Dear Friends,
Greetings.
 
In the Path of the Past and the Future
 
As in every year, this year, on the eve of Tisha b’Av, we walked around the walls of Jerusalem as well, together with the masses of people who came from all parts of the Land to express the Jewish People’s longing for the Temple and the Temple Mount.
 
We dedicated the walk this year to promoting the Greater Jerusalem plan, with the participants walking behind a huge sign with the words of Rabbi Yohanan, “ The future of Jerusalem is to become a metropolis for all nations”. We were joined by heads of organizations, public figures, youths and adults, who love the People and the Land.
 
The walk concluded with the traditional gathering near the Lions Gate, where public figures gave speeches honoring us with their participation.
 
Click here to read about the walk and the speakers’ remarks
Click here to see uplifting photographs of the walk and the gathering
Click here to watch videos of the speeches
 
Here, we would like to thank the police officers and the fighters of the Jerusalem Police and the Border Police, who made it possible for us to hold the walk without limitations or restrictions, a faithful expression of Israeli sovereignty over its capital. Thanks, also, to Minister of Internal Security Omer Barlev, for his clear and healthy stand, inspiring the People with the spirit of a strong Jewish-Zionist commander.
 
 
He stood strong
 
Thanks and praise to the Ben and Jerry’s Israeli franchisee, Avi Zinger, who, for a long while, stood up to the international company and refused to accept the dictate to boycott marketing in Judea and Samaria. We hope that this resolute adherence to his principle will not cost him economically and that the People of Israel will support him and purchase the products that he will market in the future, from the same principle that led him, which is that there is not, and will never be any difference between Judea and Samaria and the other parts of the Land of Israel.
 
It is also appropriate to encourage the many Jews and supporters of Israel in the Land and from abroad, who chose to thank Avi Zinger for his conduct in the matter so far. At this complex time, this encouragement is necessary, in order to convey to him and many other business people that the people and its supporters stand resolutely behind those who express Zionist principles and love for the Land of Israel by their deeds and their actions.
 
 
The Temple Mount must be in our Hands
 
The focus of this past Tisha b’Av was the centrality of the Temple Mount in the life of the Jewish People. Jews ascended the Mount, prayed there and sang the national anthem, important steps that should be accelerated and strengthened on the way to implementing the historic declaration, “The Temple Mount is in our hands”.
 
The discussion around the centrality and Jewish past of the Mount, vis-à-vis the restriction of freedom in Jewish worship that is applied there, is an important discussion that must be held in order to recognize the absurdity that is taking place in order to repair the situation in the Mount and in Jerusalem, and thereby, to the entire Land.
 
 
Sovereignty is not a political bargaining chip
 
Member of Knesset Miki Zohar’s proposed law to apply Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria has been rejected by the ministerial committee and now, we hope that representatives of the national camp in the coalition and the opposition will be able to come to an agreement on an outline that will lead to the legislation of sovereignty.
 
The application of sovereignty is a significant value in the implementation of the Zionist vision. We must not allow it to fall victim to political battles. It is within the power of the members of Knesset and  ministers as well as people who support the Land of Israel to reach an agreement in the spirit of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s words  from a year and a half ago, that “We now have an opportunity that comes once in the history of a state, an opportunity to determine our future. An opportunity to determine the territory of our Land. An opportunity to bring the entire Israeli settlement enterprise in the Land of Israel into the sovereign State of Israel – we must not apply partial sovereignty”.
 
Shabbat shalom,
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar