The aforementioned Pinchas Wallerstein is a resident of the West Bank settlement of Ofra. He is a physically maimed survivor of a terrorist attack and has headed the Benyamin Regional Council for the past twenty-five years. Besides being on the most-wanted list of public offenders, he is a leading star in Ofir Pines’s nightmares.
Pines will be sworn in as Labor’s choice for interior minister in this new government concocted by the prime minister to carry out the evacuation. One of the first ceremonies Pines will be required to preside over in his new post will involve the awarding of a prize of 600,000 shekels for flawless community administration. For eight consecutive years the Benyamin Regional Council has been awarded this coveted prize, and once again Israel’s outstanding regional head will accept it. This year, Labor’s Pines will be the one handing it directly to the winner – Pinchas Wallerstein. Kacha yaaseh la-ish asher hamelech chafetz biykaro.
May Wallerstein go from strength to strength in winning over the hardened hearts of Israel’s leaders, and may he succeed in turning their desire to destroy and uproot settlements into a renewed spirit of building and cultivating. Israel needs a newly elected government that will plant seeds of peace, not only between Israel and its hostile, murderous neighbors, but primarily among our own Jewish people.
A government that comes into being with the goal of dividing and destroying cannot stand.