Once again it is a right-wing government that will be responsible for evicting Jews from their homes as was the case in Yamit (Menachem Begin), Gush Katif & N. Shomron (Ariel Sharon), and now, after Migron, Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood (Binyamin Netanyahu).

For those naïve among us it comes as a shock, for they question how the right-wing Binyamin Netanyahu can permit such an event to occur, but a bit of history shows that other than unfulfilled promises, Mr. Netanyahu’s legacy is a pathetic one, a far cry from being a staunch defender of Eretz HaKodesh. Now in his second stint as prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu has tweaked his political abilities and after bringing Kadima on board and thwarting early general elections, he is not about to permit a few homes belonging to settlers bring the wrath of the international community down on his administration. After all, for Bibi, it’s never been about ideology.

To make certain his cabinet does not approve the bill to legalize the apartment buildings in question; Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has informed his cabinet ministers that anyone voting in favor of the bill will be ousted immediately – no questions asked. The message is clear. It is not one of ideology or principle, but about the long term, remaining in office, which has always been the driving factor for the prime minister, who has long ago displayed he is void of any and all ideology or attachment to portions of Eretz HaKodesh. Following the lead of his right-wing predecessors, he brazenly feels as if the land is his to bargain and trade with.

Keeping in line with the very same policy of remaining in power are the ministers of Shas, the very same party that brought Israel the Oslo Agreement. Without Shas’ support, the heinous agreement that has brought bloodshed and exploding buses to Eretz Yisrael would not have passed in Knesset.

After hearing of the prime minister’s ultimatum, Shas leader Eli Yishai announced he and his colleagues will not be present for the vote, the usual Shas way out. Rather than vote to save homes in Eretz Yisrael and prevent 30 families from becoming refugees, Yishai and his cohorts prefer to simply avoid the issue and remain in the cabinet. This response is quite in line with the prime minister’s who back in 2005 voted in favor of the Disengagement Plan and that boldly resigned from the cabinet, expressing his outrage over the eviction of Jews from their homes. His statements did capture media attention, but they were benign for he already raised his hand to approve the move. When Mr. Netanyahu handed portions of the holy city of Hebron over to the PA (Palestinian Authority) terrorist entity he was not as apologetic. He simply honored the agreement with the late Yasser Arafat YS”VZ.

Also wishing to avoid facing the music will be the cabinet ministers from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party, also unwilling to vote their conscience at the risk of unemployment. Lieberman is not about to bail out as the government is on the verge of drafting chareidim, one of the cardinal issues on his party platform.

Despite heroic efforts by the residents of Beit El and their supporters, the ongoing hunger strike outside the Prime Minister’s Office, a two-day march from Beit El to the capital, it appears the prime minister will not legalize the homes and the families of this torah community will soon join the close to 10,000 Jews who once resided in Gush Katif, refugees by the hands of their own government.

Perhaps even more frightening is the precedent, as was pointed out by Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Yisrael Aumann, who called on the prime minister to look into the future and realize that this eviction will chas v’sholom set the stage for a flood of court petitions by the Arabs and their left-wing cohorts, who will use the Israeli Supreme Court to accomplish what two intifadas fail to achieve, ousting the Jews from their homes throughout Yehuda and Shomron. The High Court of Justice is the PA (Palestinian Authority) arm to accomplish that which Oslo failed to achieve. It continues to serve as a fulcrum for advancing the PA’s anti-Israel agenda, the powerful vehicle of the left-wing and the anti-Torah community.

Undoubtedly the actual eviction will be an international media event, a chilul Hashem that will provide ammunition to Israel’s enemies as the latter sits back and watches as Jewish forces oust families from their homes. Mr. Netanyahu will promise to compensate, to construct event more homes as he expresses his unyielding commitment to the yishuvim and his revisionist roots, but in Beit El and among the others who understand, it will be a day of mourning, a day of chilul Hashem, a day of national tragedy.

In the chareidi camp, the silence is deafening, somewhat mimicking the lack of concern displayed in 2005 during the Gush Katif expulsion, for as long as it is not about kollel funding, mehadrin buses, sikrikim and other issues of relevance, it simply does not appear on the community agenda.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)