Defense Minister Ehud Barak did not take too long after receiving the green light from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, giving the order on Thursday morning to destroy the community of Maoz Esther, classified as an unauthorized outpost by the government. The community, which consists of 7-8 buildings, including a shul, is situated next to Kochav HaShachar, located in the eastern area of the Benjamin Regional Council in Shomron.
 
Border police moved in on Thursday morning without advanced warning, reports Avi Ro’ei, who heads the regional council. He explained that just Wednesday, less than 24 hours earlier, he and other leaders met with Barak to discuss the outpost issue and the American government’s demand that all construction in yishuvim must come to a halt. Ro’ei was somewhat surprised that authorities did not even inform his office, stating “we already have Barak’s response to yesterday’s meeting”.
 
Ro’ei points out the Benjamin Council is the largest regional council in Israel, with some 50,000 residents, explaining every year, hundreds of couples are married. He pointed out the absurdity of the White House’s demands. “Are we expected to tell these young couples they are forbidden to live in the communities in where they were born and raised because there are no homes?”
 
Ro’ei explained that three couples live in Maoz Esther along with a number of singles. One of the buildings was also a shul, dedicated in memory of a Kochav HaShachar resident, Yonadav Chaim Hirschfield, 19, one of the eight talmidim of Merkaz HaRav murdered in the terror attack in the school.
 
Ro’ei also pointed out that despite reports to the contrary from the mainstream media; the destruction of the community at this time is without a doubt a direct result of the prime minister’s White House meeting earlier in the week.
 
Ironically, the radical left-wing Peace Now organization released a statement, with its director Yariv Oppenheim calling the destruction of the Maoz Esther homes “a publicity stunt”, calling on Barak to remove “communities” and not “the small insignificant outposts”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)