Their harsh tone took me aback.
For example, someone who is otherwise pro-Israel and sympathetic to Jews will all of the sudden say something like, "At the same time, Israel MUST STOP the building of settlements! Allowing these settlements ruins everything and absolutely CANNOT be allowed any longer!"
They speak of Netanyahu (whom I don't trust) allowing the building of settlements in the same way they'd speak of him allowing the sacrifice of Pomeranian puppies to demons (which he doesn't).
The vehemence in their opposition startles me every time. (Fortunately, it doesn't happen often.)
After all, if you travel through Yehudah and Shomron, you see miles and miles of beautiful uninhabited rolling hills.
(You can also see Arabs illegally building or expanding in those areas. But no one cares about that.)
And the little Jewish settlements bring sweetness and beauty to these areas.
The big Jewish settlements bring even more sweetness and beauty to these areas.
So why the demonization of davka Jewish settlements on historically Divinely given Jewish Land?
Why speak about settlers as if they're terrorists and settlements as if they're weapons of mass destruction?
And why relate to Netanyahu as if he's a vampire who needs a stake driven through his heart when nearly all his centrist and Leftist colleagues are so much worse?
"A Crazed Obsession to Completely Dismantle Judea and Samaria"
Here's the 15-minute episode in Hebrew only (sorry!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyTyNVM6dFc
I don't agree with everything Avivi says, but I agree with a lot of it. Yet he's not coming from a religious point of view.
On the other hand, a lot of Jews in Eretz Yisrael who look totally secular on the outside are actually shomer Shabbat, put on tefillin, daven regularly, and so on.
Same thing with a lot of Jewish women who look secular, but keep Shabbat, say Tehillim, regularly do hafrashat challah, and so on.
So I don't like to make assumptions purely based on a Jew's external appearance.
(Heck, Aviv's organization even has a couple of guys in black kippahs on staff.)
Regardless, Avivi knows inside information (that's what I'm focusing on here) and also seems to care a lot about protecting Jews in Eretz Yisrael.
And he said this:
Obama came with a crazed obsession to completely dismantle Judea and Samaria and to retreat from Judea and Samaria.
After 8 years of Obama's "crazed obsession," it makes sense now that people developed a bizarrely distorted image of the settlements and their impact on society.
And now we have otherwise reasonable people talking about these lovely, productive settlements with fear and loathing.
It All Started Thousands of Years Ago When...
(Similar to how today, apologists excuse the recent atrocities against Jews by saying the Gazan Palestinians envy the Jews.)
They stopped up his wells and the king, concerned about Yitzchak being more successful than him, asked him to leave.
So Yitzchak went elsewhere and built another settlement — and guess what? The Philistinians also stopped up his wells.
So we see how, from time immemorial, some people develop a "crazed obsession" against Jews building settlements on our God-given Land.
The Tragic Attack on a Jewish Mommy at Home with Her Baby Daughter in a "Settlement" Outside the Old City in 1873
In addition to squeezing out the mostly impoverished Jews, the sky-high rents provided a steady income for the greedy landlords.
Furthermore, such suffocating Muslim control of Jews meant they could treat the Jews as they wished — and though friendly periods existed, the Jews knew they always remained at the whims of their Muslim overlords.
At one point, the opportunity arose for Jews to expand beyond the walls of the Old City of Yerushalayim.
They did so and their Muslim landlords, enraged over Jewish expansion and the landlords' loss of extortion, set out to terrorize the Jews.
They also hired Bedouins to terrorize this tiny handful of impoverished yet stalwart Jews — "settlers," if you will, and all ultra-Orthodox.
These settlements received the wholehearted backing of some of that era's greatest Torah Sages, such as Rav Shmuel Salant and Rav Meir Auerbach.
These idealist & deeply religious Jews also formed a special security force which combined Torah learning and guard duty: in-memory-of-the-real-first-settlers-warriors-of-eretz-yisrael.html
Unfortunately, the Bedouin and Arab terrorists managed to murder Jews or, in some cases, traumatize them so badly, they died later.
Though she managed to wrest away his dagger and fatally stab him, the trauma she suffered led to a heart attack, leaving her baby daughter (born after 15 years of childlessness) orphaned of her mother.
Not long after that, this orphaned girl also died, leaving Rabbi Yosef Rivlin completely bereft.
This deranged opposition to Jewish settlement outside the Old City occurred despite the reality of barren uninhabited land for miles and miles around, and despite the impoverished unsupported state of those early Jewish settlers (decades before anyone even imagined the word "Zionism"), and despite their vulnerable status.
("Crazed obsession" against Jewish settlement definitely applies here.)
A Little Jewish Widow on Her Own on a Barren Mountain – "Off with Her Head!" Cry the Locals
She built wonderful homes there for her people, with electricity and indoor plumbing — a real luxury for those times.
But the local Arabs violently chased them away.
Only little aging Sara remained in her lovely home — a home that remained a shadow of the opulent home in Singapore she gave up to settle in the then-barren hills of Tzfat.
At one point, the fierce local Arab chieftain publicized a reward for anyone who would bring him Sara's head!
(There's that crazed obsession again, I guess.)
Yet Sara refused to leave.
Anyway, the Jews won Israel's War of Independence and Sara set herself to planting pine trees all over the mountain.
She also created Jewish communities with the stipulation they be fully mitzvah-observant.
Today, Sara's property serves as the Canaan Spa Hotel.
Despite the vast wealth and fame from which she originally came (as a scion of the Adler fashion empire), Sara is buried as modestly as she lived.
picryl.com/media/general-view-of-safed-d583-056-519b0d
There's No Fight like a Family Fight
However, part of the "terrible threat to peace in the Middle East" put forth by anti-settler loonies derives from the attitudes of Arabs squatting on Israelite Land.
In addition the fact that any shomer mitzvot Jew has a right to make their dwelling place in Eretz Yisrael (though throughout the centuries, Jews have been nice enough to pay Arabs for the acquisition of land), Jewish presence provides a terrific economic boon to surrounding Arab villages (if only they've brains enough to utilize the opportunity — and some do).
This in addition to the drastic increase material well-being for Arabs all over Israel, a level they rarely enjoy in the surrounding Muslim countries (not to mention educational opportunities and access to better-quality medical care, etc.).
They happily blast their calls to prayer 5 times a day, no matter how their Jewish neighbors feel about it. They pepper their nighttime celebrations with exploding fireworks, rapid-fire shooting from their illegally obtained AK-47s, and loud Arabian music.
They expand their own villages and homes. It only bothers them when Jews do the same.
In fact, they expand illegally and even create new communities illegally. It only bothers them when Jews do the same.
A friend who lives in Beitar Ilit visited family members who live on street across the way from the Muslim village of Nahalin.
She heard lots of machine gun shooting that night, so she called the Beitar security force.
"Yeah, we know," they said. "It's just a family fight. But don't worry; we're keeping tabs on things. If it spreads out beyond their village, we'll step in to contain it."
Do we really need to take seriously the feelings of people who freely use AK-47s during family quarrels?
Pot Calling the Kettle Black
It always makes me guffaw when I read Arab descriptions of Jewish settlers talking tough and carrying guns. They always describe them as if these Jews are demonic vampires.
That's the perfect description of the ARAB villagers!
Talk about projection.
In one itsy-bitsy settlement, the local Bedouins decided to exploit the Jewish settlement by pilfering Jewish property and livestock.
So 2 or 3 Jews went and non-verbally let the Bedouins know that stealing is not okay.
No Bedouins were hurt or killed in the process; they just suffered some property damage and intense fear.
And magically, the stealing stopped immediately.
Occasionally, theft occurs again and the 2 or 3 Jews respond in the same non-verbal way.
And then it stops.
One time, one of the Jewish responders was walking in that Bedouin area with a friend. They stopped to ask directions from a passing Bedouin.
Seeing two young Jewish men who spoke Arabic in his area, the Bedouin man assumed they'd come from a Leftist organization to help defend the Bedouins.
He excitedly described the "crazy Jews" who violently harassed the innocent Bedouin community and could someone please do something about it?
Of course, the Bedouin guy made no mention of his community's actions which led to the "violent harassment" of "crazy Jews."
Nor did he mention that, as long as the Bedouins refrained from thievery, the Jews left them alone entirely.
Clearly, this Bedouin's complaint derives from his resentment at being unable to commit crimes without repercussions.
They want to be able to commit crimes FREELY.
And this, the media tells you, stands as a terrible stumbling block to peace in the Middle East.
Arabs must be allowed to commit crimes unencumbered by any repercussions!
Peace Now!
Where Have All the Car Parts Gone?
See, this nice young male Leftist had driven all the way to this same Bedouin community to provide them with food and practical gifts.
Either before or after his grand gesture, his car broke down and he went to get help.
(I'm not sure of the story's details. I think he met this pair on the way and they both excel at fixing cars, so they accompanied him back to his car to help.)
Whatever the details, the point is this nice Leftist was either coming from or going to deliver goodies to this Bedouin community, and his car got skeletonized by this same community.
So is it really the Jewish settlements blocking any kind of peace process?
And why didn't Obama ever develop a "crazed obsession" against rampant theft?
Settlement Derangement Syndrome
They're wrong, of course.
As shown above, the Arabs aren't bothered by Jewish settlements for the reasons they claim.
Jewish settlements actually benefit Arab villages because it improves the local economy and enforces more civilized behavior.
What kind of person so vehemently objects to that?
Some Final Words of Daas Torah from One of the Greatest of the Last Century
My son, I feel that being a laborer in Eretz Yisrael is greater than being a rabbi in chut l'aretz.
(Guardian of Jerusalem: The Life & Times of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, page 244)
Someone loyal to Rav Sonnenfeld tried to convince Rav Sonnenfeld to take a less dangerous route, but Rav Sonnenfeld said:
Certainly not!
I will go specifically towards the Damascus Gate and thus inform the Arabs that they have not yet succeeded in frightening Jews out of even one section of the Holy City.
(Guardian of Jerusalem: The Life & Times of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, page 252)
What! Shall we relinquish our claim on the quarter near the Damascus Gate?
If we refrain from traveling that street out of fear, they will think they have indeed succeeded in driving us out of the quarter.
No!
It is forbidden for us to relinquish any quarter or corner of Yerushalayim out of fear!
(Guardian of Jerusalem: The Life & Times of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, page 252)
In the thirty-one years since my arrival, more changes have taken place than in the previous thousand years combined...new settlements are springing up; areas ruled by desolation and emptiness for countless generations have now clothed themselves in life and growth.
Everywhere, there are verdant gardens and blossoming orchards stretching into the distance.
Is it possible not to see the hand of Divine Providence in all this?
We must labor in the resettlement of the Land with trust in God Who gave us His holy Torah.
Certainly, if we are faithful to Torah, we will merit to live here securely and we will always find mercy, kindness, and grace...
(Guardian of Jerusalem: The Life & Times of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, page 233)