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Sovereignty will promote peace
Dear Friends,
The topic of Sovereignty is catching on, more and more.
A) Below please find
1) links to press coverage and photos of our 22nd annual Tisha BeAv Walk – Walking for Sovereignty
2) Press coverage and video with English subtitles of Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein's visit to Oz veGaon on Monday,
declaring "Sovereignty will promote peace"
3) Sam Solomon's blog on the Times of Israel: Israeli Sovereignty is a key take away for Tisha B'Av
B) The positive feedback to our 7th issue of Sovereignty is amazing. Dozens of people in Israel and abroad have asked for copies so they can hand it out to family, friends, community leaders and politicians. If you still haven't ordered your copies please email us at ribonut@gmail.com
C) Meanwhile activities at Oz veGaon are continuing on a daily basis. Oz veGaon is simply bustling with Jewish life. Family picnics, youth volunteering, Bar/Bat Mitzva celebrations, birthday parties and more are taking place all the time. Every Shabbat residents of Alon Shvut, Migdal Oz and Efrat walk to Oz veGaon to complete the minyan and the sound of tefilla and of Torah resonate among the trees. These last few weeks of the summer are a perfect opportunity for you and your family to spend some quality time in this meaningful place. The swings, slides, omega and rope park will entertain your children and grandchildren.
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar
www.womeningreen.org
1) Israel National News (Arutz 7): We're not embarrassed to say it: We want to rebuild the Temple (Dep. minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan)
Thousands at Women in Green annual Walk- arutz 7 news report
Photos credit Gershon Ellinson
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216358
2) Jewish Press: Thousands March in support of Israeli Sovereignty
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/thousands-march-9-bav-night-in-support-of-israeli-sovereignty-in-judea-and-samaria/2016/08/14/
3)Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein at oz veGaon: Israeli Sovereignty in Judea and Samaria will promote peace
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216439
Video with English subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye4wjAiAmUg
4)Times of Israel: Israeli Sovereignty is a key take-away for Tisha B'Av
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israeli-sovereignty-is-a-key-take-away-for-tisha-bav/
August 15, 2016, 10:40 am
Sam Solomon
We just experienced Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av where we commemorate the destruction of Jewish Sovereignty in Israel. This Jewish Sovereignty, predating anything Arab or Moslem by centuries, and is an integral part of our claim of indigenous status in the Holy Land. The destruction of our Temples and loss of Sovereignty was precipitated by an intra-Jewish struggle on how to best deal with the Roman Empire. Zealots, who thought they knew what G-d really wanted, decided to destroy years of stored food in Jerusalem in order to create a pressured situation where Jews would have no choice but to fight the Romans. They knew what G-d really wanted and made sure everyone, in the end, would agree with them. Clearly this was, as history proves, a really stupid idea. And yes, as our Jewish history reveals, these forces are still at play 2,000 years later. I fast on Tisha B'Av to atone for sins committed by the extreme left and right — both are guilty of imposing unpopular and extreme views on the people of Israel.
I have not written any blogs in quite a while. The reasons are many but mostly connected to writer's "fatigue". However, recent events involving unconscionable assaults on Jewish Sovereignty by European Governments, the EU and the U.S. Administration, require us to think strategically about Israeli responsibility to our citizen to honor Israeli Sovereignty — laws, culture and policing — and to consider these issues from all directions.
Women in Green, an organization I recommend supporting without hesitation (please reply to me if you want more information on this organization), just published and distributed over 200,000 copies of their most recent Sovereignty magazine throughout Israel. Whether you are a "two stater" or not, this magazine is a must-read for anyone concerned about Israel and how it needs to address Sovereignty. The magazine: Sovereignty Magazine
I also want to suggest reading Mordechai Kedar's recent article on El Aksa, El Aksa – M Kedar, not just because historical context is important to understanding Arab deceit in this regard, but to highlight the danger of taking Arab and Palestinian arguments at face value.
Finally, one cannot consider themselves well-informed unless one reads the articles of Khaled Abu Toameh, an accomplished journalist as well as Muslim-Arab Israeli Citizen who speaks truth-to-power as to the reality of Arab society and the issues they face. One cannot even begin to understand the challenges Israel faces without reading his insightful articles on how the "other side" really behaves. You will see a catalogue of his articles if you follow this link to Gatestone.
I am very proud to be a supporter of Women in Green and their thoughtful approach to promoting Israeli Sovereignty. We should not fear the Europeans in this regard since everything Israel believes and supports is quite the opposite of the EU. Think about it — we are proud of our national heritage — of being Israeli, believing in strong borders and protecting our people. Europe, post WW II trauma appeals to the opposite — no nationalism, no borders, no protection. And here is Europe in an Islamic terror crisis of untold proportions, countries are asserting their national claims — take Brexit as the latest manifestation, and Europeans are having so few babies they cannot replace themselves. Sovereignty works.
