The rav of the community of Amona, Rabbi Yair Frank explain “I am not a leader of the tzibur. I am a rav of forty families and therefore, I can only say how I would act. If I was a soldier, and I hope others will act this way too, or if I was a policeman, I would understand this is something that should not be done and it is not just and it is simply a crime. Justice should guide us and this is not justice”.

The rav added this is not a case of דינא דמלכותא דינא’ or simple enforcement of the building code but a decision that is based on an initiative of the radical left-wing and its political agenda which is to harm the settlement movement and this is contrary to the Torah. This is not about maintaining a system of law and order but a process intended to harm the Jewish settlement of Eretz Yisrael accompanied by a blind vision that Jews living in Yehuda and Shomron must be treated inferiorly as compared to Arabs as they are not viewed as permanent residents [of the area]. We believe this is our land and we are the permanent residents. If they really want to carry out justice, a fair and just process, they would not call for the destruction of a community simply for the sake of its destruction, a community that has been standing for twenty years but they instead seek and find a way to make it work, perhaps monetary compensation [for the land] and this is what I am expecting of decision-makers today”.

In line with the High Court of Justice’s decision, the expulsion is to be carried out no later than 25 December 2016, a Sunday, erev first night of Chanukah.

Rabbi Frank stresses he does not view himself as a public leader who instructs others as how to act, adding if this however were on his shoulders, he would not carry out the orders. He hopes and expects that this too will be the path chosen by soldiers and policemen given the order to evict others from their homes.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)