Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union (OU), issued a statement after some Jewish men went into the Arab town of Hawara and destroyed property. This was in response to the brutal murder of two brothers, from Har Bracha, who were shot – execution-style – while driving through this town.
Rabbi Hauer opened his words with a question: “How can such a thing happen? How could it come to this, that Jewish young men should ransack and burn homes and cars?” Ok, Rabbi Hauer… you want to know how such a thing can happen? I’ll tell you.
The town of Hawara is the center of Jihadists in the Shomron. Yes, there are some nice and innocent people living there, but most of the 8,000 residents are vicious, violent anti-Semites who advocate, support and celebrate the spilling of Jewish blood. Every day, the Jews who live nearby drive through the center of this Amalekite village. There is no “bypass road” or way around this hate-filled place.
1,600 Jewish families live in Har Bracha, Yitzhar, Itamar and Elon Moreh and their only way home, from the main Tapuach junction, is via this town. Every day, yes! – every single day – at least 20 Jewish cars get stoned while driving through Hawara. I highly doubt that this has ever happened to Rabbi Hauer…
It’s important to note that “stoning cars” is not what you think. None of the violent Jew-haters are throwing pebbles. They are throwing bricks and dropping cinder blocks from rooftops. Imagine a young mother with 3 children in her car, driving home from the supermarket. As she is driving, a brick comes crashing through her windshield. The shock of what happened is enough to give her a heart attack! The children start screaming, and there is broken glass everywhere but she cannot stop for help… because she’s in the middle of Hawara with a mob just waiting to finish the job.
This is not an exaggeration. This happens every day and the murder of Hillel and Yagel Yaniv was something that Hawara residents live for. After the brutal murder, candies and sweets were handed out, cake was distributed, and people were singing. When did all this stop? When did the Jew-haters of Hawara finally run, hide and shake in fear? When the Jewish young men, the ones Rabbi Hauer wrote about, entered the town and taught them the Jewish lesson of vengeance. Since that day, not one rock has been thrown at Jewish cars.
Dearest Rabbi Hauer; you are a good man and the organization you represent – the OU – is one of the finest around. Yet, on this concept you are totally wrong… but you’re not to blame. Most Jewish leaders responded exactly the way you did. As a matter of fact, former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg said that he has more sympathy for the residents of Hawara than for the Jewish community of Har Bracha! “It is not wise to sympathize with the people on Har Bracha – it is wise to sympathize with the victims in Hawara,” Burg told 103FM Israel Radio. He added that “Har Bracha should be evacuated. It cannot be allowed to remain.”
What should Jewish leaders have said? Nothing fancy and definitely not politically correct. Allow me to state – loud and clear, with no fear – what my response would have been: The town of Hawara got what they deserved and the next time a brick is thrown, the response will be even more severe. Ideally, the IDF needs to respond this way, but if their hands are tied by political sissies then the residents need to teach the lesson themselves. Our goal is to live in peace but “peace” does not mean “weakness”. We will not tolerate living in Israel in a state of fear and if the Jihadists in Hawara want war… they will get it.