A large force of Border Police and the Civil Administration early Monday morning raided the A’ira Shahar hill in Binyamin and began a thorough demolition. Many residents from the surrounding communities came to the scene to protest the destruction and some set tires on fire on the access road. According to Ynet, the demolition was carried out with the approval of Bezalel Smotrich, the adjunct minister in the defense ministry in charge of the civil administration in the liberated territories.
According to the coalition agreements, the evacuation of Jewish outposts will be done with Smotrich’s approval, unless there’s an urgent security need or new illegal construction, in which case it would be under the authority of Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
תחת אחריותו של סמוטריץ: מסע הרס בהתיישבות בבנימין
כוחות גדולים של שוטרי מג”ב ומנהל אזרחי פשטו הבוקר (שני) על גבעת אעירה שחר בבנימין והתחילו במסע הרס.
תושבים רבים מיישובי הסביבה הגיעו למקום והם מוחים כנגד ההרס. pic.twitter.com/190HQNIwjb
— אריאל דנינו Ariel Danino (@arieldanino) August 14, 2023
Altogether, five structures were demolished in A’ira Shahar (the name translates as “I shall wake up the dawn” which is, you know, ironic, considering the circumstances). It was claimed the structures were built on private Arab land or on state land but without permits. In total, there are 20 structures in the outpost which are all considered “illegal.”
כוחות הביטחון הורסים כמה בתים במאחז אעירה שחר שבבנימין. תושבים מהאזור ניסו לחסום ולעכב את הפינוי, צמיגים הובערו בציר שמוביל למקום@carmeldangor pic.twitter.com/onndJw4iWX
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) August 14, 2023
Smotrich’s office released the following statement:
“These are new buildings built on registered private Arab land that cannot be regulated, regarding which there’s a demand of the security establishment and the jurists for enforcement. Unfortunately, we were unable to come to an agreed solution of transferring them (the settlers – DI) to nearby state lands to regulate them as we have acted and continue to act in other places, such as in Homesh. On our shift, we build and regulate settlements on an unprecedented scale and do so with pride and authority.”
Yes and no. The resettlement of Homesh was not the result of Smotrich’s office regulating the settlement, but of the Knesset law that annulled the 2005 Disengagement Act, which made resettling the already approved town possible. Homesh was legal when it was demolished and its Jews were scattered by government thugs.
Also: what was the hurry? What’s the urgency? Where is Minister Smotrich’s protest of being undermined by his coalition partner?
The Rav of Kochav HaShahar, Rabbi Ohad Krakover, said on Monday: “They destroyed the homes of several families here, and why? Here there are empty, barren lands where pioneering people came and with great devotion and love and gentleness and nobility settled the Land of Israel. Why destroy it? So that Arabs would come here?”
Perhaps if they had hoisted a Hezbollah flag on the caravans, the IDF would not have touched them.
