Rebuilding Maoz Ester
צילום: נעמי דיסין
Torah dedication ceremony held at illegal outpost
Right-wing activists gather at rebuilt Maoz Ester, vow to continue settlement enterprise. 'Obama thinks that we'll simply evaporate,' MK Ben Ari says
Some 200 right-wing activists on Thursday held a Torah dedication ceremony at the illegal Maoz Ester outpost in the West Bank's Binyamin region.
The outpost was dismantled by security forces on Wednesday, but was rebuilt by settler teens later in the day.
During the ceremony, Jewish Rabbinical Council Chairman Dov Lior praised the "Hilltop Youth", saying "you are the true pioneers. The current situation is temporary; the nation of Israel will grow stronger."
Addressing the growing US pressure on Israel to halt it settlement activity, Lior said "Israel has no real allies; no one can be counted on apart from the Lord.
"Unfortunately, there are those among us who are eager to cede parts of the Land of Israel. There will be no peace with these savages (referring to the Arabs), because they are haters of peace," he said.
"I hope the Israeli nation wakes up and realizes that its security will not come from ceding land or evacuating outposts, but from the continued construction and settlement in all of Israel."
Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari (National Union) told those on hand "(US President Barack) Obama thinks that we'll simply evaporate. We are talking about 350,000 people in the West Bank alone, and he is referring to an additional 300,000 people who live in Pisgat Zeev, Gilo and Ramot, which to him are located beyond the Green Line. This is why hanging on to Maoz Ester serves as a statement: The people of Israel have returned to their land, because they have no other."
Professor Hillel Weiss said "Obama is a little goy. He won’t be remembered. Obama is attaching his country to the axis of evil, and the ramifications of this will be evident soon – and I'm referring to a global war."
