The official announcement made yesterday by the Prime Minister’s office, which at first sight seems quite harmless, has the hidden message that the government has bowed to pressure from the American administration and agreed to a “freeze” (in other words to end) the construction in Judea and Samaria for the Jews.
Just yesterday afternoon Arab terrorists murdered two young Jewish youths from the Samaria village of Har Brakha: two brothers from the Yaniv family: Yigal, a student of the military yeshiva in Giv’at Olga, and Hillel, a student of the military yeshiva in Kiryat Shmona. May God avenge the blood of these righteous men.
Meanwhile, the Jordanian authorities have already announced at the Akkab “summit” that Israel agreed to freeze (i.e. end) construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria for four months.
Minister Smotrich immediately announced that there would be no such thing as a “freeze”. It is not clear, however, whether he can prevent it, since an unnamed “high-ranking government official” (an euphemism referring from the context to the prime minister, or at least the defense minister) said that the end of the construction would take place.
In addition, according to reports from the US, State Department officials confirmed as if the Israeli representatives had promised to stop construction for the Jews for 4 months, and that no legal status would be granted to the young settlements for six months!
Moreover, it is not clear how Israeli representatives responded to the demands of the PA bosses to provide arms to their armed terrorists (who claim that they are maintaining security in the PA) and also to provide them with military training (with the help of American instructors)!
According to reports from the US, another meeting with representatives of the PA bosses has been scheduled for next month. Obviously, at this next meeting, the Americans will continue to exert pressure on the Israelis, demanding more and more concessions.
It is obvious that all this contradicts the attitude advocated by the center-right government led by the right-wing leaders Betsalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who after the terrorist attack demanded that the Israeli delegation should leave the meeting in Jordan immediately.
Unfortunately, it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu, after all, accepted the concessions mentioned by the Americans.
Many times the Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach cried out and warned that even the discussions of Jewish concessions concerning the Holy Land are by themselves already an imminent danger to life!
This is why our position has always been and remains clear: we should never, under any circumstances, even begin to discuss concessions to the Holy Land. And certainly we should never make any of them! G-d has given the entire Holy Land to us, and therefore it is our responsibility to inhabit it without any restrictions!
The Fooling of the Citizens of Israel
Just look at how they are trying to fool us: after reports from the US that the Israeli government has agreed to stop building for the Jews for four months, to deny legal status to the young Jewish townships and to cut off anti-terrorist operations in Arab towns, the Yisrael A-Yom website published a prompt retraction of all these reports on behalf of a “senior government official” (the Prime Minister, in other words, or at least the Minister of Defense).
What is the content of this fussy published in Yisrael A-Yom?
A high-ranking government official claims: there will be no change in the decision to grant legal status to the 9 villages and the construction of the 9,500 housing units in Judea and Samaria, and the army will act wherever the intelligence indicates that there are terrorists.
So maybe the Americans lied?
Unfortunately, it looks like they didn’t. The language of the retraction proves, in my opinion, that the Americans were telling the truth, because it is not clear from the words of the “high state official” that Israel will continue to give legal status to the new settlements in the future or that it leaves this issue to its own consideration. On the contrary, what was said was that the decisions already approved would be implemented.
That’s a good thing, of course, that they will be implemented, but that’s not what the Americans were talking about, because they were talking about legalizing the settlements in the future.
The Americans said that there will be no legalization of the Jewish settlements for six months from now, while a “high-ranking government official” has not denied this statement at all. In other words, the Americans, unfortunately, seem to be right — it seems that the Israeli government has made a commitment not to grant legal status to other young Jewish settlements besides the 9 settlements that have already been approved...
In other words: there actually is a “freeze”.
And what about the new construction?
Just exactly the same — a “high-ranking government official” confirmed that 9,500 housing units have already been approved. But he did not say that new housing units would be approved in the future.
Even worse, he didn’t say that the Israeli government still has the right to approve new construction in the future. It only made a commitment to carry out what has already been approved. So in short — there are 9,500 units and there will be no new permits...
And what about the freedom of action for the army? That’s also bad news. Obviously, Israeli troops will be able to continue to go in where the intelligence says the terrorists are — that is, to prevent an immediate threat. Clearly, that was never discussed. Even the Biden administration, so hostile to us, has not yet reached the point of openly demanding that Israel should not defend itself by force, particularly in territory under the control of the PA bosses.
So a “senior government official” said that the army will act “where intelligence reports are available” — that is, only to prevent an immediate threat. But not for preventive counterterrorist operations.
In other words, the army’s actions will still be limited...
It would be allowed to act only when there is accurate intelligence that requires immediate action. But not for the daily preventive operations in large Arab enclaves like Jenin and Shechem to arrest suspects or collect weapons, patrol, obtain information, maintain control of the situation, demonstrate a military presence as a deterrent and ultimately to ensure the safety of the Jews living there.
All of these essential components of the heavy and daily operational activities necessary to stop terror and ensure the safety of Israelis will now be blocked.
In other words, in Jordan, the government has agreed to make serious and far-reaching concessions while trying to convince the public that there is nothing like this going on.
Let us summarize these concessions:
1. Not a single Jewish settlement, with the exception of the 9 settlements that have already been mentioned, will be granted legal status, at least for the next six months.
2. No new permits will be granted to any Jewish settlements other than the 9,500 units already approved, for at least the next 4 months.
3. The army’s counter-terrorist activities in the large Arab enclaves will be reduced and limited.
Hostile to the existence of an independent Jewish state, the Biden administration is forcing the prime minister to make extensive concessions to our enemies. His ability to resist this pressure and minimize the consequences will depend largely on how competently and decisively Smotrich and Ben-Gvir stand up to it, who, in turn, must be supported by public opinion. This is why it is so important to reveal the nature of the initial concessions to the public. Only in this way can we ensure that they are reversed, or at least slowed down.