BS”D
Very well said, Jothar. There are accounts that Reb Yoilish cried for the soldiers in 1967 as well. No one except perhaps the Teheran crowd is anti-Zionist for any reason other than ahavas am Yisroel and true ahavas (kedushas) Eretz Yisroel. Such heartfelt ahavas chinam was what motivated the “only true kanoi”, Reb Amram Bloy ZY”A, and in the end, he won his battle. The Edison Theatre which he picketed for Shabbos violations is or will soon be a Satmar housing and educational complex. It faces, either directly or diagonally IIRC, the former super-secular Lemel School, which is now a Boyaner moisad of chinuch al taharas hakoidesh.
I would love to read the Aaron Klein book. Sounds like we share a similar premise – namely that it would have been great had the state worked out properly, but unfortunately it didn’t, and the main concern is to save and preserve the Jews living there, both physically and spiritually.