The ultimate hypocrisy: MKs who voted in favor of the crime of the Gush Katif Disengagement condemn a man whose Jewish values prohibit the transfer of civilians.

The Likud said nothing new in its wild attack this week against Naftali Bennett. As early as 1,936 years ago, King Yanai warned his wife, Salome, against the hypocrites: “Fear not the Pharisees nor the Sadducees, but the hypocrites, who commit the act of Zimri and demand the wages of Pinehas.”

The hypocrisy in our story belongs to the Likud—the very same Likud which did not bat an eyelash when it engaged, with noticeable glee, in the incomparable crime of deporting the Gush Katif settlers—is now attacking Bennett, who simply stated that there are situations in which Jewish and universal values supercede any other value, and that in the case of expulsion, an individual soldier is obligated to request that his commanding officer release him from that despicable assignment. The Likud, which led the ethnic cleansing of Jews—simply because of their being Jewish—in Yamit (1987), Gush Katif (2005), Amona (2006), and Migron, Yair Farm and Ulpana Hill (2011-12) is the one bitterly decrying Bennett’s moral stance. It’s the peak of hypocrisy, it’s a case of the robbed Cossack.

It’s hard to tell what exactly bothers Netanyahu the most when he looks at Bennett. Maybe because of Bennett’s statement: “Right now they’re viewing us as the state’s chaplain. We don’t matter to Netanyahu. Not regarding Supreme Court cases, not regarding the settlement freeze, not regarding the appointment of Barak as Defense Minister. This has to change.” Maybe that’s scaring Netanyahu.

In his eagerness to block Bennett, Netanyahu behaved like the Hollywood gangster who commits robbery in broad daylight, discovers to his alarm that a group of citizens are chasing him, yelling “Stop, thief!” and so he points his finger at an innocent bystander and yells: “Stop, thief!”

The gangster in this fable is, forgive my insolence, Benjamin Netanyahu. This major partner in the crime of deportation of Jews, who avoided emphatically any attempt on his part of halting that unforgivable moral- security- and national disaster, now joins the chase after Bennett, yelling “Refusnik! Refusnik!” This leader who could have bought his place in Heaven if only he had refused, back in 2005, to partake in Ariel Sharon’s immoral gimmickry, is pillorying the one human being who speaks for Jewish values. It’s the ultimate absurdity.

HYPOCRISY FARE

Hypocrisy has been celebrated in earnest recently over at Likud. Because, had Netanyahu been a man of truth, promising that he would not admit into his government anyone who called on soldiers to refuse orders (although, in fact, Bennett did no such thing, he merely expressed a personal opinion) he would have had to fire Minister Uzi Landau who read into the Knesset transcript in May, 1995, during a debate over coming down from the Golan Heights: “A law that does not pass the values test does not exist in the eyes of people with values… A government order to evacuate a Jewish settlement does not pass the values test… Whoever dares to send our security forces to evacuate a settlement would be committing a clearly illegal act over which flies a black flag.”

The same Netanyahu must also remove Likud MK Tzipi Hotoveli, who said in April, 2010: “There’s such a thing as proper refusal… When a soldier is willing to give his life to defend this country, for this nation. If the soldier is willing to die in Gaza to defend Sderot and Ashkelon, and he experiences a real problem of conscience – that would be his litmus test. If he is truly ready to give his life, it means he is not a politician, he’s not waving signs. He is a man with a high sense of conscience and morality.”

Except that only Uzi Landau and Tzipi Hotoveli are the true Likudniks in this story. Like Menachem Begin, who said clearly at the Knesset, back in 1955: “The free man is entitled, and sometimes even obligated, regarding issues of irrevocable rights, to transgress formal directives, should said directives threaten those rights, provided that he is then willing to accept responsibility for his action.” And even Ariel Sharon said, during the struggle over Oslo (in the summer of 1995): “If a soldier feels that the command he was given contradicts his conscience, he must approach personally… appear before his commanding officer, and explain it to him, and be prepared to accept the consequences.”

Following harsh criticism from both the Likud and the Left, Naftali Bennett, head of the Bayit Hayehudi party, went on offensive against the attacks on his statements regarding his personal inability to expel Jews from their homes in the case of another “Disengagement”.

Bennett said that he is not calling on soldiers to refuse orders, which he also clearly said in his original remarks.

He said that, as a soldier, he personally would be incapable of fulfilling an order to uproot a Jewish settlement or an Arab village.

On Channel 10, Bennett then went on the offensive against the Likud and Netanyahu.

Bennett said that the fact that the question even arises on election eve as to whether or not the Likud would have soldiers, once again, expel Jews from their homes, says it all. And the Likud would do it, he claims.

In response to Netanyahu’s statement, “Whoever refuses orders to remove settlements will not be in my government,” Bennett responded, “Mr. Prime Minister, is the reason you said that because you are planning on removing settlements in your next administration?”

A number of Likud ministers and MKs have attacked Bennett, but with the exception of Moshe Feiglin, none have yet said they would not expel Jews if given the order to do so.

The Likud sees HaBayit HaYehudi as their biggest threat in the upcoming elections.

It’s easy to see why.

The original interview:

Saturday night’s followup:

Moshe Feiglin on Bennett and refusing orders:

Unfortunately, not everyone has a real bomb shelter nearby.

In Nitzan, one of the southern settlements that was selected to house many of those expelled from Gush Katif, residents have to take cover in large sewer pipes that were brought in to be used as bomb shelters.

The family: Uri & Hadassa DeYoung and 5 children: Avigayil (16), Noa (14), Beruria (10), Tsuriel (8) and Devora (2).

Background: My husband and I are both from New Jersey. We met and married in Israel. My husband always lived along the New Jersey shore and when he discovered that he didn’t have to give up the beach in order to live in an ideologically motivated community he was very excited. One visit to Gush Katif was all it took to convince him that it would be home. I needed a bit more convincing to brave the blazing Negev sun, but in the end we moved into our home in Netzer Hazani one week after we got married. We lived in there for two years and then, with our neighbors’ blessings, moved to the more isolated community of K’far Darom in order to support one of the smallest communities in Gush Katif. We were the 28th family and were quickly joined by a few more who arrived during the same summer. We lived in K’far Darom for twelve years.

Our house – then:In K’far Darom we purchased one unit of a two-family house. The upstairs was unfinished so we merited building part of a house in the Land of Israel. We had actually seen the houses in K’far Darom being built while we lived in Netzer Hazani and thought to ourselves, “Ah, the people in K’far Darom will have permanent houses. How nice.” We didn’t even imagine then that we’d live in one of them.

The DeYoung home in K’far Darom.

Our house – now: After renting a small apartment for a few years in Elon Moreh we decided that it was time to move into larger quarters, and thoroughly combed the community in search of an available house. The available rentals weren’t suitable so after much deliberation we purchased a house greatly in need of renovation. The neighbors were overjoyed to see lights on once again. We’re still part of the K’far Darom community in Shavei Darom, but we value our home in the Shomron.

Day of uprooting from K’far Darom: We woke up early to the sound of helicopters flying overhead. Everyone knew that only a genuine miracle could stop the Expulsion. Our house was one of the houses closest to the entry gate and faced the synagogue. We saw the thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of soldiers marching in, some of whom encircled the K’far Darom Synagogue in approximately ten rows. So many youth, so disconnected from their own people that they could tear Jews from a synagogue in Israel! We didn’t engage the soldiers in conversation, and we certainly opposed singing or dancing with them. I spoke to foreign reporters for most of the day, until the soldiers dragged us out. I wanted to publicize K’far Darom’s story and the reporters let me speak not just of the imminent Expulsion, but of why we came to live in K’far Darom.

What we left behind: On a personal level we left behind the only place we’d lived after marrying, the first house we purchased, the only home our children knew, and the home to which we long to return. On a greater level we, as did all of Israel, left behind part of the Land of Israel. Our beautiful, vibrant Gush Katif was abandoned to the Arabs, who turned it into a terrorist training camp and missile-launching site.

Feelings towards the State: There is a difference between the State and any particular government. The State is what currently serves as the governing body in Israel and can do either good or, G-d forbid, harm. The Sharon government and the IDF at the time of the Expulsion committed an atrocity against us and all of Israel. They will be forgiven only when Gush Katif is rebuilt.

The biggest difficulty: Having to choose between permanently remaining with the community of K’far Darom expellees and living in Yesha. We are among the small minority who didn’t lose employment or have difficulty finding schools for our children so, thank G-d, we didn’t have those troubles, which were major difficulties for most families.

Seven years ago, on September 12, 2005, the government of Israel withdrew its defense forces from each of the 23 hitherto-vibrant Israeli communities in the cluster known as Gush Katif. All public buildings including schools, libraries, community centres, office buildings, industrial buildings, factories and greenhouses which could not be taken apart were left intact [source].

The hyper-productive Israeli agricultural and horticultural greenhouses that had generated sales, profits and jobs are gone – promptly destroyed by the new masters of Gush Katif and of Gaza. Terrorist training facilities have sprouted on the ruins of the abandoned Israeli towns. The vision of a self-sustaining, forward-looking, peace-seeking Gaza has vanished. Some ten thousand Israelis left Gush Katif to make their homes elsewhere.

During these past seven years, we have been witness to the conversion of Gush Katif into an armed camp, an arsenal from which some 9,400 rockets and missiles [source] have been fired at the Israeli civilians and communities on the other side of the fence.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Facebook page today says: ”Seven years ago today we disengaged from the Gaza Strip”. A photo of two Gaza terrorists preparing a missile to fire at Israel’s appears below it [see at right], along with a message suggesting the photo be shared in order to “show the world Israel’s true neighbors. Share this, because mainstream media won’t.”

The mainstream media generally avoid showing scenes like those below, as well. They are September 2012 images from Rafah in the Gaza Strip, where the Hamas overlords use Soviet-style wall posters to hammer home the message that the men firing the rockets and carrying the sub-machine guns are the people’s heroes.

Visit This Ongoing War.

A committee of expelled Gush Katif residents approached Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday requesting that he prevent the destruction of the synagogue and mikvah of the Migron settlement, which was evacuated, Kipa reprted.

Eliezer Aurbach, chairmen of the Gush Katif residents’ committee, wrote to Netanyahu in the name of the expelled former residents of Gush Katif, saying, “We who have personally experienced the government’s decision to uproot our lives and our communities from Gush Katif seven years ago, are standing stunned and in pain today, seeing how the government is repeating the mistake and the terrible injustice by destroying a community and tearing up the homes in Migron.”

Auerbach, who served as the head of the Religious Council of Gush Katif before the evacuation, wrote that “in Gush Katif, after many deliberations, it was decided not to destroy the religious structures. After the Migron families have been evacuated, we are turning to you with an appeal not to destroy the synagogue and mikvah structures in the Migron settlement.”

“After the acquisition of most of the houses in Migron from their Palestinian owners, logic and public justice should obligate the state’s attorney to approach the Supreme Court with a request to nullify the ruling,” he added.

“We call upon you today to instigate a process that will strengthen the settlement in Israel, and especially in Judea and Samaria as part of a Zionist statement that reflects our rights to this land,” the committee signed the letter.

The family: My name is Avin Gangte. I am a member of the Benei Menashe community hailing from the north-eastern states of Manipur and Mizoram in India. I am married to Hagit who is also from the same community and we have five children.

Background: We made aliya in April 1995 and we came straight to Neve Dekalim in Gush Katif. Our destination was prearranged with the local administration by Rabbi Eliahu Avichail, who discovered the Benei Menashe and brought us to Eretz Yisrael.

Both my wife and I hold Master’s Degrees in history from the University of Manipur. In Gush Katif I worked as a gardener and my wife worked in a children’s day care center. We lived in Gush Katif for ten years, until the expulsion.

Today: After four months in a hotel in Jerusalem, we came to Nitzan, where most of the Neve Dekalim people have chosen to resettle. We have been living in a caravilla (a special caravan) up to now. We have received a plot of land here and be’ezrat Hashem hope to build a permanent home soon.

Our house – then: Our house wasn’t much but it was “home”- with green lawns in front, plenty of sand dunes all around and a splendid view of the Mediterranean Sea in the back. It was a duplex that we shared with my parents.

Day of uprooting from Neve Dekalim: We left on the night of the sixteenth of August 2005. The day the soldiers arrived to pull us out was… like a bad dream; a nightmare; soldiers all over, residents and volunteers trying to block their entry, people crying and shouting, groups of people praying, struggles here and there and what not. It will be in our memories for a long time to come, if not forever.

What we left behind: We left behind the place where we began life in Eretz Yisrael. In Gush Katif we left behind a wonderful life, a life “away from the maddening crowd” and many happy childhood memories (three of our children were born there.)

Feelings toward the State: As for the government, the pullout was supposed to stop rocket attacks and other Arab violence; but with what’s going on since then – the nonstop firings, the continued violence, I hope they have started to realize the mistake and the foolishness of it all.

What happened to your community? The majority of the Benei Menashe community that was in Neve Dekalim are now living in Nitzan. A small group has moved to the north.

Something good that’s happened since: The one good thing I can see from the disengagement is that the government, in trying to wipe out Gush Katif has created several “Gush Katifs” all over the country.

Over the past two years, Moshe Vidal, an Israeli lawyer, has represented 520 Arabs who worked as agricultural laborers in Gush Katif and were suing their former employers for labor rights violations.

The former employers were shocked to learn about these lawsuits, many of them from ex-employees who were more than just that, who had close relationships with their employers. The employers turned to the Gush Katif settlers’ committee for legal assistance. The committee approached the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, which introduced them to Sigalit Handsher-Farkash, a lawyer specializing in labor laws and a member of the Legal Forum.

Vidal submitted lawsuits against 150 former employers, former residents of Gush Katif. Serial claims were made against the State and the employers for violation of labor laws, with each worker claiming an average of 100,000 NIS. The plaintiffs demanded currency value differences, pay for extra hours, additional pay for work on holidays and severance pay.

Handsher-Farkash decided to inquire about the credibility of the claims and began preliminary procedures, asking to hear the workers’ testimony in court. This step completely overwhelmed the court system, stalling the process and buying time.

Handsher-Farkash and her team went through each claim and discovered that they were all exactly the same, all claiming the exact same work hours, severance pay etc., leading the team to believe that all the claims were organized. They then discovered that the power of attorney on the claims was signed by a Gazan lawyer, Yusuf Hijazi. Furthermore, the forms passed on to Vidal were partially or completely empty, and some even lacked the proper authorization and authentication signatures of the plaintiffs.

Handsher-Farkash was able to contact some of the former employees. The immensity of the scam was then uncovered. Some claimants admitted to being coerced by Hamas to submit the claims; many didn’t want to submit the lawsuit, knowing that their employers cared for their livelihood, which was cut off because of the Disengagement. Some explained that they were suing the State, not the employers, and asked to withdraw their claim when they learned it was being submitted against the employers. Handsher-Farkash even had a worker state in court, via the phone, that he wished to retract his claim. In another case, one of the workers sent a letter from Gaza stating that Vidal did not represent him.

Vidal claimed to have spoken to each of the plaintiffs; however Hendsher-Farkash proved that one of them was a deaf-mute, and therefore it would have been impossible for Vidal to talk to him on the phone.

Beyond procedural tactics, a basic deficiency in the basis of the claims was discovered. The calculation of claims was based on the assumption that each worker worked six days a week, even though there had been prolonged periods during which the workers did not come to work because of security issues. In addition, some did not have specific work hours, while others worked in certain seasons, not year round.

Handsher-Farkash proved in court that the claims were not lawfully submitted and succeeded in closing all the cases.

Not all the farmers chose this venue. Some sought legal counsel from other lawyers who advised them to settle in court. They paid their former employees, only to discover that the lawsuits were a scam.

It is important to note that the State took no responsibility in regards to the lawsuits, even though the case was a result of the Disengagement, which was a political decision. The State was included in the claims, but asked to have the lawsuits against it declared invalid because it was not the direct employer. As a result, these farmers, who had already suffered the loss of their homes, communities and livelihoods, were once again left by the State to fend for themselves. They were lucky to find assistance and resolution through the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel.