Yehoram Gaon Decries War Against Land of Israel Lovers 

February 6, 2006 / 8 Shevat 5766
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=98032

Singer Yehoram Gaon compares the idealists who were beaten in 
Amona to the pioneers who built the Galilee 70 years ago, and 
bemoans the war against those who stand fast to the Land of Israel.

Popular singer and actor Yehoram Gaon delivered a long discourse on
his views of last week's violence in Amona. His politics, as expressed 
in his service as a one-man faction in the Jerusalem Municipality and 
his weekly Friday afternoon radio program, are generally left-wing. 
This Friday's show was different, however. "Only one who fights for 
his land," Gaon said on Israel Radio's Reshet Bet, "acquires it, 
by virtue of his love and dedication."

Excerpts from Gaon's talk: 

I know that "without fear of the government, one person would swallow 
another" [Ethics of the Fathers 3,2]. I know, as a loyal citizen, that 
one must adhere unconditionally to the statutes of the government... 
But even so, I was not party to all those interviewers and 
commentators who, from their high perch above, rebuked every 
settler who arrived in their studios, giving free lessons in ethical civics 
and law enforcement - to the point where I wanted to yell out, 
'Hey, who appointed you?'

As opposed to them, I was really so sad when I saw these boys 
fighting our army forces, and I didn't know who was fighting whom, 
or why. It was like a play put on from above for the media... 

I thought about the pioneers of Hanita and the "stockade and tower" 
communities built during the pogroms of the late 1930's... who, 
against the establishment of the time, built their homes there and 
became a symbol of heroism and daring Zionism. I thought: 
What would have happened if they would have heard or known that 
those who continue their path in 2006 would be evacuated by 
blue-and-white army and police at the order of the State?

What would [Yehoshua] Henkin - whose entire life was dedicated 
to redeeming lands of Eretz Yisrael in the Jezreel Valley, the Huleh 
Valley, and more - have said? What would he have said about those 
who continue his ways as they stand on roofs and - yes, I know, 
it's terrible, throw stones on the police and army that come to 
evacuate them?

Have you noticed that something has gone totally wrong in the 
Zionist agenda of the People and State of Israel? It's getting worse 
and worse, deteriorating to a situation in which a real collision is 
unavoidable... How many wounded or dead will we have to suffer in 
order to remove a caravan or two from some desolate hill on which 
some youths settled to prove their love for the Land of Israel?

They call them, justifiably, law-breakers. But... law-breakers are 
those who fire Lau missiles at their competing gangsters' homes 
and kill people along the way, and drug-dealers and pimps. 
So with all the due respect that you do not give them, at least 
agree with me that the law-breakers in Amona have a different type 
of motivation.

...Why are they, of all people, being persecuted? Do you realize how 
many building violations there are in Israel? Why specifically them, 
and why specifically now? And who wants to prove what this time, 
and to who, and why specifically at their expense?

Like Hillel the Elder, I sandwich in this matza not only the 
establishment, but also the leadership of the settlers...

But it appears that the youth no longer have leaders other than this 
land. The land is leading and directing and forcing its will, and 
sending them to fight for it, and they agree to do so - like a lover 
for his loved one, with great truth and without compromise. 
Zionism '06.

I know it's not popular today to say nice things about the settlers. 
All my colleagues in radio and television are very, very angry at 
them - but what to do? Only one who fights for his land, cities and 
fields, and for every caravan and every clod of earth, acquires it, 
by virtue of his love and dedication. 

One need only flip through the pages of the history of this land to 
understand what was always self-evident. Our neighbors [the Arabs] 
know this secret very well. They never rushed; they are tied and 
bound only to this land and its olive trees. And they know that this 
is the way, the only way, to become its masters. Conquerors come 
and go; that's history. But the man who is bound to his land, 
acquires his eternity upon it.

Looking at these "law-breakers," it's impossible not to think about 
the big city [Tel Aviv], the city that never stops. Hand on heart: 
how many of us would leave our warm house, our dreams of getting 
rich, our cafes and nightclubs... to be with the Land of Israel, 
that it should not remain alone? How many of us, out of our own free 
will, would spend time on a barren, wind-swept hill in a caravan?

...[Nothing] is worth these terrible pictures in which we saw such 
great force expended - force that is nothing more than rage that is 
really just great weakness... Horses charging forwards - yes, 
I know, in reaction to stones; and clubs being wielded - yes, 
I know, in reaction to stones. But suddenly the face of our police 
and army has changed, and they are getting further away from us, 
as if in a bad dream. They are suddenly different, estranged from 
this beautiful and good land...

...OK, fine, so there were polls, and 60% are not interested in 
Amona and blame the settlers. These 60% - are not interested in 
anything. 

In the end, the ones who will remain in this Land for many years to 
come will not be those 60%, but rather the "law-breakers" from 
Amona and Katif. Because they made a vow, as the everlasting 
nation in an everlasting covenant, for this land...

Can you actually think that these, the very best of our sons, 
would disengage themselves? That they would not enlist in the army? 
When it comes to the land of Eretz Yisrael, which is their only and 
true leader, they will run to fulfill every mission to defend it - and 
even from the roofs of Amona and amidst the hoofs of the attacking 
horses.

True, this is a critical moment in the process of determining our 
borders according to the demographic majority. This is a dangerous 
concept, and food for thought: If the borders of the Land of Israel are 
to be drawn according to Jewish-Arab demographics, then in 
another 50 years or less, our borders will be reduced to the 
beachfront of Tel Aviv. That is why borders according to demographics 
are not such a good idea. We have to think of something more 
creative, something that will leave us here for a few more good years, 
even after we no longer have a demographic majority.

It would be a good idea to think long and hard about this: When the 
regime fights the people of Amona, who is it actually fighting? 
Are these youth the State of Israel's real enemy? 

And oh, something else I wanted to say: It's a good thing that 
Hamas is no longer around, and all the charters calling for our 
destruction have been revoked, and Iran has voluntarily shut down 
its atomic reactor. Now we can finally turn to our real problems...