We are happy to present you with our Sovereignty bulletin # 41, sent to members and supporters of our Sovereignty Movement. You are invited to read, get updated, send us your comments and join:
Dear friends,
Greetings.
The regime has changed in Washington and steps to advance the implementation of the vision of sovereignty are expected to progress more slowly and be more complicated going forward. Although, as the saying attributed to David Ben Gurion goes, “In the Land of Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles”. We have no doubt that the vision can be advanced in many ways, by a miracle, by natural means or by a combination of the two. Our job is to prepare hearts to accept it and to do whatever is necessary to promote it.
In this context, we cite remarks that we wrote for the online newsletter that the Sovereignty Youth is producing these days:
We are in a complex period of a change in government for the U.S. and Israel, which obligates us to repeat and emphasize our historic command and right to continue acting to realize the vision of sovereignty.
The composition of the next Israeli government is unknown and far from clear to us, but the identity and positions of the next U.S. president are indeed known and clear to us. The next government of Israel is expected to be subject to heavy pressure to make withdrawals and concessions. The winds of the dangerous Oslo Accords are expected to blow from the White House and in order to withstand the onslaught, the next government of Israel must be strong and steadfast in spirit, and above all, have a strong ideological backbone to be able to reject such ideas and promote the Zionist, Jewish, ethical and just vision of applying Israel’s sovereignty over all parts of the Land of Israel.
In order for such a government to be formed, the Right camp must work hard to expand its ranks, prevent factionalism and the loss of mandates due to the formation of small parties that may not pass the threshold. But especially, it must present a vision and clear ideological goal. Obviously we must do all of this without giving up the resolute struggle for economic strengthening and fortification in Israel during the Corona period.
Here, dear youth, is where you come into the picture with your strength to bring about change. Each and every one of you young men and women is a loyal ambassador of the vision that the People of Israel need so badly during these times. Your hasbara activities create a fresh breeze in the Israeli street, it creates a tailwind for public figures, politicians and statesmen and causes more and more people to adopt the vision of sovereignty and clinging to the Land of Israel.
During this time of election campaigns, Israeli leaders are monitoring the positions of the people with countless surveys and public opinion polls, only of few of which reach the media and the public. Most of the polls remain behind closed doors with the strategic consultants, experts and campaign leaders. Within those closed rooms, they examine the mood and will of the people and publish their promises, declarations and goals for the next term accordingly.
Statesmen and politicians will see the great spirit that you will show in the Israeli street with hasbara stands, conversations, meetings, distribution of hasbara materials, various panels and other things and they will act accordingly, both before and after the elections. This great spirit of yours can and must bring about a real political revolution, to bring a large and solid national, right-wing camp that will stand for its ideological principles, the values of Jewish identity and tradition and the values of the Land of Israel and clinging to the Land.
We must remember that the opposing camp works energetically and does not rest for a moment. With foreign funding and organization by various NGOs, it promotes its world-view with a sense that it has a historic opportunity to bring back to the negotiating table ideas of dividing the Land and establishing a terror state in its heart. The upheaval in the U.S. inspires in them the hope of a similar upheaval here as well. This hope gives them a significant shot of energy, which energizes them to maximum mobilization and activity in the period before election day. For our part, we must remember that historic justice is on our side and because of this, we will act on behalf of the future of the People of Israel and the State of Israel.
The louder the voice of the Land of Israel is heard, through your voice, the stronger your influence will be and along with it, an increase in the power of the Land of Israel.
The impressive 12 page newsletter of the youth can be found by clicking here
Despite all obstacles
The number of residents in the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria is close to half a million, standing currently at 476,033 residents in approximately 150 communities, may they continue to grow and increase in number. This is what was published in the 2020 summary of data.
This impressive data point is accompanied by tremendous development in industry, infrastructures, employment opportunities and growth in the economy and tourism. However, for more than half a century, the State of Israel could have achieved much greater numbers if only it had had the wisdom to apply its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, erase the Green Line with building, settlement, aliyah absorption, establishing new communities and developing the mountain ridge.
But the dismal data behind the number of Jewish residents shows that there is a drop in the rate of growth. According to YESHA Council’s data, the annual percent of growth in 2020 (2.6%) is lower than what was in 2019 (3.4%) and is a continuation of the downward trend that began in 2012, when the growth rate was 4.7% (except for the past year, when there was a one-time rise of 0.4%).
This damage to the rate of development of settlement is the result of the Israeli government’s self-imposed policy of freezing and restraint. Instead of utilizing the huge reserve of land in Judea and Samaria, building permits are given sparingly, a few dozen here and a few dozen there. Under such conditions, that there is any development, albeit slow, is almost a miracle.
This must change! The government of Israel must once again see clearly the mission of the generation, the realization of the Zionist vision of the sons’ return to their borders, to the cradle of our peoplehood and sovereignty over this wonderful and important strip of land. The goal of a million residents in Judea and Samaria can be achieved more quickly than we imagined. Waves of aliyah are waiting for us just around the corner, young couples, hoping that competition will reduce the cost of housing and masses of ideological youths seeking to establish their home in the heart of the Land.
No balancing and no deals
The protest of the young settlement enterprise was blatantly disregarded by the media, as Guy Zohar demonstrated in his program on Kan 11 TV. The heads of councils and activists began a hunger strike but the media did not cover it; a few even collapsed and fainted but the media continued to ignore it. And this is happening at the same time when any threat of a hunger strike by prisoners, business people or even imprisoned terrorists wins headlines in various news columns.
However, we are not discouraged and will continue to make our resounding call to normalize the young settlement, to connect homes and educational institutions to water, electricity and gas as one of the most basic human rights.
In this context, it is important to state that the idea that the normalization of the young settlement must be “balanced” by giving building permits to the Arabs of Judea and Samaria and the Palestinian Authority, is a distorted concept, that sees the two peoples as having equal rights to the Land of Israel.
With this distorted approach, there are those who think that any building done by Jews must have a certificate of kashrut as part of a package deal that would include the approval of building initiatives for the Arabs. The People of Israel’s right to its Land does not depend on any balance in transactions or deals. Our leadership must internalize this understanding, and in these days before the elections they are more open to hearing the people’s desires and mood. Our job is to bring the leadership back to the path of its Zionist and historic mission.
To me, sovereignty is…
And this time we have with us Minister of the Diaspora, Omer Yankelevich:
“To me, sovereignty is the implementation of the declaration of our ownership of the Land of our forefathers. We cannot allow the situation where the pioneering settlers in the ancestral land feel as if they are in exile”.
Conversing and gathering strength
We take this opportunity to update you on our continued meetings at the Oz veGaon preserve with various groups for discussion on sovereignty, vision, Judaism and Zionism.
Meetings indeed do continue under Corona restrictions and in small groups, but even with these restrictions, it is our duty to continue with the educational and hasbara project and the emissaries that leave the preserve will continue to pass the messages on.
Among the groups that we met with this past week was a group of soldiers from the Nachshon Battalion. We were delighted to meet young people imbued with motivation, sure of the justice of their cause, connected to their People and their Land and prepared to dedicate themselves. The discussion was fruitful – it strengthened us as well as them.
Mark your Calendar! Meet the Candidates
This coming Thursday, we are organizing a special interview of the representatives of the right-wing parties – Yamina, HaZionut Hadatit, Likud and Tikvah Hadasha. The participants will discuss urgent matters on the State of Israel’s agenda and the agenda of the current election campaign
The event, which will be moderated by journalist Emily Amrousi, will be broadcast on our YouTube channel, The Sovereignty FB channel and a link will be sent to you, dear friends and partners for a direct broadcast. English speakers will be able to enjoy simultaneous translation by Ruchie Avital.
To those of you who would like us to send you the direct link to the broadcast with simultaneous translation to English please email us your name, cellphone and /or email address and we will send it to you on the day of the broadcast (no charge involved).
Shabbat shalom,
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar