Only The Likud Can... Every Few Years an "Amona"

A few Knesset Elections ago, the Likud had a very catchy but "ambiguous" election slogan:

http://cafe.themarker.com

רק הליכוד יכול

Rak Halikud Yachol

Only The Likud Can...

It was brilliant in that no matter what your ideology you could project and credit the Likud with it. Over the years, Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu shortened it to:

http://rotter.net

רק הליכוד 

Rak Halikud 

Only The Likud...

Considering that it was davka the Likud under its founder Menachem Begin that crossed the red-line and destroyed Jewish towns and communities, something the Labor Party never dared to do, especially because they knew that Begin would rally the country against them, the slogan has been used in a sarcastic manner. Yes, ever since the surprise/unthinkable Mahapach-Upset when the Likud took power in 1977, it has ruled most of the time and destroyed countless Jewish towns, communities and homes.

Each of my children, and now my grandchildren have childhood traumas, the result of one of the "Only The Likud Can..." policies, Camp David's Sinai/Yamit destruction, Disengagement's Gush Katif destruction,  Amona #1 and now Amona #2. And this time my grandchildren are caught up in the tension, fear and demonstrations, since Amona is a short walk from their home. They have friends there.

And that's besides the fact that when we moved to Shiloh in 1981, most of the Israeli public and the "world" were convinced that within a short time, we'd be sent back to Jerusalem or wherever. Our children grew up with frequent visits from journalists, even television crews, since we were considered a newsworthy family. Everyone wanted to know how we dealt with being daring pioneers and hated by the world. When I began planning my son's 1994 Bar Mitzvah, the Oslo Accords* made it look like we wouldn't be able to celebrate at home in Shiloh.

Amona #2 is so deja vu for me. All the rallies and camping out. My children did it decades ago. We've been to so many demonstrations I couldn't even count if I tried. Ever since we moved to Shiloh, I've felt that my entire life, every time I leave the house I'm demonstrating. That's my norm. And you shouldn't think that only people who live in yishuvim, communities beyond the so-called "Green Line" think and feel the way I do. We have support from all over, even Tel Aviv.

If you know Hebrew,  you will enjoy listening to this man:


Translation by a friend, who does not want to be credited:

OK. As most of you know, I'm a Tel Avivian. I live in "bitzat Shenkin", but in my heart I am a big supporter of the wonderful settlers of Yehuda and Shomron, primarily the settlers of Amona. A month ago I went there to embrace and strengthen them, and believe me, things one sees from there, one really doesn't see from here**. Sometimes you really have to be on site in order to understand what is actually going on.So this is how it is. It's a bald, rocky mountain among dozens of bald, rocky mountains. The land there hasn't been cultivated since the days of King David, if ever. So don't let them tell you all sorts of tall tales about robbed Palestinian agriculturalists. And anyway, Arabs have never built there villages on the tops of mountains. On the contrary, they always built in the shade of the mountain in order to protect themselves from the wind and so that their fields would receive run-off rainwater.However the facts simply do not interest our purist, left-wing, and horrifyingly sanctimonious Supreme Court. They decided that even if "Mohamed" is an absentee landlord, that is to say he isn't around now, and only two percent of Amona's land is registered in his name, the entire settlement must be destroyed.So let me reveal a little secret to you about the ownership of these lands that were conquered by the Jordanian government. The King of Jordan wanted to levy taxes, therefore he distributed lands to mukhtars (heads of Arab town or village) who continued the racket and distributed them [the lands] to the residents of their villages, without their knowledge even. Why were they not informed? Because these lands are not arable. They're called muwat [death in Arabic] lands, lands of death. In short, if our Supreme Court only wanted to, it could quietly rule as compensation to "Mohamed", who as I already said isn't around, a tract of land on a nearby bald, rocky mountain or alternatively a sum of money, exactly as is done when land is expropriated from someone to widen a road. But when a sense of too much power, malevolence, and an anti-settlement agenda come together, what can one expect?Ah. And do yourselves one more little favor, a last one. Don't fall into the trap of the government which is telling you that this Arrangement Law is an unprecedented achievement. It's not a achievement or anything like one. They are trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes because they know, exactly as I know, that the settler-hating Supreme Court will toss the law around and out. And then all of the settlements on areas liberated in '67 will be endangered. And again a right-wing government will be the signatory on the destruction of the homes of Jews and their expulsion from their land. Tell me more about a right-wing government like this.

Gd willing, we will soon have an Israeli government with true Jewish values and cares more about Jewish lives and homes than what the anti-semites and Leftists say!

*The technically illegal, since they were a private not government initiative, Oslo Accords were ratified under Rabin's Labor coalition, but galvanized the voting public to bring the Likud back to power.

**A well-known phrase used by politicians in power for their Leftist turn from the Right.