Widow of Israeli war hero to be dispossessed.
July 16, 2009
National Council of Young Israel
24 Tammuz 5769
As reported in Israel National News
On Monday, the High Court in Israel ruled in favor of the far-left organizations Peace Now and Yesh Din and ordered that 11 homes in the Samaria town of Eli be torn down. One of the homes in question belongs to IDF Major Roi Klein, who was killed in the Second Lebanon War when he jumped on a live hand grenade thrown by Hizbullah forces, in order to save his soldiers. Maj. Klein's last words, his soldiers later said, were "Shema Yisrael."
The Klein family home is located in the Hayovel neighborhood of Eli. The neighborhood received government support and services over the course of more than a decade, but never received official authorization. Peace Now claims that some houses were built on Arab-owned land. According, to residents of Eli, a part of one building does extend onto Arab land, but the other homes in the neighborhood, including the Klein family residence, were built entirely on state land.
Klein's final act of bravery led the state to posthumously award him the Medal of Valor, the IDF's highest honor. Klein was the first to be awarded the medal in more than 30 years.
Klein's widow, Sarah, declined to respond to the High Court decision that could leave her and her two young children with no home.
Neighbors described the news as "a harsh blow," particularly in light of the fact that it came almost exactly three years after Roey's death, and shortly before a scheduled IDF memorial ceremony in his honor.
'Will Your Hand not Tremble?'
Following the ruling, the Land of Israel Legal Forum sent an emotional appeal to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, calling on him to honor Major Klein by authorizing his family's home and making it legal. "Will your hand, as that responsible for destroying the home of this hero of Israel, not tremble as you sign the demolition order?" asked Forum chairman Nachi Eyal. "With your signature, you could turn his home 'legal,' but you refuse... The law does not require you to destroy the home of a hero of Israel who gave his life for his people," the letter continued. "If there is any legal way to prevent this travesty, you must make use of it."
When he gave his life, Klein became a national symbol of bravery and sacrifice, Eyal noted. If Barak allows the Klein family home to be destroyed, "the message sent will be disastrous, for both civilians and soldiers," he warned. "If there remains any significance to 'our duty to the fallen' - now is the time to prove it," he concluded.
Please help prevent the demolition of Ro"i Klein's home where his widow and 2 small children live. http://www.atzuma.co.il/petition/be770/1/
6 comments:
you know, if the high court handed down a ruling saying this group of houses is illegal and must be demolished, i dont see what barak can do. he has to do it, legally.
that one of the homes belongs to a jewish hero is really neither here nor there, as tragically ironic as it may be.
i also question if kleins heroism registered for very long in greater israeli society, outside of the rz community.
I'm sorry to say I agree. They could ask for a re-hearing.
It just makes me so sick to see how the country asks us to bleed for it, and the Left (including the courts) dance on that blood.
which leads me to an interesting question: what would you have done, had you been sitting on the court? if in fact the neighborhood were illegally built, should the residents' army service be a factor in what to decide? it would seem that the court had not choice.
the best course of action in evicting previously-thought legal residents, i think, might be to take responsibility for the decision. that is, before evicting them, find them reasonable housing elsewhere. you know, like what happened with gush katif, only the opposite. it should be sine qua non: no eviction can take place before such reasonable housing can be found. i understand the term reasonable is undefined here, but i think that would be the best approach.
1) hundreds of Bagatz decision have yet to be implemented - even years after the decision. Go check how many street signs in Lod or Ramle now have Arabic. So Barak has to do nothing - unless he feels politically that he has to do something
2) the only thing making the house "illegal" is the fact that the MoD still hasn't signed some form. Other than that it is perfectly legal. If the State went around knocking down every house in Israel that was still missing one signature, the State would have to knowck down 30% of the towns in pre-1967 Israel, let alone the West Bank.
"העצומה לא קיימת במערכת."
When I tried accessing the link to see what its up to (I signed it last week)
From Google Cache:
יום א' 19/7/2009 שעה: 15:00
נתבקשנו לעצור את העצומה זמנית מסיבות הקשורות לצנעת הפרט. הננו מודים מאד מאד לכל החותמים ולכל מי שרצה וטרם הספיק. בטוח שהיינו חוצים יחד גם את ה 150.000 חותמים, באם יש לכם רעיונות או הערות. אשמח לקבל במייל aviwow@walla.com
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