Move ordered by the Defense Ministry enrages various right-wing politicians and lawmakers; Ya’alon: ‘I will not compromise the law.’
By NOAM AMIR/MAARIV HASHAVUA, JPOST.COM STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFF
The Defense Ministry on Friday morning ordered security forces to remove dozens of Jews from a pair of Hebron buildings said to have been abandoned and then purchased legally from their original Palestinian owner.
The Jewish settlers initially refused to voluntarily evacuate the premises, and security forces began to forcibly remove them, according to Channel 2.
So far, no violent clashes have broken out between the residents and security forces.
On Thursday, 20 Jewish families took possession of two abandoned buildings adjacent to each other on the road that runs past the Cave of the Patriarchs in the direction of the Avraham Avinu apartment complex in the West Bank city. The settlers named the structures Beit Rachel and Beit Leah.
According to Channel 2, the settlers called on Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to come check the veracity of their property deeds, “and join us in the glory of the Land of Israel.”
“The residents of Beit Leah and Beit Rachel are troubled over the defense minister’s rapid insistence that we evacuate the homes we properly acquired, and all this despite wall-to-wall support from many government members,” the television channel quoted the settlers as saying.
The move ordered by the Defense Ministry enraged various right-wing politicians and lawmakers.
In response to the evacuation order, Knesset Speaker Yuli Eldestein strongly criticized the Defense Ministry’s decision, saying that “when settlers operate according to the law, the right thing to do is wait and explore legal options rather than rush to evacuate people from their homes.”
“I call on the political echelon in charge of security to swiftly check the legality of the acquisitions and not to inflame tensions by evacuating the settlers” Edelstein added.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) also called on Ya’alon to immediately halt the evacuation from the Hebron structures, which he said the settlers had legally purchased.
“It’s time to fight against terrorism and support the strengthening of the settlements and not against them,” he said. “Those who speak in the name of law and order are welcome to firstly deal with the Palestinian Authority and radical (Jewish) leftists who set out to kill Palestinians who dare sell land or homes to Jews!”
Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev (Likud) also came out in support of the Jewish presence in Hebron.
“The redemption of the land of Israel is a welcome activity, especially in the City of the Patriarchs – Hebron. Settlement is an important Zionist activity and we must continue and preserve it.”
The Bayit Yehudi faction issued a stinging statement Thursday criticizing the defense minister and his order.
“Amid the current wave of terror, the defense minister is actually operating diligently, without compromise and imperviously to throw Jews out from their homes,” read the statement.
The party, led by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, charged that the “irresponsible” maneuver was “stirring things up for no apparent reason.”
“The defense minister should deal with Arab terrorism and illegal construction in terrorist communities with the same passion and determination,” read the statement posted on Facebook. “Checking documentation of acquisition can also be done without evicting Jews from their homes.”
In addition, Bayit Yehudi MK Bezalal Smotrich charged that he would not participate in Knesset votes until the settlers were allowed to “return to their homes.”
Issuing his first response on the matter, Ya’alon said the settlers had failed to heed to necessary legal actions and were therefore evicted.
In light of the firestorm from the political Right, Ya’alon called on ministers, MKs and public officials to refrain from “taking the law into their own hands,” and urged them to curb statements that “border on anarchy and harm our national strength.”
“The settlement issue is important to me and I act for its sake, but I will not compromise the law,” Ya’alon underlined.
He added that the property deeds would be reviewed, as would security and diplomatic aspects of the matter before approving the habitation of the dwellings.
The incident marked first time in four years that Hebron’s Jewish community, which comprises some 1,000 people, has purchased a building.
According to a spokesman for the families, Shlomo Levinger, the Jewish families have proof of sale and all the necessary legal permits from the civil administration to inhabit the structures, save for Ya’alon’s signature.
Security sources said they lack three critical approvals from upper diplomatic and defense echelons that are needed for the families to legally live in the structures.
The structures themselves are empty, said Levinger, who explained that after the sale was completed the Palestinian families left.
As of Thursday night, the civil administration could not confirm the legality of the move.
Notedly in 2012, Ya’alon condemned then defense minister Ehud Barak for evacuating 15 families from an apartment complex in Hebron, stating that the latter should be stripped of the authority to determine the fate of West Bank settlements.
“All he does is start fires instead of solving problems,” said Ya’alon, whose comments reflected direct criticism from right-wing lawmakers of Barak at the time.
Yaacov Katz contributed to this story.
LOL, leftists in right wing clothing, just like I said.
the main thing is to get yaalon out of YS. but remember that yaalon is bb’s man and yaalon is following BB policy. If BB does anything positve it is because he was forced to in order to maintain his image as being in support of settlers and nationalists. I think that yaalons attitude is BB’s real attitude, otherwise why appoint him to oversee YS?
Is Yaalon and BB saying that these suspected accomplices are less of a danger to Jews than those dancing wedding Jews he has incarcerated without evidence?
why do i feel as if I am listening to serial and chronic liars????
Is it because the same con artists calling for observance of law have been for 7 years facilitating the eu breaking of Israeli law with their illegal building in the same YS?
but this fake “zionist” who support misrepresenting herself as a zionist when her main agenda is to give the Jewish heartland to muslims and the eu to build muslim homes….. this false zionist has been supporting “tough love” along with the left…the murders of jews today in Israel AND in the diaspora are a direct result of the libels and lies spread by the ISRAELI LEFT! In my view they are guilty of murder of Jews and should be brought to detention and the same “vigorous questioning” which they gave to the settlers.
Herzog sees this shameful Israeli leftist participation in the murder of Jews globally which is why he is now seeking to quietly get off the murderous bandwagon lynching of Jews. The Israeli public must demand justice from the leftist inciters who spread lies about Israel… they are murderers… their lies result in the murder of Jews exactly as they always have brought that result in history… the history of the blood libels.
Bear Klein Said:
bernard ross Said:
You never responded to my analysis of your post
Bear Klein Said:
Are you buying into that narrative that Yaalon operates beyond BB’s wishes… that Yaalon is a loose cannon against settlers against BB’s wishes…. that Yaalon facilitated the illegal EU building and occupancy without BB’s approval? I notice that you never answer direct questions.
Yaalon and BB’s law is that Jews cannot settle or build without the fuhrers approval but it is alright for foreign govs to break the law. Are Israeli’s serious, do they seriously buy this BS double standard coming from their gov? Do they accept as ok that their gov has been facilitating foreign hostile govs, who fund and support Jew killer orgs, to build muslim homes in JUdea samaria while at the same time evicting Jews and then claiming for LAW?????????
There is a reason why BB NEVER rebuts the EU and US claim of illegal and illegitimate Jewish settlement in YS. It is absurd that he never says they are wrong but there is a rational. In time Israelis forget that it is legal and like the rest of the world just listen to the liars. After all if what the EU and Obama were saying was not true wouldnt the Israeli PM of the last 7 years have said it ONCE? If it is legal then BB will have trouble obstructing settlement and giving YS away, best to just nueter those who spread the quickly disappearing fact….. Goebbels used the principle of repetition to make lies real whereas BB uses the principle of forgetting to make YS disappear. No one remembers that Jewish settlement in YS is legal because BB never mentions it.
Yaalon is appointed by BB to do the dirty work that BB does not want to own. In the end Yaalon is doing what BB has instructed. BB does not want these noisy jews interfering with his narrative of being the defender of Israel and the leader of the right… he has accomplished the nuetering of the right with his ridding of feiglin and his giving Benett the education ministry. Yaalon is BB.
Remember that Yaalon cites the law but BB and he have been facilitating the EU in breaking Israeli law regarding building and occupancy in the same YS for the past 7 years….DUHHHHHHH??????????
Notice Yaalons zeal and enthusiasm for evicting Jews from YS; that is why BB appointed him. Yaalon should resign or be fired, or have YS removed from his protfolio of influence. It is absurd that this settler hater should be put in charge of the settlements or settlers.
MK Oren Hazan (Likud) went on TV to state his threat that he will stop voting with the coalition, after Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) on Friday evicted 200 Jews from two buildings in Hevron they had taken residence of a day prior after buying them in full from an Arab seller.
Speaking on Channel 10, Hazan said that “there cannot be a situation in which people who bought houses in cash cannot enter their homes.”
The leftists think the right in the Likud and Bayit Yehudi will back down against Ya’alon. Let us see what will happen.
I personally hope these people bought these houses and not have not made this up.
I read that they paid in cash. Why would anyone pay for a house in cash and not think they are being taken? This is assuming they really did buy the houses.
Bear Klein Said:
LOL, hope springs eternal… but that hope died when Bennetts voters panicked to BB’s fraud.
@ Bear Klein:
how many of the demolition orders issued were for demolishing Jewish homes… your figures dont say they are arab homes only.
Bear Klein Said:
that hope died when the right wing voters panicked and took their benett votes to BB. You grasp at every straw he gives you and run for every bone he throws….. look how you post quickly this ludicrous demolishing of a couple of bedouin homes when your own figures show 11000 still pending from a total of 11500 issued since 1988 plus another 2000 not yet issued demolition orders. Your figures prove that there is knowledge of the building but nothing has been done…..orders issued but BB’s man yaalon not carrying them out as fast as he stalks Jews….. immediately the hevron jews were evicted the next day after moving into their bought homes and yet thousands of outstanding euro illegally built homes remain.
EU officials and diplomats, their NGO’s should be expelled for criminal behavior, those without immunity should be jailed and fined. We dont see what is normal occur because BB facilitated it all under the table while pretending to the opposite…. issuing orders that dont get carried out….. HMMMM reminds me of E1.
I gave BB the benefit of the doubt until I saw his dirty last minute election trick and his neutering subsequently of all right wing agenda in his coalition. Since then I realize that a PM who cannot utter the words that Jewish settlement in YS is legal and legitimate must be a fraud…… the pals who have nothing can utter the words they beleive, but not this PM…. unless he actually agrees under the table with the euros. Under the table is his main MO.
Bear Klein Said:
1988-1995 350 orders issued
1996=2001 1500 orders issued
2001-2009 4500 orders issued
2010-2015 5000 orders issued
total since 1988…. approx 11,400 issued
therefore if 11000 are still outstanding since 1988 then only approx 400 were carried out, according to these figures
it appears that since BB arrived the EU has been hard at work with few demolished by BB…… like I said, announcements, declarations, pending outcomes…….
in the end it is BUBKISS, smoke and mirrors that end up swindling the Jews of their homeland. you always call for the annexation of C but the one who most prevents your desired outcome is the one that panicked the right wing to vote for him instead of Bennett. Your man is in but your wails for C are futile as long as he is there.
Bear Klein Said:
What number was built by the EU?
How many of those built by the EU over the past 7 years HAVE BEEN DEMOLISHED?
Lots of things from BB are announce and pending… I think that the bldg approval in E1 is also “pending”. The game of announce and stall until forgotten appears to be the MO
Also, your figures dont appear to add up… if the last 5 years 5000 were issued of the 13000 outstanding right now that means that the 13000 have been pending for decades. the 13000 pending according to your figures represent about 20-30 years of issued orders that are still “pending”
More than 11,000 demolition orders are pending against at least 13,000 Palestinian structures in the part of the West Bank known as Area C, which is under full Israeli control, according to data from Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank.
I do not usually quote Haaretz but then the Zionist Newspapers will normally not write articles such as this one because the western world looks down at anything connected with a Palestinian that we destroy whether legal or not.
Israel hopefully soon will implement application of Israeli Law to Area C so that building and zoning laws will have certain legal procedures just like inside the green line and outside the realm of the defense minister.
Jews have to get “diplomatic and GOI approval” in order to live in the Jewish homeland of YS whereas muslims get their homes built in the Jewish homeland by the EU. This is the status quo of BB for the last 7 years: continuing muslim abuse of Jews in Israel, continuing obstruction of Jewish settlers to settle in YS, continuing allowance of illegal eu building in YS, continuing insults from the EU with labeling and illegal building, continuing libels by eu of illegal jewish settlement in the Jewish homeland, lots of noise and drama but in 7 years there is nothing from BB….. NOTHING, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, BUBKISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bear Klein Said:
LOL, since 2009 BB has turned a blind eye to EU building homes for muslims illegally in the Jewish homeland. It was only last year that it became public knowledge and since then little has been done. It is pathetic to boast about these couple of structures after 7 years of facilitating the euros illegality. After all, every time there is a public brouhaha BB comes up with a token to shut up the fools. What happened to the hundreds, if not thousands of structures that the EU built illegally in the past 7 years? Are you saying that BB did not know it was going on? Is it possible that if he is against it he would say and do nothing to stop it? BB just evicted the settlers immediately but has allowed the euros to build illegally for 7 years….. is that something to defend in all honesty?
Diplomatic Approval!?!? We’ve got 11 million illegal Mexicanos living in the USA and squeezing up housing costs creating hostility and there are no ‘Diplomatic’ Approvals required for them! Housing is a local issue, not one requiring Diplomatic Approval and should not be allowed to be an international diplomatic issue by simply excluding such a requirement.
Security Approval should be an issue if and when it arises in fact, not administrative law.
the same Yaalon that allowed the Eu to build illegally in YS for years with no arrests and no expelling of diplomats NOW wants to talk about law….. it appears that Yaalons law is ALWAYS against the settlers. Yaalon was appointed by BB in order for the settlers to be obstructed and stalked while pretending he is right wing. when the coalition falls Bb will blame the “extremists” and say he had no choice but to enter a gov with labor who appears now to singing in unison with BB. BB will thus be able to continue his pretense that he is a right wing forced always to do other things.