No Knee-Jerk Reactions

By Moshe Feiglin

This weeks Mabat Sheni show featured a debate between Yesha Council head Danny Dayan and extreme Left MK Avshalom Vilan. Vilan recently proposed legislation that would apply the Evacuation/Compensation law to the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, compensating them for their property now as a way to encourage them to leave.

In the expected knee-jerk reaction, Yesha Council head Dayan argued eloquently against the proposal. The morning after the show, I sent out a press release in support of Vilans proposal. The facts on the ground turn up some interesting results to support Vilans idea.

First of all, there are almost no homes, apartments or caravans to buy or rent in Judea and Samaria. Nearly one hundred per cent occupancy. This situation is partly due to the government prohibition against building or development in most of the area. But the fact is that a lot more people want to get in than to leave. Housing prices in Judea and Samaria have soared as a result, making rentals in my home town of Karnei Shomron, for example, more expensive than in comfortably-within-the-Green-Line Kfar Saba. In addition, Judea and Samaria have the highest birth rates in the country, meaning that it is thank G-d, getting crowded. Nobody is interested in forcing people to stay. If Vilans proposal would lure a few non-committed residents out, they would be replaced in no time by highly idealistic and committed people.

Secondly, I hope that Vilan is fair enough to extend his proposal to all the areas in Israel for which the state is incapable of providing security. Some residents of the Kfar Aza kibbutz near Gaza have already left their homes after a kibbutz member was killed by a Kassam. This murder, like so many others, would not have happened if Israel had not adopted the hallucinatory policies of Vilan and his ilk. But the sad truth is that presently, residents of all the areas within Kassam range should have the same privileges that Vilan has so graciously proposed to the settlers. They should also be paid to move to a place where the state can protect them.

By the way, Vilans proposal is obviously just a lot of hot air. Israel has not even properly compensated the settlers that it forcibly evicted from their homes in Gush Katif under the current Evacuation/Compensation law. How would it possibly compensate others who willingly leave?

So there is no need for the knee-jerk reaction. It is time to call the Leftists bluff and to expose their ridiculous logic for all to see.

Manhigut Yehudit needs your help now more than ever. You can help to get our message out. Support Manhigut Yehudit, print out this update and distribute it in your community, arrange a Manhigut Yehudit lecture in your community, and tell your friends about the fast-growing Jewish Leadership alternative. For information call:

Israel: 09 774 0932
U.S.: 516 295 3222.