Sadly, a call by Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior Shlita to bring Jews back to northern Israeli areas overrun by Arabs, now a majority in a number of areas, is vilified by the mainstream secular media.

Following his spending shabbos with students of his hesder yeshiva in Nazareth Illit, he called for Jews to come and settle the area, which is not predominately Arab, stating the area was and should be Jewish again. He drew a comparison between Nazareth and Chevron, explaining it demands mesirus nefesh to bring the Jews back to the area now occupied by Arabs.

The media is having is usual field day with the Rav’s remarks, sadly incapable or perhaps unwilling to support calls by a Torah scholar to bring Jews back to areas of Eretz HaKodesh, preferring to label him a “right-winger” and “settler rabbi” who is seeking to push the settlement movement to new areas.

On the same note, realizing the Jewish majority is a thing of the past in the Galil, the government has established a ministry of Galil and Negev Development in the hope of reclaiming these vital areas. Significant housing incentives are offered to young couples willing to settle in one of these “national priority” areas but the media does not miss an opportunity to take jabs at a rabbi, in this case, one who is a rosh yeshiva and a member of the Chief Rabbinate Rabbinical Council as well as a civil servant in his capacity as chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba.

Despite the media and its secular non-Jewish agenda, the rabbonim and students of Rav Lior’s Nir Hesder Yeshiva are confident that the mesirus nefesh will prevail.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)