Once again, explosive headlines about “settler violence” raced around the world before Israelis were given the full story. Even Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a condemnation.
But before rushing to condemn, nobody actually knows what happened near Jalud and the Jewish community of Esh Kodesh – or what the Jews there were trying to prevent? Here are the facts.
According to residents familiar with the area, the Arab structures at the center of this confrontation are not ordinary homes inside an established village. They sit on an isolated, strategically important hill overlooking Jewish communities, part of a broader effort by the local jihadis to control the hilltop to terrorize the Jews below. (And by the way, the jihadis in those Muslim villages attacked the Jews of Esh Kodesh on Oct. 7th, together with the attack from Gaza!)
Using the media’s own terminology, this is an unauthorized Arab outpost of two buildings.
The jihadis constantly usd these buildings to attack the local Jews below, including rock-throwing against Jewish shepherds, from this location.
The Supreme Court ordered that these two Arab families be returned to these two buildings, and the IDF was ordered to help them return to those buildings, known to be used as a safe place for them to attack Jews. The local Jewish residents were furious at this blatant act taht endangers their lives, pushed by the Supreme Court and instituted by the IDF. So they went to protest the return of those two jihadi families to that overlook. Violence reportedly followed, which is what is now getting all the media attention.
Now, understand the context. This is hardly the first time Supreme Court intervention and legal constraints have limited the IDF’s ability to eliminate threats to Jewish lives.
One of the most painful examples occurred along the Kissufim Road in Gaza. For years, terrorists exploited buildings near the road to approach and fire upon Jewish motorists. The IDF planned to destroy the structures to protect Jewish lives, but the Supreme Court forbid the IDF from destroying the buildings.
Then, on May 2, 2004, terrorists hiding behind these same structures shotTali Hatuel, eight months pregnant, and her four young daughters while she was driving in their car to convince Israelis to vote against the 2005 Gaza disengement plan. After shooting their vehicle, the terrorists approached and murdered them at point-blank range. Only after the massacre did the IDF then destroy the buildings so they couldn’t be used again by terrorists.
That horrific case demonstrated the deadly consequences of the Supreme Court intervening in security cases, looking out for property rights of a jihadi enemy oer our right to live and be protected by our own army.
For decades, Jews have paid the price when judges, lawyers and senior officials, far removed from the danger, restrict those responsible for protecting us.
We therefore cannot remain silent when another judicially mandated policy may place Jewish communities at risk.
Protecting Jewish life must come first. And that is why the Jews went out to protest last night, to protect our lives.
Anyone proven to have deliberately attacked innocent people or Israeli soldiers should face justice. But a screaming headline is not evidence. Collective condemnation of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding settler Jews is not justice. We can no longer remain silent about the Supreme Court’s continuing role in decisions that endanger Jewish lives.
The accusations exploded internationally this morning, even as no verified video footage establishing the full sequence of events has even been provided to show us the violence, and highlight for us who initiated it. Yet the verdict had already been written: the Jews were guilty.
Do not fall for it.
As elections approach, powerful unelected figures within Israel’s military, legal, intelligence and media establishments have every incentive to depict Netanyahu’s government, and the Jews rebuilding Judea and Samaria, as dangerous extremists.
They understand the international consequences of the phrase “settler violence.” They know it is immediately weaponized against Israel. Yet they repeatedly amplify allegations against Jews while pushing daily jihadi terrorism against us into the background.
Just recently, a Jewish father was murdered after visiting a spring to purify himself before Yom Kippur. The son of Israel’s Ambassador to the US was rammed by a jihadi terrorist and is still in the hospitel with people all over the world praying for him. Throughout Judea and Samaria, jihadists continue planning attacks and dreaming of another October 7 massacre. That is the central security reality.
Instead of confronting it, Israelis are fed another divisive campaign intended to turn Jew against Jew, weaken the settlement movement, make the Netanyahu government look bad, and restore the deep state elite’s political power.
This struggle is ultimately spiritual. It is about whether Israel will continue becoming a more confident Jewish state, rooted in our identity and ancestral homeland, or return to apologizing for our existence.
Those forces are becoming more desperate because they know they are losing. They are literally willing to burn the country down, as they almost did with the judicial reform protests and their despicable campaign to refuse to serve in the IDF. They see that they Jewish people in Israel are growing stronger, prouder and more connected to our national purpose, and they despise it, as they just want Israel to be another Western country devoid of any strong Jewish character.
We will overcome our external enemies, and the internal deep state unelected officials in the IDF, intelligence services, legal system and mainstream media.
Strengthen your faith. Our future is bright. And stay with me at the Pulse of Israel for the truth behind the headlines designed to divide us.
Am Yisrael Chai!!! And Chag Sameach!!!