted. Instead, an anemic, toothless decision was made "merely" condemning Israel for its "crimes" against the Palestinians (the ones who cheered on the murderers of Oct. 7^th). Aaah yes, it also "only" called for an arms embargo against Israel, and also equated between the Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the Hamas terrorists incarcerated in Israeli prison – all while neglecting to condemn Hamas in any way. The decision is shameful, but it has no practical consequences.

I salute the Foreign Minister and all those who worked with him on this important achievement. But can we continue to suffice with playing only defense? This approach of merely thwarting the attacks against us does not thwart the Palestinian Authority itself. It simply keeps on attacking us, while we don't exact any price from them. Since they have nothing to lose, they'll keep on biting and chipping away at us until they see some success.

And the 9^th front in this war is the campaign for land in Judea and Samaria. For the past two decades, we have been retreating continuously from parcels of land in our homeland – even those that are in Area C, which are under full Israeli sovereignty according to the internationally recognized Oslo Accords. The PA is signed on these agreements, of course, yet we keep on withdrawing while the Arabs advance and conquer more and more territory – without firing a single shot, without negotiations, without signing even one agreements.

In this campaign, too, we have long fought only defensively. The only thing that can be said is that under the present government, a trio of ministers – Finance Minister (and Minister in the Defense Ministry) Betzalel Smotrich, newly-appointed Defense Minister Yisrael Katz with his added motivation and great abilities, and myself – have been waging the defensive campaign much more intensively and effectively. We're enforcing the law, thwarting many of their plans, razing illegal buildings, and fighting strongly against every advancement of theirs. But again, we succeed only in stopping what they try to do, but we have been unable to exact a price from them for doing so.

The battles on these two fronts are being waged against us by the Palestinian Authority. Despite this, the PA has still not been named an enemy entity by our government. It is actually considered, officially, a type of "partner" with us, or a "subcontractor," for maintaining security and fighting terrorism. It operates armed security details parallel to our security forces, and receives ammunition and military training as if they were on our team.

Their "heads, ministers and advisors" are granted the opportunity to move freely all around Judea and Samaria, and we even allow them to conduct, here in Israel, political meetings, the sole purpose of which is to harm Israel. This approach to our enemy is unreasonable and must be changed.

Close to a year ago, I noted in a government meeting the absurdity of this situation. Many ministers joined me in the above demand, and it appeared as if things were moving and about to change: In-depth meetings were held, and the Cabinet decided to exact prices from the PA. In the most recent Cabinet meeting, I asked for clarifications as to when these decisions would actually be implemented…

I did not receive an answer, but we cannot accept a situation in which Cabinet decisions are simply ignored – and I don't plan to let the matter drop.

It is absurd to keep acting the same way even after the circumstances change. In Jewish Law, if a corpse is found and the murderer is not – the nearest town must bring a particular sacrifice for atonement. But if afterwards the murderer is found, we do not say that the sacrifice already did the job; rather, we punish the murderer! This example shows clearly how irresponsible and illogical it is not to change our response when the situation, or our understanding of it, changes.

What we know and realize today regarding how dangerous is the PA, and regarding its attacks against us, requires us to change our modus operandi against it. Any other course of action is unreasonable and irresponsible. I will continue to act on this issue and I will not let up; it is my responsibility – and ours.

The True Danger: Crossing Red Lines

by Yehuda Vald, Director-General of the Religious Zionism Party, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The right-wing never threatened to burn down the country. The left-wing must follow suit.

During the course of the tenure of the Bennett-Lapid government, which was supported by a terrorist supporting Knesset party associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, I was called to serve as a reservist in the IDF. Once in uniform, I found myself among many friends from the nationalist camp, and we discussed our discomfort and difficult feelings given the government under which we had been called to serve.

Many of us were incensed at the ideological about-face that then-Prime Minister Bennett had made, and the way he turned his back on the values he had pledged to represent and thus earned many of our votes. But despite the turmoil we all felt, not one of us considered not showing up for military service.

Way before that, after the Rabin government signed the Oslo Accords, and after Shimon Peres brought Yasser Arafat to our midst and supplied rifles to the Palestinian Authority that led to the murders of many Jews throughout the country, the story was the same. I never heard my father or his friends threaten to organize a taxpayers' rebellion.

Yes, we protested and cried out in the streets. We blocked roads when the government set out to expel nearly 10,000 of us from our homes in Gush Katif. We watched as it destroyed a beautiful expanse of our homeland, despite our warnings that Israel's security would be in mortal danger. Those in power ignored us.

Knowledgeable and grave-looking former security officials said that everything would be OK, and they prevailed over the teary-eyed orange-bracelet wearers [orange was the color of the campaign to stop the Gush Katif destruction]. Yet even then, we did not refuse to serve in the army of our country that had expelled us, and we did not stop saying the Prayer for the Welfare of the Country and Government.

The right-wing camp protested, cried out, demonstrated – but never threatened civil disobedience. We did not call on the populace not to pay taxes, we did not encourage refusal to serve in the IDF, and we certainly did not threaten a civil war. Even when the government itself acted against us, we continued to remain loyal.

But the Left Acts Differently

Two years ago, high-scale social turbulence enveloped the country following the elected government's attempt to institute a reform of the judicial system. The anti-reform protest gained momentum with slogans such as, "This is the End of Democracy," "Israel is Becoming a Dictatorship," and "A Country of Halakhic Law." Various protest initiatives warned that Israel was on its way to becoming an oppressive regime that would discriminate against women, and posters warned that not allowing a court to abolish a Knesset law simply because it considered it "unreasonable" would lead to students being forced to don tefillin in schools…

At the same time, unprecedented anti-IDF intiatives began to take shape. Pilots and reservists announced that they would refuse to serve, youths began publicly burning their draft notices, and former bigwigs, such as Ehud Barak, started calling openly for civil disobedience. It was even discovered not long ago that 120 million shekels were funneled into those massive protests from foreign sources.

Two years later, all the scare-tactics have proven to have been groundless.  There is no religious compulsion, women have not turned into low-level housemaids, and the democracy has not collapsed. But a deeper problem remains: the fact that one side, the left, took steps to "overturn the table" and collapse Israeli society.    

Political disputes are far from new. There was always right and left, and always different approaches as to how to run the country. But it never happened that senior members of one camp called openly for refusal, civil disobedience, and not to pay taxes.

And we're not talking about marginal left-wingers, but rather leaders of the pack: Opposition leader Yair Lapid, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and former Deputy IDF Chief of Staff and current leader of what used to be the Labor Party, Yair Golan. They have actually called for refusal, disobedience, and even the first steps of civil war. This creates a situation in which every political camp may do the same whenever they lose an election. Can any of us imagine the terrifying scenario of hareidim declaring a civil war if they are drafted, or of the religious-Zionists closing down the country if a Hesder yeshiva is closed? Is this the future of Israeli democracy?

The answer is no. Contrary to the panic in the media, most people in our country, on both the right and the left, want to live together, want the country to be Jewish, want to preserve democracy, and refuse to fight and hate. Most people vow that we will never have a civil war. Those who fought – together! – in the alleys of Khan Yunis and the hills of Lebanon, and who spent days preparing for battle or taking part in distributing supplies to the soldiers, and the youths who helped rebuild the Gaza- border areas and the north, and who helped out the reservists' families in Tel Aviv, Gush Etzion, and everywhere else – know that that's where the truth of Israeli society lies, and that our nation is, essentially, one.

If the left is truly committed to democracy, it must also commit to abide by the rules of the game – even when they don't precisely match its agenda. They must not burn down the clubhouse, and not rock the foundations of the existence of our democracy, and not take extreme measure simply because they find themselves in the minority. "Together We Will Win!" is not just a slogan; it is the essence of our existence here as a nation.

Israel's Enemies Leverage Our Internal Turmoil

by Boaz Lieberman, Strategic Consultant, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Among the many tasks we face, we must remember the ultimate, nefarious goals of our enemies, and not let our internal discord serve their interests.

Israel is presently at one of its most stormy and complex junctions in its history. The international geopolitical reality is marked by instability, rapid regional changes, and both new and old-style threats upon us. It is therefore most vital that we strengthen our sovereignty and national clout, both militarily and economically, to ensure the country's security and its future.

Ever since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, it has encountered many challenges – but the current internal strife of today is that which is liable to become our most dangerous threat. When Israel was first formed, its leaders did not fail to understand that the national interest must always take precedence over internal disputes. They had plenty of deep ideological differences among themselves, but they were able to unite around a clear national vision of the importance of a strong, independent, Jewish state in the Land of Israel.

What is needed today is precisely the same thing: a leadership that can place the national interest at the absolute top of the agenda, and concentrate on reinforcing our sovereignty and the uncompromising defense of our security and territorial integrity.

Ever since Oct. 7^th – Simchat Torah of 2023 – Israelis, and parts of the world, have become more acutely aware of the true dreams and goals of the Palestinians. The popular, laundered phrase "Two States for Two Peoples" has all but camouflaged what they really want and are working towards: not two states, but one state – and that it must not be Jewish. This understanding must stand at the basis of any and every future strategic decision of Israel, and it must strengthen our resolve to protect our existence at all costs.

The controversy surrounding legislation passed by a democratically elected government is an example of how the internal debate has reached a new, dangerous peak. It also underlines the danger that enemy states and others will exploit the protests against the government to deepen the social divide in Israel.

It is incumbent upon the protestors – popularly called the Kaplanistim because most of their demonstrations take place at the Kaplan Junction in Tel Aviv – to prepare for this eventuality. They must realize that their actions, albeit legitimate in a democracy, can serve as a tool in our enemies' hands to harm us in a far more sinister and dangerous manner than the actions that they are protesting against. Yes, their aspiration to strengthen governance and stabilize our democracy is necessary, but the intense public disputes surrounding this issue create national vulnerability. Israel's enemies utilize this strident discord to seek to weaken us, whether through psychological tactics, cyber-attacks and the like.

As Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman wrote in his book "Thinking, Fast and Slow," emotionally-influenced decisions are liable to endanger strategic considerations in the long run. Israeli politics require, today more than ever, calm, cool, and collected decision-making, based on a clear strategic view and an accurate perception of reality that is ready to deal directly with the threats the country faces.

The concept of singularity promoted by Ray Kurzweil emphasizes the great potential of technological advancement alongside the danger that its rapid acceleration will lead to unforeseen and irreversible changes in human life. Israel must become a national leader in advanced technology, not only in order to protect itself from future threats, but also to leverage its economic advantages and guarantee long-term financial growth. It must adopt an economic model based on entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic freedom – again, not only to strengthen Israel's economy, but also to enable Israel to better cope with global and regional pressures.

In his book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," Yuval Noah Harari notes that societies that succeeded in maintaining a common, robust narrative were able to survive and thrive throughout history. A clear national narrative, based on our Jewish and Zionist identity, can be the central factor that will enable Israel to get through this internal divide. Our State requires a renewed vision of its national identity, and a stronger unity around certain basic values: Judaism, love of the homeland, respect for our national legacy and culture, and an understanding of the importance of our independence and sovereignty.

Historically, it is clear that peoples succeed in meeting external challenges when they are united around clear national values. A valiant and focused leadership that understands the necessity of national resilience and ability to withstand threats is what is necessary at this time. It is incumbent upon this leadership to realize its responsibility to find the way to bridge over the gaps and create a mutual basis of agreement regarding the State's long-term objectives.

Today, more than ever, Israel must reconnect with its roots, strengthen its Zionist and national values, and guarantee a stable and thriving economy that will enable us not only to survive but also to thrive and grow in a turbulent and intricate Middle East.