Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) Meir Indor, who heads the Almagor Terror Victims Association, brought up the absurd legal situation when he was interviewed by Israel Radio Tuesday morning. Indor was asked how he could allow his 16-year-old daughter to join protesters in Hevron who the interviewer referred to as "lawbreakers."Although this time my kids are not involved, I think there has not been a major demonstration over the Land of Israel in the past year at least one or more of my family members were actively involved. I've heard people talk about the "violence prone" dissaffected youth who are in Hevron not because they care about the Land of Israel but because it gives them an opportunity to vandalize and make trouble. If you hear enough people say similar things often enough you begin to wonder if there isn't some truth to it. Then you read things like the following from people who are on-the-scene:"The lawbreakers are the politicians in uniforms of the police and IDF who are making cynical use of the drastic security legal condition of 'closed military zone' in order to prevent legitimate protest and improve the Kadima Party's standing in the polls," Indor responded. "I wish I could take off from work and join my daughter there and you can be sure that once anyone touches the Shalhevet neighborhood, many of us will drop what we are doing and come prevent it as well."
Hevron resident and director of the Human Rights for Residents of Judea and Samaria organization Orit Struck responded to the Yesha Council's call for the Jewish residents to expel the young Jewish activists saying that anybody who is not in the city has no idea what is going on there and is forced to rely on the reports by a very hostile press corps. "These youth are incredibly dedicated, and have committed themselves to a determine struggle, whose ground rules we have reviewed with them," she said.
Hevron resident David Wilder issued a statement Monday evening outlining several distortions being broadcast by the media regarding the protests going on in the city. He added nothing but praise for the young activists: "These youth are neither hoodlums or hooligans, as the media are calling them," said Wilder. "Rather, they are some of the most ideologically motivated people in Israel today. These kids are true lovers of their land. These youngsters are still crying the pain of expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Samaria. Their hearts are still bleeding the wounds of our land being abandoned to our enemies. They hurt the hurt of thousands of homeless Jews, who committed no crime but to live in Gush Katif."Addressing the determined and sometimes violent nature of the youth's protests, Wilder said: "Sixteen-year-olds don't react the same way as fifty-year-olds. Sometimes, the reactions are exaggerated; but then again, remember what they are fighting for. Contrast these young people to how many youth have been stabbed at Israeli nightclubs due to 'love' or drugs or alcohol, or all three of the above. Dozens and dozens, almost every weekend another act of real violence. These young in Hevron are fighting for the good of our land, of our people, of our Torah."
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