Media Releases – May1997
May 1997
May 1, 1997 Arafat, A True “Canaanite”
May 6, 1997 SHAME
May 7, 1997 Praise the Lord, but Pass Me a Gun to Protect Myself
May 7, 1997 Open Letter: Yossi Beilin Is Bad For The Jews
May 9, 1997 The Truth Will Out
May 12, 1997 Carrying On A Sacred Arab Tradition
May 13, 1997 Duping Those Who Want To Be Duped
May 19, 1997 Annual Membership Meeting and Trip to Shomron
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Jerusalem, May 1, 1997
Arafat, A True “Canaanite”
Jacob’s sons Levi and Shimon were reprimanded by
their father for taking vengeance for their sister
Dinah’s defilement. In the account given in the Bible,
the reasons Jacob gave for castigating his sons were
that the Jews could not afford to take vengeance because
they were few in number, and the surrounding hostile
forces were far greater, and would consequently destroy
the Jewish People. It turned out that Jacob was wrong
on that score, and the Jewish People survived this act
of vengeance when they acted to uphold their moral
values and beliefs. Today, there are those who think
that Jews taking vengeance is passe, but hold that
vengeance is an understandable and an acceptable
response for Arabs.
In our times we are faced with a most difficult
situation which in some respects resembles the Canaanite
immorality that existed in our Promised Land in the days
of our forefather Jacob. A permissive Arafat and his
cohorts virtually encourage the slaughter of Jewish
women and children, which takes place with increasing
regularity; at best the Arab populace is indifferent,
and at worst openly approves. The Arab terrorist murder
of two young women in Wadi Kelt is but the latest of
such tragedies. Such murders are now becoming quite
common, and no longer shock, no matter the degree of
Arab bestiality involved. And what is worse, because of
the irrational fear of some that the non-existent peace
will be lost, we take no vengeance, nor do we take any
firm steps to correct this deplorable situation.
Do not be misled for a moment by Arafat’s apparent
condemnation of this recent tragedy, which he made in
English to assuage those to whom he looks for support.
His Arab admirers know he has an entirely different
attitude towards the incident when he speaks to them in
Arabic. There he is wont to praise the murderers as
martyrs, and heroes for the “Cause.” He certainly will
never turn over for trial in Israel those who fled to
his sanctuaries from the various places in Israel where
they have committed their murders of Jews. Rather his
known pattern is to pretend to have a trial of one or
two days in his bailiwick, a comparatively moderate
sentence, and an “escape” from the jail by the prisoner
that occurs shortly thereafter. Wonder of wonders, the
prisoner is never recaptured! Arafat does not feel
bound by the moral dictate banning murder if Jews or
other adversaries are involved.
Amusingly enough the Arabs who are busy rewriting
history, make the absurd claim that they are descendants
of the Canaanites, and thus have a more ancient claim to
this Land than do the Jews. In terms of their immoral
behavior and indifference to the continual slaughter of
Jews, such Arabs certainly have a great deal in common
with the Canaanites. At the time the Lord banished
that ancient people, and others, from this Land because
of their immoral behavior. Don’t Arafat and his
friends get the message?!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, May 6, 1997
SHAME
It was unpardonable for General Uzi Dayan
(Head of Central Command) to have given the order
to IDF troops under his command to smash windows
and glass doors of a building he sought to destroy,
while Jewish children were knowingly inside. As a
result, many of the children from the settlement of
Yitzhar (in Samaria) who had barricaded themselves
within, were injured. What makes the situation more
grotesque is that on the preceding day, Israel
commemorated “Holocaust Memorial Day” when we remember
the slaughter of Jewish men, women and children by the
Nazis. That such an order was given by a Jewish General
in the Land of Israel one day later is nothing less
than tragic.
How any Jewish General could issue such an
order is incomprehensible. Given General Dayan’s
track record, however, he has previously been inclined
to use such outrageous force against his own People.
He has an entirely different approach with regard to
the Arabs. There he has plenty of patience and
exercises excessive restraint, particularly with regard
to the Arab’s daily provacative and violent actions
against the Jewish Community in Hebron. Against Jews,
and even Jewish children, his self-hating Jewish nature
comes to the fore and he is prone to be ruthless.
And where is Prime Minister Netanyahu in all this?
He cannot escape responsibility for this tragic scene.
Jews who take themselves seriously will long
remember what has occurred here, and what its
portents are. They will hold him responsible for
what he permitted Dayan to do. So, too, the inaction
of Defense Minister Mordechai, and his double
standard when it comes to Jews; he, too, is a dismal
caricature of Jewish pride and self-respect.
It is a sad, sad day for the Jewish People.
Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, May 7, 1997
The following letter was sent to the media and to
Members of the Knesset.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
We came on Aliyah from the U.S.A. in March 1972.
In September 1977 (as a single parent family) we were
blessed and privileged to be the first family in Givon.
My eldest son, a paratrooper, was on the Lebanese Border;
and my second son is in university. Four daughters (one
after the army) and I lived alone in Givon; the other nine
families who signed up did not come until later.
The Army took my two eldest daughters and myself
to Bet-El to train on the M14 and Uzi, which we were
issued. I later traded my M14 for an Uzi, when as the
driver for Givon, I found the M14 unwieldy in a small
pick-up truck. In 1982, I commenced construction of our
permanent home in Givat Zeev, (unfenced), two kilometers
closer to Ramallah.
In recent years I have participated in many
peaceful demonstrations as a law abiding citizen. In the
20 years that I have had a weapon, I have not misused it,
nor shot anyone, nor am I about to do so, unless my life,
and that of my children is endangered. I purchased a safe
to prevent the Uzi from being stolen; that gun has left my
home only for security checks, or for target practice.
Recently the Army has taken this gun from me.
I was told that my gun was taken because I did
not pass the “Investigative Committee,” to which I was not
invited. The Army found it important to issue me a weapon
in 1977, which makes it impossible to understand why they
have now confiscated it. The situation in and around the
area in which I live has greatly deteriorated, and lives
are in constant danger.
The Security Officer of Givat Zeev, Eyal Beck,
recommended that I be allowed to keep the Uzi. My handgun
is useless against a rifle, and I and my family could be
easily attacked without being able to put up a proper
defense of our lives.
We live virtually in the teeth of Ramallah, a
large center of Hamas-oriented Arabs. From my home, I
look directly across the Wadi into Bidu, home of the
killers of two young men brutally murdered on their way to
Givat Zeev a few years ago. Also close by is Bir Netala
where Waxman’s son was murdered. My home is not in the
middle of the Yishuv, but isolated, and is the last house
on the far-back edge, in the woods below the street. With
all due respect to our security, they can’t be every place
at once; I have already had several bad experiences which
I reported to the police and security. Wolves do not
attack in the center of the flock; they go after the ones
at the edge.
Arab villages are only minutes from my house,
where I live alone with a helpless little Down-Syndrome
girl. The person or persons coming to kick in my door are
coming to kill us. How are we to protect ourselves?
Unless my Uzi is returned, another unnecessary
tragedy may occur, because I have been rendered
defenseless from a likely and serious threat of attack.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Duley
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Efrat, May 7, 1997
Open Letter: Yossi Beilin Is Bad For The Jews
I wish to voice my protest against the meeting of
the heads of the Councils of Gush Etzion and Efrat, Shilo
Gal and Yinon Ahiman, with Yossi Beilin as reported in the
media on May 2, 1997. The meeting was purportedly
arranged to “find a common denominator” between the views
and interests of the Jews of our areas with the views of
Yossi Beilin and those post-Zionists who look to him and
Shimon Peres as their Gurus.
Beilin, is one of the architects of the unrealistic
and disastrous Oslo process which was aimed at dismantling
our Zionist hopes and dreams. He should be recognized and
exposed as the dangerous enemy he is to the survival of a
Jewish State. Moreover, he personally should be tried as a
criminal for knowingly conspiring and having his aides meet
with Arafat and his cohorts in the PLO at a time when it was
criminal for them to do so. Ironically, the Labor Party
which purports to insist on a further investigation into
the Bar On affair to uphold the “rule of law” in Israel,
openly flaunted, violated, and made a mockery of the then
existing clear and specific laws and prohibitions of meeting
with the outlawed PLO.
Beilin still advocates the Jews evacuating their
established homes and places in parts of Judea, Samaraia
and Gush Katif. His Machavilian thrust is to divide and
conquer by an attempted meeting with the Jews about an
area which even he accepts as remaining in Jewish hands
should be exposed for what it is. It should not be forgotten
that Beilin strongly supported the abandonment of Hebron,
and if the fate of the Jewish Community there was left in his
hands, they would have no future. Likewise, Tekoa, Karmei
Tzur, Psagot, Yitzhar and others would face a similar fate
at the hands of Beilin. Cunningly, he knew in advance to
whom he could turn to receive him at this time. Ahiman of
Efrat and Gal of Gush Etzion, and others whose thinking
is just as narrow regarding “other settlements,” did not
let him down. They gave Beilin a platform to advance his
present candidacy for Labor leadership, by pretending that
he is interested in the survival of “certain” settlements,
and is willing to talk to the “settlers” to work out a
“deal.” Beilin is a dangerous and cancerous foe, no
different than his mentor Peres, and should be shunned
like the plague that he is.
Accordingly, there can be no dialogue with Yossi
Beilin, Shimon Peres, and anyone else committed to the
Oslo Process. We have nothing in common with them nor
their objectives! The Oslo Accords are a crime against
the Jewish People, their hopes and their national
aspirations. A more suitable approach to Beilin and the
other leaders responsible for the Oslo disaster, is have
them face criminal charges for the senseless but
predictable deaths of Jews they have caused by this
Process. And what about the loss of national pride, and
faith in ourselves and in the beliefs of our forefathers,
that has resulted therefrom?
Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, May 9, 1997
The Truth Will Out
It was intended as a humorous report on the front
page of the Jerusalem Post this morning. It appears that
there was a theft of an auto of a Meretz leader who
became upset because the loss affected him personally.
Whereupon, he went into action. He made the necessary
calls to his Arab friends, and Jibril Rajoub himself, the
PA Preventative Security Chief, intervened; the Meretz
car was returned to Yekutiel within three hours of its
theft in Jerusalem. It was reported that Yekutiel picked
up the car himself from an Arafat-controlled area in
Bethlehem, from where, apparently, this car theft ring
operates.
The incident however, is not at all humorous. It
unquestionably reveals, by means of the car theft
scenario, that Arafat and Co. are not serious about
implementing the Oslo Accords; moreover, it proves that
they are indirectly responsible for the many Jewish deaths
arising out of Arab violence since the Accords became
operative. It also patently discloses the immorality of the
Meretz people; they sanctimoniously use moral values only
as a weapon to attack their Jewish opponents, but never
apply those very moral standards with regard to their own
conduct, nor to the conduct of the Arabs.
The dispatch with which the Meretz car was returned,
clearly demonstrates the knowledge and capability of the PA
when it wishes to rectify or prevent a “situation.” It
knows who is involved, and apparently it has the authority to
have its wishes obeyed. Today it dealt with a particular car
theft, but otherwise extensively allows its car theft policy to
go on undisturbed. The same knowledge and authority is
involved with regard to the infrastructure, suicide bombings,
and various types of Arab cells that operate to commit
violence against Jews. This car theft incident proves beyond
a shadow of a doubt, that the PA could prevent violence
against Jews. Unfortunately it has the duplicitous design to
obtain what it can through Oslo, while at the same time continue
the pressure on the Jews through violence, in order to extract
further concessions to which the Oslo Accords do not
entitle them.
As for Meretz, it will continue its “liberal” approach,
that is, disregard morality when it gets in the way.
Predictably, it will not utter a word criticizing the Arabs
about how they were able to return a Meretz car so quickly,
while claiming, at the same time, their helplessness against car
thefts and Arab violence against Jews. Thanks to the Yekutiel
incident, we now know the true nature of the capabilities
of the Palestinian Authority and Arafat.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, May 12, 1997 (Independence Day)
Carrying On A Sacred Arab Tradition
Arab citizens of Israel like Achmed Tibi are a
phenomenon that is unique. Nowhere else in this world
is an enemy and traitor of a country allowed to engage
in activities deleterious to the survival of that
nation, without any steps taken by that country to
protect itself and the rest of its citizens. Yet our
Knesset particularly, does nothing about it!
Tibi is Arafat’s main political advisor, and he and
Arafat have repeatedly shown themselves to be virulent
enemies of the existing Jewish State; both share a
brazen disrespect for basic human rights. Nevertheless,
Tibi is allowed as an Israeli citizen to flaunt his
disloyalty to Israel, and to obsequiously serve and
show his unswerving loyalty to an avowed enemy of
Israel, Arafat. But more than that, Tibi has an
undisguised hatred of the Jews, which he freely
expresses in a Meretz-oriented Jewish media, which
gives him ample time to express his villainy towards
Israel, and his anti-semitic views. If a Jew
expressed himself similarly against an Arab, that Jew
would land in jail the very same day.
It is sheer madness to remain silent to these open
onslaughts. This audacious traitor upon learning that a
Yeshiva had acquired an additional piece of land from a
non-Moslem citizen, in the Jewish Holy City of
Jerusalem, pronounced in a manner which received
widespread publicity, that such a sale “was made to
Satan himself and was a despicable act.” It so happens
that the sale in question involved a small piece of
private property located in the eastern part of the
ancient Jewish capital of Jerusalem. However, Tibi did
not relate his comment to Jerusalem only. The
Palestinian Authority Justice Minister, Abu Meddien, was
supportive and proclaimed the fact that there is a death
penalty for the sale of land to Jews. He stated that
Arafat’s legislature need not pass a law in that regard
because the law of Jordan, with whom Israel has, you
guessed it, a “peace treaty,” has had such an
unchanged law on its books for decades! Sure enough,
the next day, by reason of this patent incitement, an
Arab land dealer was kidnapped from Jerusalem, and
murdered in Ramallah. The Arabs most assuredly know
how to carry out their threats and extra-territorial
laws!
So the charade of Oslo, the peace treaty with
Jordan, and all the other false paraphernalia that goes
with the delusion that the Arabs truly are seeking peace
in the “New Middle East,” may fool some Israelis, and
continue to hoodwink the naive Americans. However, Achmed
Tibi and his friends know differently, and they do not
hesitate to declare their unadulterated racist hatred
against the Jews to anyone who will listen to them. The
Nazi salute, which the Arab Police Academy in Jericho has
adopted, is symbolic of the Nazi tradition which the
Arab world insists it has the right and honor to spread
and perpetuate.
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, May 13, 1997
Duping Those Who Want To Be Duped
The news emanating from the Palestinian Authority
predictably disclosed that the murderer of David Boim, an
American high school student, had escaped. Arafat’s
simplistic explanation was that the prisoner, the only one
of the three involved in the murder who has been caught to
date, incredulously had been given a holiday by Arafat,
and had not returned. Having had the one murderer in
custody, it is unbelievable that the others who
participated in the killing would not have been identified
by now, if good faith were involved.
The recurrent pattern of the escape of murderous
prisoners whose required turnover to Israel under Oslo
would embarass the PA regime, occurs so often and
regularly, that you would think Arafat would not try to
offer such an explanation to the world once again. Not
so! Despite the fact that it is still another example of
Arafat’s brazen amd obvious skullduggery, nothing will be
done either by the American Government or Israel. What
is even more important, the immoral involvement of Arafat
is ignored. Neither Labor nor Meretz will criticize
Arafat’s duplicity in this matter. As to the other
nations of this world, the UN Resolutions against Israel
have shown time and again, it is madness to rely on any
such nations for fairness, or justice. Each country
myopically acts on the basis of its own self-interest.
Recognizing the above to be an accurate appraisal,
what then is to be done to extricate Israel from its
present predicament of this no win and dangerous
situation? Unfortunately, we do not have a leader in
Netanyahu who has the courage and wisdom to put an end to
the pretext of Oslo. He has not even had the moxie to
stand up to America, and at the very least demand
compliance with and performance of Arafat and the PLO of
their obligations under Oslo. He has not insisted on the
reciporicity that he has stated over again, ad nausea, as
being vital to the effectiveness of the Oslo peace
proccess.
What benefit has Israel derived from a lack of
insistence on such reciprocity? Over and over again we
have learned that appeasement and concessions do not work
with Arafat, yet that remains our policy. Israel has not
dared to be honest and say outright that Oslo has failed
because of the duplicity and lack of good faith of Arafat
and the PLO; nor will we proclaim that they have used Oslo
to achieve the destruction of Israel, rather than as a
vehicle to achieve a mutually satisfactory peace
arrangement between two claimants to the ancient Land of
Israel.
The hoax escape of the murderer of David Boim
should be the last straw. It should light a fire under
Netanyahu to act boldly, and to renounce any further steps
under Oslo until the recapture and extradition to Israel
of this murderer and the others previously requested, as
called for by Oslo. Would that Netanyahu find the
courage to take such a necessary stand!
Ruth and Nadia Matar
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Jerusalem, May 19, 1997
Dear Member,
The annual membership meeting of Women For
Israel’s Tomorrow (Women In Green) will be held on May
28, 1997. This year we are planning a very exciting
program. The annual meeting will be held in the
context of an all-day Tiyul (tour) of the Shomron to
show our support and solidarity with the Jewish
settlements in the region. We will be visiting the
communities of Yitzhar, Itamar, Shilo, Maaleh Levona
and others.
Buses will leave from the Laromme Hotel at 9:15
A.M. on Wednesday May 28, 1997. We will be returning
at approximately 4:30 P.M.
We will be having lunch at Maaleh Levona, and
the business of our annual membership meeting will be
conducted over dessert.
The price for our members, which includes
roundtrip bus fare, lunch and admission to
archeological sites, is 50 NIS. Reservations,
however, are mandatory. Please call the office —
(02) 624 9887 and reserve your place by no later than
Sunday, May 25, 1997. You may invite friends and
supporters to come on the trip. Men are more than
welcome, as usual.
Looking forward to having you with us for what
promises to be a memorable annual membership day.
Yours for a better Israel today and tomorrow,
Ruth and Nadia Matar