Opinion
This land isn’t Israel
Yair Lapid
Published: 19.08.08, 11:01
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1. Yair Lapid
Ricardo Macher ,   KarneiShomron Israel   (08.19.08)
Reading your article is reading an extra good piece of bla bla writing. So you say that everything is bad in one side because of a few and that everything is good from the other side, even if not so few commit excesses and treat people with a double standard. Do you think it's OK that the order when arabs throw stones is to detain them for 2 hours (you can check that) and when Jews do so means jail, temporary exclusion and so on? Is that a democratic way, to treat your citizens as criminals and your enemies shyly because you have no guts? Yesha is ours! Ramat Gan was arab, why do we have the right over Ramat Gan and not over Yesha? Can you explain that?
2. Lapid: The Jews of the west bank are our misfortune
DR ,   hebron   (08.19.08)
Yes Lapid, we Jews of the west bank are your misfortune because we act like Jews and not Israelis. A day will come when we might have a two state solution: Israelis in Tel Aviv and Jews in Judea.
3. #1 Ricvardo - so answer this
Simon ,   TA Israel   (08.19.08)
The settlers who live on the west bank , claim through a religious belief that they are legally entitled to stay there, so therefore should any radical Christian who sees Jerusalem as the center of their religion send in the American forces and claim parts of Jerusalem as their own? I was also doing my reserve service in the west bank , protecting ultra orthodox settlers who hurled abuse at us and in some case physical violence, why should i leave my home and my family to protect such people?
4. You bring what happens on yourself
Aharon ,   givat shmuel, Israel   (08.19.08)
As much as I oppose seccesion, people like Yair Lapid make it hard not to break away and create Medinat Yehuda. You complain that we dont have solidarity with you? While you proudly destroy our homes and admit openly that the disengagement's purpose was to break the back of the Daati Leumi. If you set out to break a man's back dont be surprised when he wont accept your authority yair.
5. Some in the Left have made allies with the devil.
Robert Bernier   (08.19.08)
The Left has betrayed its own principles of universal human rights and equality when it has put its lot with that of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Iranian Ayatollahs and their bagmen in Hamas and Hezbullah. More about correcness at : http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2008/02/collapse-of-political-correctnesswhere.html
6. Every hill in Samaria and every valley in Judea is part...
Robert Bernier   (08.19.08)
Every hill in Samaria and every valley in Judea is part of our historic homeland.! The Land of Israel is ours by Historical and Moral right and in 1920 the world recognized our undeniable national rights to this land. It is ours by the historic right of the people of Israel to the entire Land of Israel. The Jews have the right to build and live freely in their country. Every hill in Samaria and every valley in Judea is part of our historic homeland. We do not forget this, not even for one moment as explained at : http://xrl.us/bi9g8
7. ABSOLUTLY RIGHT MR LAPID
DAVID ,   JUDEA   (08.19.08)
We are fed up with the state of Israel and its institutions, that represent you and your Herzelist clique. This is a lawless state not land ,proven by the many corrupt leaders that still hold on their seats of power, supported by the Herzelist secular courts. Your vulgar culture Mr Lapid lacks basic values and has no unity and for sure will not keep your clique together, singing the national item and greeting the flag to do not hold any value to many of us . You do not understand our codes you write about because , you hate our time tested Torah codes dating back 3000 years. You talk about the respected IDF soldier while the publication you write for , constantly puts the IDF in a negative light. You are right Mr Lapid this land does not belong to you and your clique we are too different in many ways, we will help you pack so you can move to Uganda, were you and your clique belong. Underlying your writing is a real fear that your days of absolute power are nearing the end and again you are right, so you see we can agree about many things.
8. Yair Lapid is a TA Settler
mic ,   Yehuda   (08.19.08)
Oh well the experiment in Jewish ethnic cleansing didn't work. Darn, in the end we didn't' teach the settlers-religious a lesson', unless you are talking about them accurately seeing people like him, Israelies, as nuts and traitors. People like lapid think they are just dealing with the settlers. Boy is he in for a huge surprise. A surprise that will find himself deleted at the end of the 'Real Experiment'... Have a nice day. mic
9. Give it all back
larry ,   zefat israel   (08.19.08)
Let's face it ,Settling our land and defending it ,no matter what,is too much of a burden when jews could be living the good Life elsewhere that's what Lapid is saying.Might as well save a lot of trouble and give all of Israel to the Arabs immediately.
10. What do you want? The mad dog regime
jason white ,   afula,israel   (08.19.08)
is using the security forces to destroy Jewish settlements in our liberated Jewish land. The regime and the media side with the illegal arab trespassers! I would rather give the palis Tel Aviv than the liberated territories. Tel Aviv matters very little to the Jewish people. The arabs want to take over our historical land and remove all trace of Jewish history. That is one of the methods they use to destroy other peoples' claim to the holy sites. A good example was the Golden temple in India. They even take people from others religions and use them,like Moshe from the Jews and jesus from the christians.
11. Yair Lapid
Voice of Reason ,   Here & Now   (08.19.08)
Well Yair you have done it again. Your mission in life obviously is to divide the people. That the end always justifies the means, that what happened to these people, our people, does not matter. That democratic rights and privileges are not granted to all citizens of Israel and that you and others like you can grant theses rights at will to whomever you choose. Why is it that any and all protests from anyone right of center is considered illegal and only what you and those of your ilk are the ones who decide what is permitted and what is not? Is that DEMOCRACY? In a true Democracy anyone should be able to say anything as long as it does not advocate the infringement of the rights of others or the overthrow of the present constitution (which we do not have). How dare you decide “to give up this land, which isn’t really ours” when the claim to the land itself it not clear either. You and those you pretend to speak for would not know what true Democracy is if it came up to you and bit you in your rear ends.
12. Mr. Lapid, how can I respect you?
Steve ,   US   (08.19.08)
How can I respect you when you do not earn my respect? How can I respect you when you say the land of Israel does not belong to Israel. I am not condoning improper behavior but how can Israel's young people respect our government and our soldiers when many are for expelling Jews from their homes and from thier land and others obey immoral orders to forcibly uproot Jews from the land of Israel.. You say Israelis "are glad that we are no longer in Gaza. But also ashamed of the disgraceful treatment of the evacuees; yet proud of the fact that it turned out that the State is still able to implement something once it decides to do it." What is there to be proud of? Expelling Jews from their homes and from their land? How can I respect you and others like you?
13. Yair, the end is near
Thomas   (08.19.08)
The new generation of Young Jews will sweep away the remaining self loathing Bolsheviks like you and the old establishment. You destroyed every host society you ever set foot in, including yours. It's time you to disappear.
14. How easy it must be to generalize
David G   (08.19.08)
The fact is many of the acts of violence by settlers in the West Bank are inexcusable, but to say it represents even the typical right wing settler is a serious mistake. Migron is a good example of settlers negotiating to move the outpost to an acceptable location. Unfortunately Mr. Lapid wants an Israel that will look upon the settlers as outsiders because it fits well with his political agenda. You have my pity Mr. Lapid, as would anyone who is willing to cast out fellow Jews so willingly.
15. AMEN!
David ,   Haifa   (08.19.08)
16. let's start with it...
yoel   (08.19.08)
"A settler wrests away a soldier’s rifle" ????? This happened to be reported by some Ynet journalist. Then, we discovered the report was FALSE. The guy who did it was a technician from the Electricity Compagny, and that he was in A REAL DANGER. In summary, not a "settler". You can talk about respect towards the State, but I'm sorry to say there's nothing that deserves respect/ Our ministers, for some of them, are corrupted and remain in power. The others follow only personal interests, and the only mobjective concerns the way they could keep their seat at the Knesset. At the same time, most of those persons don't have where t live, and most of the 45+ didn't find a job. What a pity when we face to the disengagement consequences: * synagogues were burnt, and some of them are used as training camps for terrorists * South is under Quasams' threat, deep until Ashkelon Hamas got elected, and it's as if we had iranian threat at our doors * Guilad Shalit is still their prisonner, and he's one of the only men in the world who has no right to give/get some links with family through Red Cross. During 9th Av, we "celebrated" the 3d year of that disengagement. Israel MUST regret what has been done to those "settlers". AT LEAST regarding the results we experience in Gaza, and the peace we didn't get. "settlers" are the victims, some of them still live with some Trauma. Then, don't forget they have been expelled by IDF soldiers. Don't transform them to criminals. Personnaly, I'm very jalous of them because their faith has a strong basis.
17. "Settlers" Help Israel More than your hedonistic leftists
Yisrael ,   Israel   (08.19.08)
who only sit around drinking mocha lattes and complaining about "occupation" and scheming up ways to undermine Israel. these people settled the REAL biblical land of Israel instead of barfing up their guts at a Tel Aviv discotheque. go back to your martini and leave Israel to these people its better in their hands than in yours.
18. enough from this post zionistic leftist talking head!
Efraim ,   Ramat Gan, Israel   (08.19.08)
enough garbage and badmouthing. according all leftists are terrorist collaborators because peace now is leftist. and peace now is worse than any "rightist settlers".
19. Good article
Chocko ,   NY, USA   (08.19.08)
Makes a lot of sense, and of course you will provoke the usual backlash from the american Right wing 'funda- mental cases who think the whole world is going to collapse into a big hole if they dont clear the area of Amelakites or whatever group of people they believe God has told them to wipe out to make the land 'Holy'.
20. Typical leftist elite mentality!
Jayyy ,   Israel   (08.19.08)
Trying to pass the blame of giving way land unto the settlers. Typical moronic leftist view.....you guys never take responsibility for your selfish actions!!
21. respect mr.lapid
abraham   (08.19.08)
peace
22. Well said Ricardo!
Ben ,   London, UK   (08.19.08)
23. It is Mr Lapid who is not Israel.
Terry ,   Eilat, Israel   (08.19.08)
You have a lot of nerve attempting to demonize a whole group of people as if your views represent the entire country. The truth is that YOU only represent a small minority opinion despite constant efforts in the media to persuade us otherwise. Let's examine some of your statements. First, as far as the Arabs are concerned, including most Israeli Arabs, all of Jewish Israel is ilegitimate. That includes you. You are no less a "settler" than those in the West Bank. Second, the status of the West Bank legally is disputed territory. It is as much ours as anyone elses. Maybe you skipped history class, but for most people, history did not start at Oslo. Now I am not an expert on who lives in the West Bank. I've never been there & I don't know a single person that does live there. But how do you manage to identify them all as "wild groups of young people" - would I stigmatize all leftists as "anarchists" such as those that demonstrate weekly against the security barrier? And, as it happens, many of us see the disengagement as a "bleeding wound" - an ill-conceived failure that made 10,000 of our fellow citizens refugees in their own country. And, after seeing the consequences in Gaza, you would do the same in the West Bank? Are you crazy? And when you say that many are fed up with the Israeli gov't. do you realize that this applies in various degrees to perhaps 80% of the country? And the reason we are fed up is because a small minority of leftists like you are imposing their delusional ideas on the rest of us? Third, this conflict is about winning or losing. You can spout your liberal left-wing BS day & night, but the bottom line is that this conflict is about winning or losing. Losing is a bad idea. Have no doubt, this is how the Arabs define this conflict - they are out to beat us. Nothing we do will change that. Stop dreaming about agreements on the White House lawn. This conflict will not end because of some worthless piece of paper. Quite the contrary, it will intensify. And who will we make this agreement with? Abbas? You must be smoking some powerful stuff to believe that. Maybe you think Hamas will tranform themselves into Buddhist monks. And when we withdraw from the West Bank, how long will it take before missiles are falling on BenGurion airport? A few weeks? This land really isn't ours? That's how you end your piece? And fellow citizens are somehow "different" from the rest of us? You know what - I think perhaps it is you & those who think like you that are different from the rest of us.
24. Dear Yair
David ,   Jerusalem   (08.19.08)
Yair, I generally disagree with you, but I respect you. This, however, is really a common, ugly piece of bad rhetoric. Yes, there has been a collapse of leadership in the settler's ranks. And yes, there are some angry young people among them. But you are, knowingly I think, painting with a broad brush. Some settlers have these attitudes, but like most groups, settlers are not a monolithic group that walks in lock step. In fact, your argument about uncontrolled, roving bands of angry teens proves your general use of the term settlers false - you've identified a specific group within the settler movement. And more importantly, since when does whether or not you like their behavior, or feel holding the west bank is possible, a definition of what is and isn't Israel? This is post modern sound-byte thinking. Judea and Samaria are a historic part of Israel and an intrinsic part of our heritage whether Israelis feel fighting for it is worthwhile or not. Just stand up and admit it: you don't believe in our God and our Torah and you don't think fighting for Judea and Samaria worthwhile. At least then I could disagree with you on principle and respect you for being a stand-up guy who is arguing legitimate points. Instead I get bad rhetoric. The simple fact is, the english side of YNET is sub-par and the articles are, to put it simply, counter-intellectual. You usually rise above this, even, as I said, if I disagree with you. Please try to keep your head above the lowest common denominator your fellow YNET writers have set.
25. Yair you are as disgusting as your late father
Yerach ,   Jerusalem,Israel   (08.19.08)
He was a self-hating JINO (Jew In Name Only) & so are you!!! Time is on the side of the Orthodox as we have many kids & will eventually be the majority & will democratically vote out the self-hating JINO's like the Lapids & their ilk!!! Eventually this will be a truely Jewish state & not a Hebrew speaking Portugal!!!!!!
26. #1 Of course he can explain that
Chaim   (08.19.08)
Ramat Gan is ours in accordance with international law and is recognized as such internationally. Yesha is not ours in accordance with numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions and thus under international law, and is therefore not recognized as such internationally, or by the Israeli government, for that matter.
27. Than Whos buried at Rachels tomb ? Suha Arafat ?
Andrew ,   Miami,Fl   (08.19.08)
so stupid !! The tomb of the patriarchs should be the prime example of why its NOT occupied this guy is retarded
28. Yes.
cfs ,   Tlse, Fr/Dz   (08.19.08)
I am agree with you Yair Lapid.
29. Yair Lapid is Right
Bill ,   US   (08.19.08)
Beating up Arab farmers and then running behind the IDF isn't Jewish and neither is throwing rocks at the police. These settlers are a disgrace to the Jewish people, past and present. Hopefully Israel will cut them off for an honorable future.
30. #1 Is Lapid in Ramat Gan?
Bill ,   US   (08.19.08)
The land legitimately bought from Arabs in 1914. It may have been Arab at one time but deed lawfully changed hands once they sold it.
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