Statistics Battles and the Expellees by Hadassa DeYoung

בעז"ה

Statistics Battles and the Expellees

I've done it again. Spent hours translating a document for the Friends of Gush Katif so that we can combat the lies and half truths that the SELA Authority and other organizations, the Prime Minister and other politicians constantly and consistently spread about the status of the expellees. I lost count of how many tables I'd constructed after about 25. I have at least ten left. Quite frankly, I'm tired of the statistics battles. I wish more people, in the government and out, would realize what's genuinely important.

Arab terrorists are trampling a Garden of Eden, part of the Holy Land of Israel and using it as a training base and huge launching pad for missiles on the entire Negev.

The building permits for over a thousand Jewish families have been bandied about by the Israeli government for almost three years. Why was the Second Temple destroyed? Mostly out of sinat hinam – baseless hate, and that's why it's taking so long to rebuild it. Why was Gush Katif destroyed? Mostly for the same reason, and that's why it's taking so long to rebuild it – or even decent housing for the expelled. It's no coincidence that the expulsion began immediately after the 9th of Av.

The caravillas were designed to last for about five years and friends of mine have told me that some are already disintegrating and the others will endure for probably no longer than a total of seven years.

I sincerely doubt that more than 10 MK's care whether or not the expellees have permanent houses within four years. I have a lot of respect for the "Green People" who strive to protect the environment, but what they did to try to block the expellees from building a few small settlements in the Lachish region is ridiculous. If they truly cared only about the environment they would be concerned about the over 10,000 illegal structures the Arabs and Bedouins have built in the Negev with no regard for natural resources. And if keeping Israel green is so important to them why did they put hundreds of growers – growers who'd led the world in water conservation and increasing yields – out of work?

This Tisha B'Av and the week after it, don't spend too much time reminiscing. There's work to be done, and a lot of it. Donate to the Temple Institute, the Temple Mount Faithful and others striving to ready all of the Nation of Israel to build the Third Temple. Find out what you can do to prepare yourself. Contact the various Gush Katif funds to see where you can help. Contact the various groups in Judea and Samaria – Homesh First, etc. - to see how you can help keep "Yosh" in Jewish hands.

And have an easy fast, if we don't merit building the Third Temple by then.

Hadassa DeYoung,
K'far Darom/Elon Moreh