We are happy to present you with our Sovereignty bulletin # 47, sent to members and supporters of our Sovereignty Movement. You are invited to read, get updated, send us your comments and join:
Dear friends,
Shalom and greetings.
The hypocrisy of the International Criminal Court in the Hague cries to high heaven. The prosecutor in this court, who herself was involved in severe crimes against humanity in Gambia, is the person who now leads an investigation against Israel, which only seeks to defend her citizens from Arab terror.
It is a court without legal jurisdiction, which is supposed to deal only with claims among states, but chooses to accept a suit by a party who is not at all a member-state of the court and therefore has no legal status to pursue such a case.
But in order to spread slander against Israel in the world they use lies and distortions and go with it. Indeed, our path is not easy.
But above all, we must remember the State of Israel’s historic mistake, which led to the decision of the court in Hague.
This terrible mistake is the Oslo Accords, which not only led to the killing and murder of many hundreds of Jews, but also gave the Arab Palestinians an international status that allowed them, over time, to upgrade their status to that of an observer state, and from there, they knew how to take advantage of the various ways of interpreting this to bring suit against Israel.
A few weeks ago, Prof. Talya Einhorn explained, in a panel that we organized, that without the Oslo Accords, we would not have come to our present legal-political situation.
Without the Oslo Accords (which, as we recall, were sold to us as something that would upgrade Israel’s status…) there would not now be the risk of the persecution of senior members of the Israeli military when they are abroad, as a result of this vain and malicious claim.
To read the remarks by Prof. Einhorn as part of the panel discussion, click here
We must be sure not to repeat this mistake. I just a few days, we will go to the polls. If we do not all mobilize for the Right camp’s fortification, because of laziness, the “all or nothing” approach or any other consideration, a left government might rise to power here, and as is it with leftist governments, it would not internalize the principle of “if it’s not Corona, it’s not interesting” or the principle of Israeli unity and it would promote its world-view with all its energy.
Such a government would not only run counter to the position of the great majority of the people in Israel, we could expect it to bring more political disasters such as Oslo upon us.
The leaders of the Rightwing camp must also see what is happening at the Hague as a clear warning sign, calling on them to mobilize on behalf of the future of the People, to unite and form a strong, broad and stable right-wing government, which will also be able to block dangerous ideas of dividing the Land and will promote steps of sovereignty and clinging to the Land of Israel.
Visitors at the preserve
The Oz veGaon preserve continues to be a magnet for candidates from right-wing parties who visit to express their loyalty to the Land of Israel, settlement and sovereignty.
This week it was senior members of the New Hope party who came to the preserve and expressed resolute positions on their commitment to Judea and Samaria and took part in the planting of trees.
Former minister Ze’ev Elkin, Head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Member of Knesset Zvi Hauser and Danny Dayan spoke about promoting the vision of sovereignty in the political field and the practical field.
For our part, we demanded that they fight for sovereignty with as much vigor as they fight against the establishment of a Palestinian state.
To read more about the visit and remarks made by the visitors, click here
Additional guests in the reserve
Yesterday, Thursday, three senior members of the Religious Zionist Party, came to oz veGaon for an evening of dialogues, questions and answers. MK Bezalel Smotrich, Adv. Simcha Rothman and Michal Waldiger . Representatives of the Sovereignty Youth also joined the event.
The three explained their ideological and political doctrine. Adv. Simcha Rotman and MK Smotrich focused on the importance of the necessary changes in the legal system as a basis for all legislation concerning the Jewish identity of the State of Israel, its sovereignty and holding on to the Land of Israel. Without the return of leadership to the hands of the people instead of in the hands of the legal system, it will not be possible to advance national legislation without it being repealed or distorted by legal advisers, the High Court and their emissaries.
MK Smotrich focused, among other things, on the obligation to raise the banner of sovereignty especially at this time of the Biden administration, in order to transfer the political struggle from the discourse of retreats to the discourse of sovereignty. Smotrich likened it to a football game where the goal is to move the ball to the opponent's half of the field. He said if we do not hold a political discourse around where sovereignty can be applied, we may find ourselves under political pressure to hold the discourse on issues of withdrawals, concessions and freezes.
Waldiger focused her remarks on the social and educational aspects. She spoke about the relief and assistance organizations and emphasized her commitment , as part of her mission in the Knesset, to budget these bodies and leverage them. MK Smotrich went on to describe examples of the social work by religious Zionists in the Knesset and stated that the image is that religious Zionism is detached from social issues, but in practice its social work in the field and in politics is immeasurably greater than it seems.
The critical point that is not talked about
We would like to draw the attention of all of us to an important detail that emphasizes the duty of the right-wing camp to mobilize in its entirety for voting on Election Day, and this is a point that has not been given proper treatment even though it is critical.
This point was made by Prof. Asher Cohen, number 15 on the 'Yamina' list for the next Knesset, in an interview with Arutz 7.
Prof. Cohen draws attention to the fact that due the closing of the skies to flights, Israel in the upcoming elections will have a much larger voter turnout than in previous election days. This means that there is a very high chance that the electoral treshold will stabilize at a much higher number than we have known so far.
This critical fact could have a dramatic effect on strengthening the left-wing camp, because many of them were abroad in previous elections and are now here. In order to balance this addition that the left-wing camp is expected to receive, one hundred percent of right-wing voters must reach the polls, no less, and thus make sure to express the right-wing views of the vast majority of the people at the voting booths.
The Middle East, the White House and us
For anyone who wasn't able to join us for the important zoom lecture by Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, an expert in constitutional and international law, on Israel’s political future in the Biden era, we recommend reading the summary of the lecture by Batya Jerenberg which we reposted on the Sovereignty website.
Prof. Kontorovich believes that the Biden administration, which has not yet formulated a position relating to changes in the Middle East, will try to loosen the ties relating to the Abraham Accords.
In his opinion, the states of the region will act together to prevent the regional existential threat stemming from the development of Iran’s nuclear program.
Prof. Kontorovich relates to the bureaucracy in Israel as those who in fact, hold the reins of government in Israel, and as such, it also chooses to ignore the question of sovereignty and its advancement. It seems that in the matter of restoring governance to the elected representatives as well, it is the duty of the right-wing leaders to do away with the grudges and personal rivalries of the past, and unite to form a broad, right-wing government that will be able to make the necessary changes to amend the Israeli legal system.
To read Prof. Kontorovich’s remarks at length, click here
Clarifying and delving into Jewish identity
We cannot ignore the directive by the High Court this week to recognize Reform and Conservative conversions in the matter of the Law of Return.
Without relating to the mutual accusations among the various parties in the question of what led to the court’s directive, we can state that we indeed are in the midst of an internal battle over the character of the Jewish identity of the State of Israel.
While, until thirty years ago, we dealt with existential battles against external enemies, the relative security calm and Israel’s improved position in the international sphere lead us to a deep and internal clarification of who we are, what our identity is, what are our aspirations in the Land of Israel, why should we be here, what is the true Zionist vision and where it leads.
The matter of conversion and the question of who is a Jew are determinative questions and we must not leave these critical questions to the court.
These are questions for the Israeli public to determine, with internal, broad-based, deep, democratic discussion.
Here too, the right-wing, national Zionist leadership must see the present reality and understand their role in this Israeli clarification.
Their leadership requires the formulation of a strong, broad government that will deal with these matters out of deep concern for the future of the People of Israel in its Land and in the diaspora.
Rehabilitating and growing stronger together
As you saw in the newsletter last week the snowstorm that hit Gush Etzion left behind it significant damage in Oz veGaon. Huge trees fell, plants were uprooted and equipment was broken.
Currently, we are still busy with restoring the preserve and strengthening it.
We hereby call on those of you, adults and youths alike, who are interested in helping with the work of restoration, to join us. Schools, yeshivot, ulpanot or families who can come for a frw hours and volunteer please contact us by phone (Nadia: 050-5500834, Yehudit: 050-7161818) and we will coordinate work at this place, which means so much for so many of the People of Israel.
Shabbat shalom
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar