Ariel, Boim and Moyal Face Off at Expulsion Session, by Hillel Fendel (Israel National News)
“‘We have lost our way. We have forgotten why we are here. As a secular Jew who does not keep all the commandments, I say that it is impossible to even hope to dismantle the holy triangle of the People of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the Land of Israel… Our leadership is weak, but our nation is strong, and better days are yet to come.'”
Related report: Expulsion’s Impact on Army’s Combat Capabilities
Excerpts;
Minister Boim praised Israel for “carrying out the Disengagement in an appropriate manner – meaning that there was no civil war…”
IDF General: IDF Buried Three Principles
Gen. (res.) Yiftah Ron-Tal, who retired last year after serving as IDF Ground Forces Commander, said that as a result of the Disengagement, “the IDF had buried three fundamental principles: Victory; Honor; and Love of the People and Land… I cannot understand what brings a country to give up, on its own accord, a part of its land. I was in China and spoke with the Chief of Staff there – in a giant room four times bigger than this hall, with just the two of us and our two interpreters – and he told me about a border dispute with India regarding an area of maybe 20 square kilometers, and he said, ‘And I’m not planning to give them even one inch!’ – and don’t forget how big China is!”Ron-Tal, a former resident of the Yesha community of Ofrah, told the Jerusalem Conference last year that when he was faced with the choice of either resigning from the army or carrying out Disengagement orders, he deliberated, but chose the latter.
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‘Next Generation’ of Gush Katif Expellees Seeks Compensation
B’Sheva Editor: Media Has Not Repented
Emanuel Shilo, the editor of the weekly newspaper and Conference-sponsor B’Sheva, spoke about the media. He noted that there have been journalists “here and there” who have confessed to making mistakes during the Disengagement. “For instance,” he said, “[well-known show host] Ilana Dayan said that the media had not asked the right questions while Sharon was promoting his plan.” In general, however, “the media has not changed its ways and is still in the same place it was last year… For instance, respected journalist Akiva Eldar of Haaretz openly wrote recently that he is willing to offer Olmert a general pardon for all the offenses of which he is charged, in exchange for further withdrawals and concessions to the Palestinian Authority… In short, I see no change in the Israeli media, and the only solution is to create competition – not only in newspapers and internet, but also in radio and television.”Sderot Mayor Cites “Holy Triangle”
Mayor Eli Moyal of Sderot said simply, “We have lost our way. We have forgotten why we are here. As a secular Jew who does not keep all the commandments, I say that it is impossible to even hope to dismantle the holy triangle of the People of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the Land of Israel… Our leadership is weak, but our nation is strong, and better days are yet to come.”Moyal responded sharply to Minister Boim’s words that during the Disengagement, “civil war had been prevented.” Moyal said that as far as the State was concerned, there could very easily have been a civil war: “We saw the long lines of soldiers standing there, and we saw that they were ready for civil war. What prevented the war was just us, the people, and our responsibility.”
Ariel Blames Sharon
MK Ariel, who chaired the session calmly and with good humor, finally abandoned his restraint in his concluding remarks and said: “The unilateral disengagement, it is now unambiguously clear, was the result of a one-person [Ariel Sharon] and one-family scheme, and this is clearly written in our national chronicles. It is well-known. The editor of Haaretz, David Landau, wrote straight out, ‘We knew of the corrupt acts [of Ariel Sharon], but we didn’t publicize them because there was a bigger corruption – that of the Jewish presence in Gush Katif.'”Ariel continued, “We want to look forward, but whoever doesn’t do a reckoning of his past sins, will apparently not be able to correct them… Regarding the reparations [that are supposed to be paid to the uprooted residents], it simply cannot be that after a year and a half, the government continues to do nothing but ‘explain.’ There’s a known rule that one either succeeds, or he explains. The government has done nothing about the expellees but explain; there have been no governmental sessions regarding what has been done for the expellees. It is simply unacceptable, and cannot continue for even one more day…”